300lb of muscle in a XXXXL T-shirt: how the World’s Strongest Man contest reinvented itself

Oleksii Novikov doesn’t walk into the room. He turns sideways, and shuffles through the doorway like someone navigating a particularly busy bar. At 6ft 1in and 300lb of solid muscle, Novikov has shoulders that are three and a half feet wide. His hands, permanently curled from years of lifting really heavy stuff, are like bear paws, his wrists as thick as some people’s biceps. He’s wearing an XXXXL T-shirt.

“My problem, it’s just my size. I am so small for a strongman,” Novikov says.

We meet in Sacramento, California, before the 2022 World’s Strongest Man competition. Novikov took the title in 2020 – but this time, he is competing after an unimaginably hard few months.

Novikov is Ukrainian and was in his home town of Kyiv as Russia launched its invasion on 24 February.

Drafted into the military, Novikov trained alongside his countrymen – including sniper and general firearms training – but was given leave to enter Europe’s Strongest Man competition in April. Having been forced to neglect his training, apart from the physical exercise he did in the military, Novikov won the year’s competition anyway.

After friends died and he was forced to shelter underground as Russian forces shelled Kiev, the war in Ukraine has provided Novikov with extra motivation.

“Whatever the country that wins this competition, its people will be the strongest nation,” he says. “Ukraine needs this win. It will support our army and the men who defend our country. It’s very important. It means a lot.”

This year’s strongman competition was held on the Capitol Mall, in front of the looming white dome of the California state capitol building. It was an attractive location but an unforgiving one, with the athletes competing on an exposed strip of land. The sporadic palm trees lining the mall offered little respite from the belting sun and scorching temperatures, which reached 97F (36C) on the first two days.

By 8am on Tuesday 24 May, hundreds of spectators had gathered, many wearing tank tops and T-shirts bearing the names of favorite strongmen, some waving signs, others armed with Sharpies and cellphones, hoping to collect signatures and selfies.

The first glimpse of the towering athletes was met with lusty applause, some of the strongmen raising giant arms in response.

They were here for the “loading race”, a fan favorite and the opening event of this year’s contest. The event involves athletes racing to lift five heavy things – a big stone ball, a 275lb anvil, a beer barrel and two sandbags – off the ground, and carry each of them, running about 20ft before dumping them on a four-and-a-half-foot-high platform.

The strongmen, wearing sweatsoaked T-shirts and large lifting belts around their waists, heaved and sprinted and heaved again, slump