Stefán Sölvi Pétursson
Stefán Sölvi Pétursson (born 20 March 1986) is an Icelandic strongman competitor and a finalist of the World's Strongest Man competition, winning 4th place in the 2010 World's Strongest Man competition held in Sun City (South Africa) and 9th place in the 2011 World's Strongest Man competition held in Wingate, North Carolina. He has also won Icelandic Strongman competitions multiple times including Iceland’s Strongest Man in 2009 and 2010. Career. Stefán was just 20 when he won his first major senior strongman title, becoming Iceland's Strongest Viking in 2006. Prior to that  he had concentrated on powerlifting, but being inspired by Jón Páll Sigmarsson he continued with the sport of strongman. That same year he finished second in the IFSA version of the Iceland's Strongest Man, eventually winning the title in 2008. He was invited to the prestigious Highlander World Championships in 2008, as well as an invitation to Fortissimus in 2008 where he won 8th place out of a stacked field of 13. In 2009 he won third place in the Giants Live Poland and again 3rd place in 2010 in the Giants Live Turkey. He also won 2nd place  in 2012 King of the Castle competition in Finland and again 2nd place in 2012 All-American Strongman Challenge. Later in 2012, tragedy struck as Stefán was diagnosed with Supraventricular tachycardia which took him about 3 years to recover. Returning to Strongman, Stefán unfortunately sustained a major injury during the frame carry event at 2016 Europe's Strongest Man and had to withdraw from competing again until full recovery. Stefán was intrigued with the sport of strongman after seeing Jón Páll Sigmarsson, whom he considers as one of his biggest inspirations. Apart from Jón Páll, he has also cited Žydrūnas  Savickas as someone he has deep admiration for, and his good friend and long term training partner Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, believing them to be the strongest strongmen ever. In 2018, Stefán co-produced and starred in the documentary film 'Fullsterkur' (literally translates as 'full strength' in English) which explores the history and culture of heavy stone lifting in Iceland. Stefán's favourite strongman event is also Natural stone loading.