Hafthor Bjornsson had an impressive first day at the Arnold Strongman Classic 2024, with his first category win. The Icelandic athlete had already made waves by announcing his comeback to the sport he had always loved. Now, he’s simply on his way to prove to fans why he’s the boss.
After a successful 1006 lbs deadlift, Bjornsson crushed the category on his second attempt at the bar. Since he had already established a PR of 1,104.5 lbs, this had to be a piece of cake for him. His smooth lift-off was a warning to his competitors that ‘The Mountain’ was destined to win.
A clip posted by the official Arnold Sports Festival account captured his winning moment. After a successful lift, amidst loud cheers, the veteran met up with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who congratulated him. As the 6’9 Strongman towered over the 6’2 star, he expressed his gratitude and stated how he wanted to save energy for the rest of the rounds.
Fans, however, were shocked to see the effortlessness of Bjornsson’s lift. The post on Instagram attracted comments of various natures, ranging from jokes about his strength to surprises about the same. Most pointed out that the lift was merely a warm-up for him.
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“Looked like his warmup”
“Why are they filming his warm up ??”
Others were in awe of his strength.
“He forgot to struggle”
“Can you at least pretend to struggle?”
One pointed out how Bjornsson made his return only to dominate the stage.
“Bro really went and did some side quests and came back to dominate”
Hafthor Bjornsson crossed many hurdles to lift again
The sheer ease that impressed so many fans was more special in context. Earlier last year, Bjornsson suffered one of the worst injuries of his career. A pec tear rendered him still and unable to work out, placing his future in peril.
When a bench press record went wrong, the Icelandic athlete did all he could to cure it and get back slow and steady. Adding fuel to the fire, the pec tear took two operations to heal. While fans sent their love and encouraged him to heal, he made up his mind to get back with a bang. From being unable to lift a lot to crushing 1000+ lbs within a few months, Bjornsson has come a long way.
