SCOTS strongman Tom Stoltman has been crowned the World’s Strongest Man for the second year in a row.
Stoltman, from Invergordon, who has now matched Geoff Capes with two titles, saw off Ukraine’s Oleksii Novikov to claim victory in Sacramento a day before he turned 28.
Stoltman is only the tenth man in the competition’s history to win the title twice.
And he is the first Brit to win World’s Strongest Man since Eddie Hall in 2017.
He’s also the first Scot to ever triumph too.
Tom is the first athlete to retain the trophy since America’s Brian Shaw, who won consecutive titles in 2015 and 2016.
Novikov had surged ahead on day one and picked up wins in the deadlift, Flintstone barbell and the bus pull events going into the power stairs.
Stoltman was trailing by 3.5 points at this point but he outperformed Novikov by picking up nine points to the Ukrainian’s four heading into the Atlas Stones.
That event is Stoltman’s signature and he duly took top spot in that round to sign off with 53.5 points in total and a 10.5 point gap to his rival.
Former champ Novikov eventually finished in third after losing in a tiebreaker against American ace Martins Licis.
Following his stunning victory, Stoltman told USA Today: “To do it once is unbelievable. Back to back? Almost unheard of.”
Fans of the Gers man congratulated him on an Instagram post featuring Tom and his brother Luke, who also competes in Strongman, holding his WSM trophy.
One said: “Novikov is more impressive Tom will always get that advantage if stones are the last event. I think it would be a good bet Tom makes 5 wsm.”
Another wrote: “You are the best you could have taken the flintstone World Record, You made it look so easy well done.”
A third added: “his is a journey you can never tire from. Congratulations Tom both you and Luke are an inspiration.”
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