Ireland’s strongest man wins event at World Strongman competition with 520kg deadlift

“Put on more weights,” they said. “There are no more.”

Pa O’Dwyer, Ireland’s strongest man for the last two years in a row, illustrated that he doesn’t hold that title lightly with a ridiculous show of strength at a World Strongmen Federation event in Uzbekistan over the weekend. Pa was triumphant in the deadlift event after lifting a barely believable weight of 520 kg, which is over half a ton and just 4kg short of the world record. The success in the competition was just the latest achievement in what has been a very successful year for Pa, who retained his title as Ireland’s strongest man for the second year on the trot and finished in third place in the UK Strongman 2017 competition back in August. Pa placed in sixth place overall out of 14 competitors at the weekend, but tells JOE that at 22 and a half stone, he was the smallest of all the contestants, who hailed from Russia, the USA, Latvia and elsewhere. Winning the deadlift event was undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend and although he doesn’t have video footage of the winning lift, you can see him doing so in the picture below. Here, meanwhile, is Pa deadlifting 410kg, which must have seemed feather-like in comparison to the winning lift. https://youtu.be/842IuduA7_A Pa reckons he might be fit to have another crack at the world record in February, preparation for which will include adherence to a fairly crazy diet that involves putting away 8-10,000 calories a day, as he told JOE last year. And you thought you were going to have a lot to eat this Christmas. Main image via Facebook/Ireland's Strongest Man