Mitchell Hooper Defends His Title at the 2024 Arnold Strongman Classic
Reigning World’s Strongest Man (WSM) champion Mitchell Hooper is an undeniably dominant force in strongman. Entering the 2024 Arnold Strongman Classic (ASC) as the defending champion, Hooper knew he would be tested against some of the strongest static-strength athletes ever to compete in the sport, including the competitive return of three-time ASC champion Hafthor Björnsson.
In his typically cool and calculated stature, Hooper identified his gameplan through each of the five events and where he expected himself to rank. After ranking in second place at the end of Day One, Hooper told the commentary team that he would have a dominant Day Two.
Suffice to say, “dominant” might have been an understatement as Hooper won three of five events, finishing in second and third in the outstanding two, to become the two-time ASC champion.
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[Related: 2024 Arnold Classic Results — Live Updates & Winners]
2024 Arnold Strongman Classic Results
- Mitchell Hooper — 52 points
- Mateusz Kieliszkowski — 40.5 points
- Tom Stoltman — 38.5 points
- Hafthór Björnsson — 38 points
- Bobby Thompson — 32 points
- Oleksii Novikov — 25 points
- Evan Singleton — 24 points (withdrew)
- Martins Licis — 23 points
- Thomas Evans — 10 points (withdrew)
- Oskar Ziółkowski — Eight points
- Maxime Boudreault — Withdrew
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Hooper is an exceptional deadlifter, and many expected him to rank well in the opening the event, the Max Elephant Bar Deadlift. However, spectators were anticipating that the world record holder in the event, Hafthor Björnsson, would show up in form to contend for the podium.
Hooper secured a 431-kilogram deadlift, which was enough for bronze medal points. Bobby Thompson executed a torrential 436-kilogram opening pull to net silver. Björnsson was unstoppable with 456 kilograms in hand, displaying that he could have almost certainly set a new world record had any other athletes pushed him to that weight.
However, Hooper’s game plan held as the Canadian knew he would blitz through the Timber Carry. The only difference between Hooper’s 7.1 seconds and the runner-up Mateusz Kieliszkowski’s Timber Carry world record was one-tenth of a second. Kieliszkowski earned second place in the Timber Carry with a time of 8.69 seconds.
In the Webster Stones, which Hooper expressed as an event where athletes just have to embrace the pain of the handles digging into the skin of the hands, Hooper traveled 12.6 meters. That was not only enough for his second straight event win, it was also the only score farther than 10 meters.
Hooper told the commentary team that he had put in enough work in the Apollon’s Wheels event in training that he expected it to be his best performance of the weekend. His prediction was, again, spot on. He secured five reps to win his third consecutive event; one rep more than Kieliszkowksi and Tom Stoltman.
Björnsson’s Day One performance did not match his Day Two performance, as he struggled with overhead movements. The final event of the contest, the Stones of Strength, opened with a stone press that gave Björnsson and most of the field an unsolvable puzzle.
Björnsson failed to move past the first stage in the Stones of Strength, which left Hooper the space to know a single stone lift would secure his ASC title for a second year. Hooper breezed through the first two stones in 19.15 seconds and dapped up Arnold Schwarzenegger on stage as the announcer proclaimed Hooper as the 2024 ASC champion.
Featured Image: TJ Darr
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