Tom Stoltman comes within a half point of his fourth World’s Strongest Man title as South African Rayno Nel wins on debut; Luke Stoltman finishes ninth
Tom Stoltman finished second in the 2025 World’s Strongest Man, coming agonisingly close to winning his fourth title.
Although he had lots of ground to make up going into the final day, sitting nine points behind leader Rayno Nel, Tom Stoltman put in an impressive performance in the Flintstone Press to stay in contention for what would have been his fourth title.
His six reps were unbeaten by anyone else, earning him 9.5 points – and giving him a 2.5 point deficit to make up on the final event, the Atlas Stones.
That is known to be Stoltman’s biggest strength, and he put in the best performance of any of the finalists – lifting five stones in 31.76 seconds.
Overall, that put him on a points tally of 46.5, meaning Nel had to put in a top-three performance in the Atlas Stones to earn at least eight points to finish at the top of the standings.
Unfortunately for the Highlander, that is exactly what Nel did, lifting four stones in a time of 30.17 seconds to claim those eight points he needed.
Nel was just 0.85 seconds ahead of Mitchell Hooper, but every fraction of that time was crucial as Nel claimed the World’s Strongest Man title on debut by half a point.
For Stoltman, though, he can at least celebrate a sixth podium place at the competition, moving him level on that front with fellow Brit Geoff Capes and Icelandic strongman Magnús Ver Magnússon.
Luke Stoltman also wrapped up his competition, but struggled more than his younger brother on the Flintstone Press, completing two reps to score 4.5 points.
He followed that up with lifting three of the Atlas stones in 23.05 seconds, earning him three points.
That meant he ended up on a total of 21.5 points, placing the elder Stoltman brother ninth in the final standings.