The rematch between two World’s Strongest Man winners is on.
Written by Roger Lockridge
The 2023 World’s Strongest Nation (WSN) contest is set to take place on Nov. 18, 2023 in Liverpool, England. It will be the second edition of this unique contest that includes both strongmen and strongwomen competing on behalf of their countries.
On May 12, 2023, Giants Live announced the captains for Team UK and Team USA, and they are the same captains as the 2022 contest — 2017 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) winner Eddie Hall will lead Team UK and the 2019 WSM champion Martins Licis will be at the head of Team USA.
At the time of this article’s publication, neither Hall nor Licis made any statements or shared their thoughts about the announcement. It will be the second time that Hall and Licis face off as captains for their respective nations.
Licis was a replacement captain after Robert Oberst bowed out for undisclosed reasons. Neither man has competed in strongman since the first matchup in the inaugural World’s Strongest Nation event, which was held on Nov. 26, 2022 in Liverpool. The UK team won that contest, but Hall suffered a torn teres minor when competing in the Viking Press.
One of the main highlights of that show came from neither of the WSM champions. Gabi Dixson of Team USA dominated the Hercules Hold event by holding on to the pillars for a time of one minute, 8.61 seconds, which was the longest of any woman and only behind Team UK’s Mark Felix, who managed to maintain his grip for nearly 20 more seconds.
Hall’s and Licis’ teammates — four men and four women on each team — have not been announced as of this writing, but their own accolades make this contest a must-see. Hall was the first man to deadlift 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) in 2016, and he followed that up by winning the 2017 WSM title.
After winning the 2018 Britain’s Strongest Man contest, he retired from competition. His appearance in the World’s Strongest Nation was his first sanctioned strongman event since. He stayed involved with the sport in a media-based role, rather than directly competing, as well as being one of the stars of the History Channel’s series, Strongest Men in History.
Licis made one of his earliest big impacts on the sport when he won the 2019 Arnold Strongman USA contest, and he finished second in the Arnold Strongman Classic to Hafthor Björnsson. That same year, he won the WSM title. After taking over a year off to recover from injuries, he won the 2021 Rogue Invitational Strongman contest, and he claimed the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic six months later. Licis finished as the runner-up in that year’s WSM to Tom Stoltman.
Featured Images: @giantslivestrongman on Instagram
About Roger Lockridge
Roger “Rock” Lockridge has been writing professionally for 10 years and has been training for 20. His work in the fitness industry has been seen in numerous outlets and has been a part of coverage for several events including the Mr. Olympia, Arnold Classic, the CrossFit Games, and the Olympics. He’s also shared his own personal success story in several interviews and articles. Lockridge lives in West Virginia with his wife and son.