The 2019 World’s Strongest Man Arena Tour came to a dramatic close on 7 September at Manchester Arena. The star studded athlete line-up featured a host of international strongmen, including reigning champion Mateusz Kieliszkowski, the Scottish Stoltman Brothers, England-hating American Robert Oberst, Iron Biby and the “T-Rex” Evan Singleton. World's Strongest Man 2019. Watch Now S2019E11 The Final S2019E11. S2019E10 The Finals - Heat Five S2019E10. Available on My5 Upcoming Episodes Clips News Characters Competition About. Available on My5. Upcoming Episodes. The latest tweets from @WorldsStrongest.

2019 World's Strongest Man Competition Results

1. Strongman Hafthor Bjornsson Many fans around the world have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of the 2019 World’s Strongest Man competition, and the wait is finally over. The 2019 WSM contest location and dates have been set so far but that’s about all the information we have at the moment.
2. The 2019 World's Strongest Man was the 42nd edition of the World's Strongest Man competition. It took place in Bradenton, Florida between June 13 and 16. Four-time champion Zydrunas Savickas did not take part this year due to injury. Martins Licis of the United States won.

Martins Licis (Latvian: Mārtiņš Līcis; born September 28, 1990) is a Latvian-American professional strongman, notable for winning the 2019 World's Strongest Man competition and placing second in the Arnold Strongman Classic.^[1]

Early life[edit]

2019 World's Strongest Man Competitors

Licis was born in Riga on September 28, 1990.^[2] He holds dual citizenship with Latvia and the United States, and speaks Latvian fluently. He represents the United States in competition, having moved there with his family at the age of four. He grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts. During summers, he visited his grandparents' farm in Latvia, where he was first introduced to stone lifting by his grandfather Imants Līcis, a sculptor who formerly competed in Olympic weightlifting.^[3]

In 2010, Martins Licis moved to California together with his friend Mikel Monleon. Licis eventually found a job as a personal trainer in West Hollywood, and later found out about the Odd Haugen All-American Strength Classic. Through this, Haugen invited Licis to train at his gym, but only let him compete in the Strength Classic three years later in 2015.^[3]

Career[edit]

In 2015, Licis placed first in the Odd Haugen All-American Strength Classic. In 2016, Licis reached World's Strongest Man finals for the first time and placed sixth. He placed fourth in the World’s Strongest Man finals in 2017 and 2018.^[3] Besides Strongman, Licis also competes in mas-wrestling, a variation of stick wrestling. He won gold in the 2016 MAS Wrestling Open World Championships in Columbus Ohio, beating out previous champion VIktor Kolibabchuk.^[4] Licis' first pro triumph came in 2017 at the Ultimate Strongman Summermania, winning the competition representing his home country Latvia.

In 2019, Licis came in second during the Arnold Strongman Classic, placing behind current and 2x champion Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson. In June 2019, he won his first World’s Strongest Man title, beating out Björnsson, who came in third after injuring his left plantar fascia. Licis also placed ahead of Mateusz Kieliszkowski, who placed second, and 4 times World's Strongest Man winner Brian Shaw, who placed sixth after injuring his hamstring competing alongside Licis in the Arnold Strongman Classic earlier in March of the same year.^[1]

2019 World's Strongest Man Events

On January 18 2020, Licis won the Arnold Strongman Santa Monica Qualifier, beating out Brian Shaw by 1 point. This earned him a spot to compete in the Arnold Strongman Classic in Columbus, Ohio on March 8.^[5] In the Arnold Strongman Classic Licis finished 3rd, behind the winner Björnsson and the second place Kieliszkowski.

In May 2020, Licis appeared on Game On! as an obstacle, engaging contestants in a strength contest.^[6][7][8]

In August 2020, Licis appeared on an episode of To Tell The Truth with two other people all of them claiming to be the reigning World’s Strongest Man.^[9]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^ab'Martins Licis Wins 2019 World's Strongest Man'. barbend.com. 2019-06-16.
2. ^http://theworldsstrongestman.com/athletes/martins-licis/
3. ^ ^abcGrabowski, Kyle (13 September 2019). 'PUMPED: Martins Licis not stopping after becoming World's Strongest Man'. Daily Hampshire Gazette. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
4. ^'Invincible defeated: Martins Licis became an absolute world champion in mas-wrestling having prevailed over Viktor Kolybabchuk'. International mas‑wrestling federation. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
5. ^https://www.arnoldsportsfestival.com/sports-and-events/strongman/arnold-strongman-classic
6. ^'Martins Licis Competes Against Celebrities on CBS Show 'Game On!''. BarBend. 2020-05-28. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
7. ^'World's Strongest Man Martins Licis Competes Against Cast Of Popular Game Show'. Fitness Volt. 2020-05-28. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
8. ^'Martins Licis on Instagram: 'A one of a kind experience to be a part of @gameon ! Thank you for having me be on as an obstacle 😎💪 Absolutely epic. @romarkweiss Manager:…''. Instagram. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
9. ^'To Tell the Truth' Michael Strahan, Patton Oswalt, Kristen Schaal, Taran Killam (TV Episode 2020) - IMDb, retrieved 2020-08-29

External links[edit]

The Mountain has been toppled by The Dragon.

American Martins Licis is the new strongest man on the planet after taking out the 2019 World Strongest Man event in Florida.

The 29-year-old had never previously finished in the top three of the iconic annual event — but, on just his fourth try, he did enough to topple The Mountain from “Game of Thrones” Hafthor Julius Bjornsson.

Licis did it despite weighing in 50kg lighter than the 200kg beast showcased on the hit TV show.

Your 2019 @TachiPalace World’s Strongest Man! 💪🇺🇸💪Congratulations Martins Licis. #WSMpic.twitter.com/YSfbCOHkKp

Unlike The Mountain, Licis’ physical attributes are far less freakish — but as we know, looks can be deceiving

Licis, a 150kg, 1.88m weapon, stormed to the crown on Monday (AEST) at Manatee Beach, on Anna Maria Island.

His lifts during the fifth event of the final, the atlas stones lift, were enough to see him etched into history.

Licis is known as The Dragon because of the fire he says he has inside.

He’s been chasing this dream his whole life and admits to dreaming about winning the title one day ever since he was a child growing up in Latvia where he used to lift stones, practising for a day like today.

That child is now the official strongest man on Earth.

Bjornsson finished third, despite having a nightmare four-day event where he suffered a serious foot injury in the first day of competition.

The 6-foot-9, 200kg (441-pound) actor who played the Mountain, won the title last year in the Philippines, and declared before this year’s event he may have had the upper hand, now that he can devote more time to competition since “GoT” wrapped.

The signs were very promising for the mythically-sized beast early, when he qualified for Monday’s final in the first two days of the event.

Bjornsson was able to relax a bit on Sunday for the third day of the Strong Man showdown after already doing enough to make it through to the final 10.

Bjornsson tore his plantar fascia in his foot on day one — but returned on day two to stun the competition with his dead lift and overhead press — moving him straight into the final.

He deadlifted a 375kg car seven times to win Group 1, while he came second in Group 1 in the overhead press of a 155kg log.

The Mountain told The New York Post at the start of the competition he was more ready than ever to go back-to-back as the strongest man on the planet because he was no longer weighed down by his Game of Thrones commitments.

“You have to be willing to work 365 days a year and be absolutely obsessed with what you want to achieve and if you’re willing to go that far then you’re able to be the World’s Strongest Man,” Bjornsson, 30, said.

Hafthor Julius Bjornsson is a sight to behold.Source:AFP