Mitchell Hooper Reclaims the Throne, Winning the 2026 World’s Strongest Man

Mitchell Hooper is making a habit of turning the world’s elite athletes into backup singers. Just a month after clinching his fourth straight Arnold Strongman Classic, the Canadian powerhouse rolled into Myrtle Beach for the SBD World’s Strongest Man competition to remind everyone that the throne still fits him perfectly.

For four days, it was a two-man drag race between Hooper and 2025 champ Rayno Nel. Nel held a razor-thin lead going into the final event, but the Atlas Stones are the great equalizer, and they never grant favors based on a scorecard. Hooper tore through four stones with a speed that felt less like a heavy-lift event and more like a sprint, reclaiming his title in the same sand where he first won it back in 2023.

"My family's watching. That's it,” Hooper said when asked what it meant to win. “I'm not sure in the history of World Strongest Man that there's been a clearer two-horse race in the finals. Sometimes, in strongman, it's not who's the clear-cut best. Sometimes the breaks gotta go your way. I've been extremely lucky to have a number of breaks go my way.”

Related: Mitchell Hooper Wins the 2026 Arnold Strongman Classic for the 4th Year in a Row

While the titans battled for the top spot, Texas’s own Trey Mitchell decided to remind the world why they call him "Big Thicket." Mitchell put on a masterclass in the Max Log, pressing a staggering 470 pounds overhead—making the 385-pound starting weight look like a warm-up.

He capped the day as the only man to clear all five Atlas Stones, vaulting him onto the podium for the first time in eight tries. In a sport defined by brute force, Mitchell proved that sometimes, persistence is the strongest muscle of all.

Who Won the 2026 SBD World’s Strongest Man Competition?

• Mitchell Hooper: Winner
• Rayno Nel: 2nd
• Trey Mitchell: 3rd