Any Game of Thrones fan who watched The Mountain crush Oberyn Martell’s head with his bare hands knows that actor Hafþór “Thor” Björnsson is strong, but we didn’t know he was this strong.
Before becoming an actor, Björnsson’s main claim to fame was as a professional strongman, meaning it’s literally his job to lift very heavy things while competing against the strongest people in the world. He’s quite good at it, too, as Björnsson has been crowned Europe’s Strongest Man five times, won the gold medal at the Arnold Strongman Classic in each of the last three years, and in 2018, he won the prestigious title of World’s Strongest Man. Now, Björnsson has a new world record to add to his already impressive résumé, as Thor recently broke the record for the heaviest deadlift ever.
Performing the lift in his native Iceland, Björnsson heaved a whopping 501 kg — that’s 1,104.52 pounds to you and me. The lift is the most weight anyone has ever lifted on record, and it’s also the first time that anyone has ever lifted more than 500 kg. In other words, this dude is living up to his Thunder God nickname in every way imaginable. It’s not the first time Thor has broken the world deadlift record, either — he did it back in 2018 — but the new record does suggest that he’s somehow getting stronger, which should really worry his strongman competition.
You can check out the video of Thor’s record-breaking lift from ESPN below if you want to marvel at just how much a steel bar can bend without breaking.
