(Björnsson on the set of Game Of Thrones as Gregor Clegane AKA: “The Mountain”)

 

Dimensions

Height: 6ft 9in

Weight: 440lb (competition weight)

Notable Lifts

• Strongman
  Tire deadlift – 460 kg (1,014 lb) raw with wrist straps
  Deadlift – 474 kg (1,045 lb) Elephant bar, raw with wrist straps (Arnold Strongman Classic 2019, World Record)
  Log press – 213 kg (470 lb) (Europe’s Strongest Man 2018)
  Log carry – [5 steps] 650 kg (1,433 lb)
  Keg toss – 7.15 m (23 ft)
  Keg toss – 8 kegs in 16.35 seconds over 16ft wall (World’s Strongest Man 2014). Strongman record.
• Powerlifting
  Set at competitive meets:
  Squat (with wraps) – 440 kg (970 lb) (Thor’s Powerlifting Challenge 2018)
  Bench press – 250 kg (551 lb) (Thor’s Powerlifting Challenge 2018)
  Deadlift – 410 kg (904 lb) (Thor’s Powerlifting Challenge 2018)
  Total – 1,100 kg (2,425 lb) (Thor’s Powerlifting Challenge 2018)

 

Biography

Though he is mostly known for his role in the hit T.V. show Game Of Thrones as “The Mountain”, he is more concerned with his life as a professional strongman. This mythical man, who stands at a staggering six-foot-nine-inches tall and weighs in at well over four hundred pounds, and whos name translates to “Ocean God” is certainly the stuff of legends. Today, we will dive into the world of Iceland’s very own Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.

 

(Hafthor In 2004)

Born in Reykjavík on November 26th 1988, this Icelandic superstar had started off his Athletic career in 2004 as a Basketball player for Iceland’s Division I team, Breiðablik. He transferred to Premier League in 2006, helping to promote his team to the Premier League but his career was cut short in 2008 due to a recurrent ankle injury. He subsequently began his strongman career.

 

(Björnsson carrying the Husafell Stone at Iceland’s strongest man, 2011)

I didn’t take long before Björnsson found success. After only a few years of training, the mountain had won the title of Iceland’s strongest man in 2011, and has kept that title ever since. Since then, Björnsson has only added hundreds of trophies, medals, and world records to his expanding resumé. His most successful year in the sport came in 2018, when he became the first person to have won the Arnold Strongman Classic, Europe’s Strongest Man and World’s Strongest Man in the same calendar year.

 

(Björnsson triumphantly lifting his first WSM trophy over his head, 2018)

“Iceland is full of strong men, its in our genes. We’re all Vikings after all. But a man like Hafþór comes once in a thousand years and his legacy will long after he is gone, he’s close to not only be the strongest man in Iceland’s history, but the worlds.”.  Words like these are well respected when they come from fellow Viking and four time worlds strongest man, Magnús Ver Magnusson. Magnusson had taken the mountain under his wing early in his career after seeing him compete. Magnusson now trains The Mountain in same gym that he himself once trained in and now looks after, the same gym that was once owned by Iceland’s first strongman super star, Jón Páll Sigmarsson, who also boasts four world strongest man titles.

 

(Hafþór and his wife, Kelsey Henson, at the 2019 premiere of Game Of Thrones)

Outside the world of strongman, Hafþór has conquered many other milestones and challenges in his life. Hafþór is the embodiment of what it means to be a strong man, not just the physical aspect but also the strong will. In 2017, the day before Europe’s strongest man, The Mountain had been rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with Bells Palsy, a very rare condition in which the muscles on one side of ones face becomes weak or paralyzed. It didn’t slow him down however, as the next day he competed at Europe’s Strongest man, and won. The next year, Hafþór married his long time girlfriend, Kelsey Henson, and the two of them are raising a daughter together. When asked what motivates him in the gym, Hafþór had this to say: “I just want to make my family proud, they mean the world to me.”. We can expect great things from Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, His golden years of lifting are still ahead of him, where he will try to earn more world strongest man titles and break more records to try and solidify himself as the strongest man to have ever walked on this earth.

Extra Videos

Hafþór has teamed up with Sodastream to raise awareness of the harm plastic bottles have on the environment.

Hafþór also started his own brand of Vodka