Strength legend and Game of Thrones star Hafthor Bjornsson admits he was “pretty close” to making a world record attempt after his colossal deadlift during the day one of the Rogue Invitational at Aberdeen’s P&J Live arena.
The 6ft 9in Icelandic strength icon – who is known as Thor and played the menacing Mountain in the globally-successful HBO television series – made a staggering start in his bid to win the men’s strongman crown in the Granite City.
Thor pulled 458kg (1,010lbs) from the floor with relative comfort, beating the 442kg lifted by Canada’s reigning Rogue Invitational champion Mitchell Hooper and 431kg from New Zealand’s Matthew Ragg.
Invergordon’s World’s Strongest Man Tom Stoltman and his brother Luke pulled 397kg and 381kg, respectively.
Having been declared the victor in the opening duel of a men’s strongman competition which concludes on Saturday – and during what is a weekend-long combined strongman/woman and CrossFit Rogue Invitational event – Thor debated an unexpected, world record-beating third deadlift attempt with organisers.
A lift of 472kg (1,040lbs) would have been the biggest raw deadlift – meaning, performed without the use of a strength suit – in history.
Thor, who holds the assisted deadlift world record of 501kg – the biggest deadlift in history – says he would have gone for the raw equivalent in Aberdeen, but opted against due fears over the toll the weight would have taken on his body and, as a result, his prospects of winning the Rogue Invitational title.
Speaking to The Press and Journal, Bjornsson said: “I’d say I would’ve had a good chance of breaking it.
“It wasn’t necessarily the right place to do it today, because you don’t want to, with five events to go… I want to perform as well as I can in those events, and that means I have to be smart with my decisions.”
Thor said he was “really pleased” with his deadlift performance in what is also his Rogue Invitational debut this year.
The strongman competition continued on Friday with the grip and press event – American Thomas Evans winning in 37.01secs, with three rapid log presses after an initial farmer’s walk.
Next came the Inver challenge: An event where stones of ascending weight taking inspiration from Braemar’s historic Inver stone had to be lifted from the floor and placed on top of whiskey barrels.
“King of the Stones”, three-time World’s Strongest Man Tom Stoltman hoisted all five stones – the heaviest weighing 190kg – in a rapid-looking 36.57 seconds, but Bjornsson (27.34) and 2023 World’s Strongest Man Hooper (31.80) went faster.
Beating ‘unbelievable’ Hooper to Rogue Invitational victory in Scotland would ‘mean everything’ – Tom Stoltman
The results mean, after Friday’s first three events, and going into Saturday’s final three challenges, the fan-favourite trio are all in with a chance of victory.
Hooper leads on 27 points, Thor is second on 22 points and Tom Stoltman is third on 20 points.
However, Tom, 30, currently nursing a disc injury in his back, feels the concluding day’s strongman and strongwoman events – power drive, yoke escalator and the circus medley – give him a good chance of taking a title in front of a home crowd which would “mean everything”.
He told the P&J: “These next three events are going to be good for me, so I’m very happy and very pleased with where I am.
“It’s nice that everyone come over the pond and travel to Scotland, and we didn’t have to travel very far and there’s no jetlag.
“It would mean everything (to win), but I’ll just need to keep battling hard as there’s some good athletes here.
“Mitchell Hooper’s unbelievable, isn’t he? And when he’s on 100%, he’s really hard to beat, but when I’m 100%, I’m the same – so let’s see what happens!”
Luke Stoltman: Aberdeen crowd’s been amazing
The elder Stoltman, Luke, 39, who sits seventh going into Saturday, was in high spirits following the thrill of the partisan P&J Live crowd after an Inver stones run where he just missed the final stone.
He said: “It’s been class. I’m so happy the Rogue Invitational came to Aberdeen – I think it’s the way it should be – it’s the home of strength, Scotland.
“It’s really cool, I’m really buzzing. The crowd’s been amazing and it’s nice seeing everyone wearing the Stoltman clothing.”
In the strongwoman competition, the deadlift event was topped by Great Britain’s Lucy Underdown, who made a huge 311kg pull look straightforward.
Inverness’ Donna Moore, who is based in Stoke, managed a creditable 238kg.
America’s Inez Carrasquillo then took charge of proceedings – first by being the only woman to manage the target three reps of log press during the grip and press, which ran side-by-side with the men’s event.
Carrasquillo then completed the Inver challenge – where the women’s stones topped out at 136kg – in 34.24seconds.
Going into the strongwoman second day, Carrasquillo has 27 points, Ukraine’s Olga Liaschchuk has 23 points and America’s Angelica Jardine has 23 points.
CrossFit competitions day one
Meanwhile, the elite men’s and women’s CrossFit competitions, which run until Sunday, got under way with the first three of eight events.
“Quick sand” – 10 rounds of sandbag carries and 400m runs taking competitors outside the arena – was won for the men by Ricky Garard in 18:43.48 (men) and, for the women, seven-time and reigning CrossFit Games champion Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, claimed first blood in 20:31.82.
“North Sea tiger” – a gruelling combination of echo bike, ring muscle-ups, squat snatches, and shuttle runs – was won by Dallin Pepper in 4:38.39 and Toomey-Orr in 5:29.37.
“Braveheart” – handstand wall walks and heavy back squats – closed the day’s schedule, with 2023 CrossFit Games champion Jeff Adler picking up the win in 5:51.08 and topping the Rogue Invitational men’s CrossFit leaderboard at the end of day one.
In the women’s CrossFit section, Toomey-Orr topped the first day standings, winning her third event of the day in 6:14.89.
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