Brian Shaw (strongman)

Shaw began his career as a strongman with a win when he entered the Denver Strongest Man contest in October 2005. He had entered with no formal training. Just seven months later in June 2006, he joined the professional ranks and his successes continued.[5]

In 2009, he entered Fortissimus, otherwise known as the Strongest Man on Earth competition, in Canada where he came in third and was the only man to lift six Atlas Stones weighing from 300–425 lb (136–193 kg). He then competed in Romania in the World Strongman Super Series. In September, he travelled to his second World's Strongest Man contest in Valletta. There he was grouped in what was termed the "group of death" not least because of his presence in it. Alongside him in this group was Zydrunas Savickas who went on to win the title. Although Savickas won the group, he and Shaw were separated by just two points. In the final, Shaw went on to attain a podium finish, something Randell Strossen of IronMind had predicted would happen when he said "he has to be considered a favorite for a podium position. If he can stay healthy, there's no end to what he could do. He's got these gifts. He's the total package."[5]

Shaw qualified for the finals at the 2010 World's Strongest Man in Sun City, South Africa in September 2010. He was tied for the lead at the end of the finals with Zydrunas Savickas and lost by countback, a system of scoring based on how the athletes placed in each event throughout the finals. Savickas had higher overall placings (2 first places and 1 second place out of 6 events) than Shaw (2 first places and 1 fourth place out of 6 events) and won the 2010 title.

Shaw competed against Savickas again in October 2010 at the Giants Live Istanbul contest. Shaw again finished second behind Savickas.[9]

Shaw won the inaugural Jón Páll Sigmarsson Classic on November 21, 2010.[10]

Shaw won the Strongman Super Series Swedish Grand Prix and became the 2010 overall Super Series champion on December 18, 2010.[11] This was Shaw's second consecutive overall Super Series championship.

In 2011, Shaw once again participated in the World's Strongest man competition. Going into the final event, the Atlas Stones, Shaw was tied with two-time champion Zydrunas Savickas. Shaw beat Savickas taking 1st place. In the 2013 competition, Shaw led Savickas into the final event (again the Atlas Stones) and again beat Savickas to win the competition.

Shaw also won the 2015 and 2016 World's Strongest Man competitions.

Shaw during the 2017 Arnold Strongman Classic

In 2017, Shaw competed in both the World's Strongest Man and the Arnold Strongman Classic competitions. Shaw won the Arnold Strongman Classic, but later in the year, he finished 3rd at the World's Strongest Man with Eddie Hall defeating him by coming in at 1st place.

In March 2018, Shaw competed in the 2018 Arnold Strongman Classic. Shaw placed 2nd in Event One: The Bag Over Bar, 4th in Event Two: The Stone Shoulder, 2nd in Event Three: The Timber Carry, 3rd in Event Four: The Rogue Elephant Bar Deadlift, and was tied for 1st in Event Five: Apollon's Wheel leaving Shaw in 2nd place overall with 42 points to Bjornsson's 45.5.[12]

In October 2018, Shaw competed in the World’s Ultimate Strongman competition in Dubai.[13] Shaw struggled with some of the events including the deadlift where he had trained with a different bar height and the yoke walk where the stage cracked under the combined weight of Shaw and the yoke, causing Shaw to briefly drop the yoke and increase his time.[14] Shaw still performed well, lifting all the objects in the overhead medley and was separated from Hafthor Bjornsson by 5.5 points going into the sixth and final event. In the sixth and final event, the Atlas Stones, Shaw lifted all five stones but this was not enough to surpass Bjornsson in the final points tally, leaving Shaw in second place.[15]

On November 15, 2020, Shaw placed fifth overall at the World's Strongest Man 2020 competition, failing to make the podium. Shaw placed seventh in the giant medley, fifth in the partial deadlift, sixth in the Hercules hold, and seventh in the log ladder.[16]

On December 11, 2020, Shaw hosted the first Shaw Classic competition. Shaw hosted, organized, and paid out the purses for the competition. Rogue provided equipment for the competition with Trifecta announced as a sponsor. Shaw invited an All-Star cast of ten Strongmen to compete including the reigning Worlds Strongest Man Oleksii Novikov (who finished third.) Shaw would end up winning the competition and forfeiting his winning purse giving the winners share to the rest of the athletes. All ten competitors walked away with a share of the winning pool which included money Shaw invested, GoFundMe donations, and pay per view earnings.[17][18][19]