Game Of Thrones star Hafthor Björnsson has broken his own world Strongman record, by dead lifting the equivalent of a grand piano at a competition over the weekend.
Hafthor plays Gregor Clegane AKA The Mountain in the cult HBO TV show, and it’s clear his super-human strength extends to the real world after he rogue elephant dead lifted 474 kilograms of weight at the 2019 Arnold Strongman Classic in Columbus, Ohio taking home £76,500.
The Icelandic actor and athlete – who weighs in at 193kg and 206cm tall – first became the World’s Strongest Man in May last year, when he successfully dead lifted 472 kilograms. Since then he’s been working towards beating his own record.
In the first event at the competition on Saturday, he managed it. Successfully lifting four kilos more than last year as the audience broke into rapturous applause in seconds. None of the other competitors were able to match Hafthor’s incredible dead lift.
Although he lifted the equivalent weight of a grand piano, or three adult male panda bears, it seems Hafthor was a little disappointed with his performance. He had hoped to lift just over 500kg to take his record to the next level, but it wasn’t to be as he couldn’t get the bar any higher than his thighs.
‘Pretty casual new WR. Very happy with day 1 here at The Arnold Strongman Classic even though 501 will have to wait for another day, [sic]’ he wrote on Instagram.
His prize-money of £76,500 and victory trophy was presented by the event’s namesake, Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hafthor missed out on a further £37,000 for failing to lift a whopping 501kg bar, but he did beat his main competition, American Brian Shaw.
Brian, who took the World’s Strongest Man title in 2016, tried to better his Icelandic rival by lifting 476kg but the bar was too heavy.
Two other competitors, JF Caron and Jerry Pritchett, were forced to pull-out of the competition altogether due to the strain lifting such weights puts on the body.
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