Rayno Nel opens World's Strongest Man
- Rayno Nel opened the 2026 World’s Strongest Man finals in Myrtle Beach by winning all three Saturday events, taking first in the Flip & Carry, Deadlift and Titan’s Toss to seize the lead. - Nel finished the first event in 27.30 seconds, pulled five reps at 400 kilograms in the deadlift, and closed day one on 39 points, with Mitchell Hooper second on 36.5. - Nel entered as defending champion after becoming the first South African and first rookie since 1997 to win the title last year. (theworldsstrongestman.com)
Rayno Nel swept the opening day of the 2026 World’s Strongest Man finals on Saturday, winning all three events in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. (fitnessvolt.com) The South African defending champion won the KNAACK Monster Box Flip & Carry in 27.30 seconds, edging Mitchell Hooper’s 27.44. Hooper finished second and Pavlo Kordiyaka took third. (generationiron.com) Nel then won the deadlift with five reps at 400 kilograms. Hooper and Mathew Ragg tied behind him with four reps at 400 kilograms plus one rep at 360 kilograms. (generationiron.com) Fitness Volt reported Nel also took the Titan’s Toss, completing a three-for-three start across the first day of the final. That left him on 39 points, with Hooper on 36.5 and Eddie Williams third on 24. (fitnessvolt.com) The 2026 contest began with 25 athletes split into five qualifying groups before the field narrowed to 10 finalists for the weekend title fight. The finals are scheduled across Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26. (fitnessvolt.com) (generationiron.com) Nel came into Myrtle Beach as the reigning World’s Strongest Man after winning the 2025 title in Sacramento. The official World’s Strongest Man site says that victory made him the first champion from beyond Europe or North America and the first rookie winner since 1997. (theworldsstrongestman.com) Generation Iron’s finals roundup listed Austin Andrade as withdrawn in the standings after qualifying, leaving the rest of the leaderboard to chase Nel and Hooper into Sunday. (generationiron.com) With day one complete, the finals had turned into a rematch between Nel and Hooper, but Nel held the advantage after beating Hooper in each of the first three tests. (fitnessvolt.com)
