Rayno Nel is World’s Strongest Man 2025

Coming into day two 9-points adrift, defending champion, Tom Stoltman, claimed victories in both of Sunday’s events, but ultimately fell just half a point short of taking a fourth title. With the destination of Strongman’s biggest prize coming down to the final pairing in the Atlas Stones, former rugby player, Nel, took the win by less than a second with his fourth stone loaded fractionally quicker than Mitchell Hooper, who had to settle for 3rd place overall.

The two-time South Africa’s Strongest Man held a 7-point lead going into Day 2 having won the first day’s opening event: KNAACK Carry & Hoist, and claimed two second place finishes in the 18-inch Deadlift and Hercules Hold. It was an incredible performance for a man making his first appearance at World’s and though he leaked points in the Flintstone Barbell Press, the cushion he built in Day 1 was enough to see him top the podium and go one better than countryman Gerrit Badenhorst, who was 2nd to Magnús Ver Magnússon in 1995.

Tom Stoltman performed like the champion he is and has now finished in the top two at World’s on six occasions since 2020. He will reflect on his 8th place in the Hercules Hold as perhaps the moment the title slipped from his grasp. His rivalry with Mitchell Hooper has overshadowed the sport for two seasons and though he bettered the Canadian this time, he was unable to claw back the deficit as Nel stormed to victory.

Mitchel Hooper has utterly dominated the sport since last year’s WSM, winning every contest he has entered. He was hot favourite to take a second world title in Sacramento but was unable to show the kind of dominance he has displayed with unwavering consistency in the past year. Taking 3rd overall, 3-points behind Stoltman, he made a few uncharacteristic mistakes and this was not to be his weekend.

Trey Mitchell, the only American in this year’s contest placed 4th for the third time in his career. Winning both the 18-inch Deadlift and the Flintstone Barbell Press (equal 1st with Tom Stoltman), his podium challenge, like Stoltman’s, was undone ion the Hercules Hold. Britain’s Paddy Haynes performed superbly throughout the four days of competition, and with 5th overall, has cemented his place among the sport’s elite. Haynes, along with Ondřej Fojtů, who placed 6th, represent a new wave of strongmen coming to the fore and establishing themselves on the biggest stage.

Shane Flowers put to rest the ghosts of World’s Strongest Man injury to take a very creditable 7th place ahead of Kordiyaka in 8th and five-times finalist Luke Stoltman, the oldest competitor this year. Eddie Williams, the Singing Strongman, finished 10th in his first final, taking an event win in the Hercules Hold.

Though many were fully aware of Nel’s considerable talent coming into this contest, few would have predicted victory from a man who has dominated the Strongman Champion’s League, but had yet to stand toe-to-toe with the sport’s biggest names. It will be fascinating to see how the rest of this season pans out and what contests he may now enter. His performance, for a debutant, was nothing short of spectacular. Strongman has a new superstar!

Full Results: 

Story of the weekend – event-by-event:

Event 1: KNAACK Carry & Hoist

In the opening event of this hotly anticipated final, the competitors faced a 200kg Zercher carry for 20m, including a drop and re-lift at the 10m turnaround point, before a short sprint to an 8m, 200kg arm-over-arm rope hoist. In the opening heat, Kordiyaka set the time to beat, completing the course in 37.42s, just ahead of Eddie Williams. At this early stage no one could be sure if this time would stand up and the following pair of Fojtů and Flowers could do no better. In the third pairing, rookie Paddy Haynes took half a second off the Ukrainians time, recording 36.97 to comfortably beat Luke Stoltman.

Despite his lack of experience at this level, Paddy is renowned for his speed and grip and most would have thought this time would be close to a winning one. South Africa’s Rayno Nel had other ideas, however. Leaving opponent Trey Mitchell in his wake, he tore through the Zercher carry and completed the event in a breathtaking 30.58s. Neither Hooper or Tom Stoltman could get within 4-seconds of his time and had to be content with 3^rd and 4^th respectively. Anyone who thought this contest would be a two-horse race would now need to begin reconsidering their prediction!

Event 2: 18-inch Max Deadlifit

With many of the competitors posting pre-contest training videos of comfortable 500kg plus lifts, there was much expectation coming into this event and some speculation that Oleksii Novikov’s 537.5kg WSM record might fall. The realities of WSM and a third successive day of competition meant that none of the athletes were able to threaten such a titanic load and as the barbell’s weight grew through the rounds it was Trey “Big Thicket” Mitchell who claimed victory with 500kg. More crucially, for the overall points, Hooper and Stoltman could not move beyond 465kg and found themselves in a four-way tie for third as Rayno Nel claimed second with a 490kg pull! Africa’s Strongest Man now found himself leading World’s Strongest Man by a 3-point margin.

Event 3: Hercules Hold

With competitors going in reverse order of the Deadlift result, the likes of Hooper and Tom Stoltman were deprived of the advantage of knowing what they had to beat – a position they are unaccustomed to at World’s. Big bother Luke Stoltman, was first to take the platform and withstood the irresistible pull of the pillars for 32.30s. Next up was Eddie Williams, a man known for grip strength, and world record holder in the Nicol Stones. Living up to the hype, the giant Australian added over 20-seconds to the WSM record, holding on for an incredible 82.14s.

As each athlete took their turn, no one approached Williams’ incredible time. Mitchell Hooper managed just 40.09s, whilst Tom Stoltman fared even worse, recording just 31.82s. Paddy Haynes demonstrated his grip prowess, once again; his 59.64s was good enough for third and  Ondřej Fojtů’s 55.41s left him in 4^th. With just two competitors remaining, all eyes were on contest leader Rayno Nel. Fully aware of what he needed to do he seized his opportunity and held out for an incredible 75.63s to take second place and establish a commanding 7-point lead over Mitchell Hooper, with Stoltman two points further back in 3^rd.

Event 4: Flintstone Barbell Press

Day two of the final began with another lift for max weight, this time of the overhead variety. The Flintstone Barbell Press was last performed at WSM when Sacramento previously hosted the contest in 2022, and like in the Deadlift, the event would follow a rising bar format with any athlete failing a round being eliminated. The opening weight was set at 188kg and most of the athletes cruised through with just Eddie Williams and Paddy Haynes failing to elicit a down signal from head referee, Magnús Ver Magnússon. Round 2 saw the weight, which could be pressed or jerked from behind the neck or from a front rack position, advance to 200kg. Disastrously for Rayno Nel, it was a weight that proved too much, and he would now have to sit back and watch how much his rivals would eat into his 7-point lead.

With the door now slightly ajar, Hooper and Stoltman were looking to make the most of this opportunity to close the gap and both men seemed confident as they locked out 210kg. Shane Flowers was the sole victim in Round 3 and the bar now moved to 220kg – a weight successfully negotiated or passed by the remaining athletes. Fojtů went out in Round 5: 230kg, but all the main protagonists advanced to 240kg. Round 6 proved pivotal, with Trey Mitchell the first to lift successfully. As Kordiyaka exited the contest, Tom Stoltman matched the American’s effort, and it was now left to Mitchell Hooper to attempt the weight. Jerking the load overhead, he stumbled backwards and was unable to control the barbell. As the weight moved up to a new WSM record of 252kg, Stoltman knew that if he could beat Mitchell he would leave himself the best possible chance of overtaking Nel with just the Atlas Stones – his best event – remaining. Mitchell was unsuccessful, and though Tom pushed the bar overhead, he could not control his footing and failed the lift.

Event 5: Atlas Stones

With his lead dramatically reduced Rayno Nel faced the five stones knowing that any mistakes could hand the title to Stoltman who is untouchable in this event. With the order of lifting decided by the reverse order of total points, the final pairing would be a Stoltman vs Nel head-to-head and the South African would know exactly what he would have to do to secure an historic win. Hooper and Mitchell faced off in the fourth heat, with the Canadian slipping on the first stone. Mitchell is a renowned stone lifter and completed all five in 41.08s – the first man to lift the 210kg final stone. Hooper recovered to hit 4 in 31.02s but could not raise the final orb and would eventually place 4^th in this event with his hopes of a second WSM title now dashed.

A complete 5-stone run would hand Nel the title and failing that he just needed to beat Hooper’s 31.02s for four. As Stoltman raced ahead, one-motioning the first three stones, Nel loaded the first four stones but was bettered by the final implement. Stoltman completed the set in 31.76s to take the event win and the timekeepers were left to double check Nel’s time for the first four. With 4 in 30.17s, he eclipsed Hooper’s time by nearly a second and was crowned World’s Strongest Man!