Sickest weightlifting injuries including snap ‘like gun going off’ that crowd could hear as World’s Strongest Man begins
STRONGMAN competitions see some of the world’s most powerful people test themselves to the absolute limits.
The sheer strength they display leaves us mere mortals absolutely baffled.
But, unsurprisingly, it doesn’t always go to plan.
And when the athletes are pushing their bodies to such extremes, the injuries can be utterly horrific.
So as the World’s Strongest Man 2025 rolls into Sacramento, SunSport rounds up some of the worst, most gruesome and simply disgusting injuries ever seen from the strongman stars.
And please, please, please take note, this really is not for the faint-hearted…
Don’t say I didn’t warn you…
LAURENCE SHAHLAEI – LAT TEAR
We will start with one that is one of the easiest to look at.
Laurence Shahlaei was attempting a 446kg deadlift when his lat popped and the muscle completely ripped, forcing him to jump up and back in agony.
Shahlaei reckons he could have matched the great Eddie Hall on that day but ended up with grim purple bruising across his side.
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GARY TAYLOR – TYRE CRUSH
During 1997’s Europe’s Strongest Man, Gary Taylor was attempting the 450kg tyre flip.
But it all went wrong as he lost control and the tyre slipped.
Taylor ended up crushed underneath the tyre and was forced to retire as he was taken away on a stretcher to an ambulance on gas and air.
MARK PHILIPPI – STONE CIRCLE STRUGGLES
The first of two Mark Philippi entrants came in the stone circle, where strongmen had to lift a metal pole attached to a basket of stones.
But Philippi had to quit when his legs buckled underneath the weight – as a woman, possibly his partner, ran over in shock.
He was later spotted helped away with the biggest strapping we think we have ever seen around a knee.
MARK PHILIPPI – CRUSHED BY CAR
His other shocking injury came previously when Philippi was flipping a car in the sand.
But he could not hold it any longer and the car fell down on his left knee, which was folded.
The car tore his patella tendon, leaving him in utter agony – and yet he managed to come back and compete a year later.
PHIL ROBERTS – SHATTERED LEG
Next, we go to two injuries suffered in the concrete Atlas Stones.
Phil Roberts shattered his leg at Britain’s Strongest Man in 2019 in sickening scenes.
Roberts needed a metal cage put around his legs and skin grafts as part of his recovery.
CRAIG BONGELLI – LEGS CRUMBLE
Similarly, Craig Bongelli crumbled under the weight of the Atlas Stones.
On his tip toes, Bongelli couldn’t quite lift it up on to the plinth and suddenly he completely gave way.
The rather disturbing video shows him collapsing with his legs folding underneath him and the stone almost landing on his head.
Arguably the incident to watch but somehow and thankfully, Bongelli did not suffer any serious long-term injuries.
LAURENCE SHAHLAEI – RUPTURED ACHILLES
Heading back to Shahlaei – and the injury that ended his career.
The Brit was running with a 610kg yoke – his best record-breaking event – while competing at World’s Strongest Man in 2019 when his Achilles completely snapped.
Shahlaei said: “This ended me. People heard it, it was like a gun going off. Instant pain, instantly sent to the floor like a sack of s***. I was absolutely devastated.
“It was like I was getting shot in the leg. All you can do is collapse.”
THOR – PEC WRECK
You didn’t think we would have a list without Hafþor Julius Bjornsson – aka Thor – on this list, did you?
The Icelandic Game of Thrones giant goes in after ripping his pectoral muscle off the bone as he attempted to bench press a personal best 252.5kg during a competition at his Thor Power Gym.
Thor immediately let out a yelp as he lowered the bar down and knew something was seriously wrong.
Powerlifter Scot Mendelson suffered essentially the same injury during a bench press, too – but the photo of the bruising is totally shocking and barely believable.
EDDIE HALL 1 – CRUSHED PENIS & ‘NEARLY BLEEDING TO DEATH‘
And lastly, it is time for Thor’s bitter rival Hall – with four of his own entries included.
The worst-sounding is his crushed penis.
Hall managed to drop weights down on his manhood causing serious bleeding and needing to rush himself to hospital.
Hall told The Mirror in 2019: “I piled a load of heavy weights on a leg-press machine and then heard a loud thud. It had come crashing down and the weights had landed on my penis.
“I nearly bled to death. It was bad. The worst ever.
“I didn’t cry for help though. I just lifted them off, drove myself to hospital and got stitched up. I was back training soon enough.”
EDDIE HALL 2 – POPPED EYEBALL
Sticking with Hall, he also managed to sustain a popped eyeball during a monster leg press.
He explained to JOE: “Bam! Eyeball just comes out of my face. Put the apparatus back, run to the mirror. The eyeball just came the other side of my eyelid.
“F****** it was bad. We’re moving it back in. Red as f***. Couldn’t see out of it, but carried on with my session.”
EDDIE HALL 3 – BLEEDING FROM EARS, EYES & NOSE
The Beast went to great lengths to become the first man to deadlift half a tonne in 2016.
So much so that blood vessels in his head burst as he passed out.
Hall said: “My blood pressure was through the roof, up to three times what it should have been.
“Your body makes you collapse to keep you alive. I barely remember the lift because of the blackout.
“I woke up with a big puddle of blood on the floor. How much blood came out my face was unreal. It was coming out my eyes, nose, ears, the lot.”
EDDIE HALL 4 – DETACHED BICEP
And last but by no means least painful was when Hall managed to detach his bicep.
During a boxing sparring session, he threw a left hook and knew something had happened, collapsing to the canvas in expletive-laden agony, screaming: “F***. No. I’ve torn my bicep. It’s off. F***, f***ing sake. It’s gone.”
Hall documented the aftermath of the injury including undergoing surgery while still awake for his YouTube channel.
Ouch.