Mitchell Hooper wins 2026 World's Strongest Man event: Results, highlights

The 2026 SBD World's Strongest Man competition wrapped up Sunday, April 26 with the top-10 qualifiers competing against one another in the overhead log and Atlas Stones event.

Despite the myriad of competitors squaring off though, it was clear that this was a two-man race heading into Sunday, with 2025 champion Rayno Nel and 2023 champion Mitchell Hooper leading the charge.

Nel had dominated the finals events on Saturday, with Sunday's max log being the first finals event he didn't win. Nel and Hooper were only separated by a singular point heading into the last event, Atlas Stones. Hooper had a clear path to victory: defeat Nel in the Atlas Stones and win his second SBD World's Strongest Man competition.

Hooper did just that.

The two squared off face-to-face for the event, and although Nel had the advantage through the first three stones, he slipped on the fourth, giving Hooper all the time he needed to get ahead. Neither competitor was able to get the fifth stone (210 kg) settled.

Third-place was also a very tight race, with 3.5 points separating third place from eighth place entering Atlas Stones, meaning there was plenty of reason for everyone involved to put their best foot forward. Only one competitor in the entire event managed to settle all five stones: American Trey Mitchell. His Herculean performance was enough to secure him a spot on the podium, his first top-three finish at World's Strongest Man after two prior fourth-place performances.

Here are the full results from the final day of events at the 2026 World's Strongest Man competition in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina:

Final SBD World's Strongest Man results

1. Mitchell Hooper — 54 points
2. Rayno Nel — 52 points
3. Trey Mitchell — 36 points
4. Pavlo Kordiyaka — 31.5 points
5. Ondrej Fojtu — 31.5 points
6. Martins Licis — 30.5 points
7. Mathew Ragg — 29 points
8. Eddie Williams — 26 points
9. Nick Guardione — 21 points
10. Austin Andrade (withdrew) — 12.5 points

Nel's 52 points mark the most ever for a second-place finisher in a Final where the maximum points attainable was 60. 2026 was the 15th such World's Strongest Man Final since 2010.

Mitchell Hooper's victory

Hooper entered Sunday's events a few points back of the top spot but took advantage of Nel's weaker events in order to secure the come-from-behind victory.

"Last year, [Nel] came 9th out of 10 in natural overhead press. I expected to outperform him even more this year, but he clearly improved," Hooper told USA TODAY Sports.

Nel finished fourth in the overhead log press. Hooper finished tied for second.