‘Back to back? Almost unheard of!’ – Brit Tom Stoltman wins World’s Strongest Man competition AGAIN
SCOTTISH star Tom Stoltman has defended his World's Strongest Man crown to become Britain's joint most successful champion.
The Rangers fan, who has now matched Geoff Capes with two titles, saw off Ukraine's Oleksii Novikov to claim victory in Sacramento on Sunday - a day before he turned 28.
Stoltman is only the tenth man in the competition's history to win the title twice.
And the Invergordon native is the first athlete to retain the trophy since America's Brian Shaw, who won consecutive titles in 2015 and 2016.
With the Scotland football team due to face Ukraine this week in the World Cup play-off semis, Stoltman's success could be seen as a good omen.
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.
READ MORE STRONGMAN STORIES
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 : "To do it once is unbelievable. Back to back? Almost unheard of."
Most read in Sport
SUN BINGO GET £50 BONUS & 50 FREE SPINS TODAY
He added: "It was kind of an easy ride to the end for me.
"You still have to keep your head in it. You can't overthink these things."
Stoltman was also quick to post a snap of himself kissing his trophy on social media.
Captioning the , he simply stated: "And still."
He followed that up by posting more images, where he said: "An early birthday present."
Stoltman's older brother Luke also competed in the World's Strongest Man where he finished in seventh place on 30.5 points.
Tom will now be gearing up to feature in Soccer Aid for the World XI team against England at the London Stadium on June 12.