Brian Shaw reveals why Thor’s livestream deadlift record shouldn’t count
SHAWSTRENGTH (YouTube)Fellow strongman Brian Shaw has weighed in with his thoughts on why Game of Thrones’ Hafthor ‘The Mountain’ Bjornsson’s 501 kg deadlift world record attempt on May 2 would “open Pandora’s box” in the realm of strength sports.
As Hafthor Bjornsson gears up to take Eddie Hall’s 500 kg deadlift world record, many are wondering whether or not the attempt should count as an official world record, given the contrast in circumstances.
Essentially, the Icelandic strongman will attempt to lift 501 kg on his own conventional barbell, with his own calibrated plates in the familiar setting of his own gym. And aside from that, the 31-year-old will be able to dictate the amount of rest he gets between his warm-up lifts — a key factor in mitigating the cumulative fatigue that can build.
thorbjornsson (Instagram)American strongman Robert Oberst edged in with his say during his April 12 YouTube video, by stating that the record should not stand officially since Bjornsson wouldn’t have to deal with the strains of competition — something which Eddie had to deal with when pulling 500 kg.
Fellow American Brian Shaw has also expressed his thoughts on the matter, irrespective of the current social media frenzy between The Beast and The Mountain.
Shaw, a four-time World’s Strongest Man and widely regarded as the most well-rounded strongman of all-time, compared Hafthor’s deadlift world record attempt to “opening Pandora’s box” and implied that a slew of people may follow in claiming that they have world records in the aftermath.
“We can’t allow world records to start happening in people’s gyms,” Shaw stated before going on to say that he doesn’t understand where the sport will go from here, if world records no longer need to be beaten in a competitive environment.
Prior to the current global health situation, Hafthor was looking to peak in time for a competition and pull the weight under normal circumstances, but of course, current events have skewed that and an alternate course of action has been taken to accommodate.
However, Shaw believes that should Bjornsson pull 501 kg on May 2, it should be dubbed an unofficial world record until it’s repeated in an official strongman competition.
African strongman Cheick ‘Iron Biby’ Sanou recently pushed 233.5 kg in a home gym setting, which he hailed as an “unofficial all-time world record” — a feat which he failed to hit at 2018’s Europe’s Strongest Man.
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Alongside The Mountain’s upcoming deadlift world record attempt, Shaw touched on Luke Stoltman’s upcoming log press world record attempt, who will also be attempting this from a home gym.
Brian stood firm in his belief that this together with Hafthor’s attempt should not stand as an official world record until repeated at a sanctioned event.