INTERVIEW: Tom Stoltman “Went To Places No Human Being Wants To Go” For World’s Strongest Man 2021
World’s Strongest Man 2021 champion Tom Stoltman opens up about taking his training to the next level for victory.
This past weekend, on June 20th 2021, Tom Stoltman became the World’s Strongest Man champion. It was an epic victory after a dramatic two-day finals. Stoltman was only one point ahead going into the final event. Four-time WSM champion Brian Shaw was right on his tale. Ultimately, Stoltman dominated in the last event and earned his first World’s Strongest Man title. In our latest GI Exclusive interview, Tom Stoltman details his training, diet, and tactics leading up to the World’s Strongest Man 2021.
Tom Stoltman placed second at last year’s World’s Strongest Man 2020. So it seemed destined for him to rise up and become the new champion this year. Of course, in real life destiny doesn’t always play out. For Stoltman – it did. He’s now the new WSM 2021 champion. We had the opportunity to connect with him just after his victory for a quick video interview.
The competition was fierce and going into the final event of the finals – Tom Stoltman was only one point ahead of former champion Brian Shaw. According to Stoltman though, he wasn’t worried at all. The Atlas Stones are his favorite event. So he knew that he would dominate in the final event of the night. Not only that – but he felt that he could rely on Brian Shaw falling further behind in this event as well. His confidence paid off. Stoltman ultimately placed first in that final event – clinching his overall victory.
But what was the big difference between this year and last year? How did Tom Stoltman upgrade his performance to become the new champion? Stoltman told us that the minute he stepped off the plan after the WSM 2020, he immediately jumped back into training. Not only that – but he made additions to his team in order to take his success in 2020 and turn it into ultimate victory in 2021.
Tom Stoltman goes into great detail about the overhaul he committed to preparing for the WSM 2021:
“As soon as we got off the airplane last year, we got a warehouse and kind of got a specialist kit. So bigger yolks, fingal’s fingers… all that kind of stuff to help us get to that next level. I started working with someone to help me mentally and it all just paid off. I really put my heart and soul into this prep.”
Stoltman also explains further the specialist who helped him with his mental state. From the sound of it – he truly put both body and mind to the test. He brought himself on the verge of breaking. Knowing that it would all pay off in the end.
“So the lady that I had help me used a few words and helped me believe in myself. And helped me go past failure. You know that’s something I never, ever did before. When things got hard I would just give up or not be able to kind of push through that… she helped me kind of go to places where no human being wants to go. Just dark, dark places and you know it paid off this weekend because I went to some of those places.”
Tom Stoltman also shared some other fun facts about his experience preparing and competing at the World’s Strongest Man 2021. He would consume anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 calories a day. That calorie count would increase as he got closer to the competition. He also admitted that his favorite food while he was competing here in the US was Five Guys burgers – claiming to have probably spent over one thousand dollars on the food during his time here.
And how does Tom Stoltman plan to celebrate? He’s going back to his home in Scottland to throw a massive party at his warehouse. He hasn’t had a beer in quite some time due to his training – so he’s excited to have a cold glass of beer to reward himself for his victory. The smile on his face on that last note during our interview says it all. Stoltman is on top of the world right now – and he put himself through the paces to truly earn it.
You can watch our full GI Exclusive interview with Tom Stoltman above!
