Sophia Michaels
Hafthór Björnsson, the Strongman competitor who famously appeared on Game of Thrones as “The Mountain” Gregor Clegane, set a new world deadlift record on Saturday afternoon in Iceland. Björnsson broke the previous record, which was set in 2016 by British Strongman Eddie Hall, by lifting 501 kilograms, which comes out to 1,104.52 pounds.
Hall’s record was 500 kilograms, which is 1,102.31 pounds. Saturday’s event took place on ESPN, and when it was finally time for Björnsson to set the record, he was able to take care of business.
Following his record-setting attempt, Björnsson took to Instagram to thank everyone who helped make this possible.
Björnsson told us this week that he was able to accomplish this in part because of the circumstances surrounding the lift, namely the fact that he was able to use a deadlift bar, which was not the case when he tried lifting 501 kilograms in 2019.
“I have never had chance to break the 501 kg deadlift with a deadlift bar the last two years, actually,” Björnsson said. “2019, I trained for the Arnold Strongman Classic and I pulled 501 kilograms to my knees, but I didn’t finish the lift. That was with an elephant bar, it’s a different bar and I’m also not allowed to use a deadlift suit, which makes things much more difficult. It wasn’t until this year when World Ultimate Strongman reached out to me and told me that they want to have a regular deadlift bar with the suit with figure eight straps, the same way Eddie Hall has the world record now. So I accepted that and I said I’m going to accept this challenge.”
Written by: Uproxx
