Brian Shaw won his 4th World's Strongest Man title, putting him in an elite group of only three other men; Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Magnús Ver Magnússon, and Žydrūnas Savickas.

Various world records were broken in the course of the qualifying heats and the grand final, including the Keg Toss at 7 meters 25 centimetres.

[3][4] Heat 1 featured three former finalists (Arsjo, Felix and Oberst) and three young hopefuls (Belsak, Licis and Stoltman), with the latter two being rookies.

The big stage didn't intimidate Martins Licis, the American running out to a lead in the Loading Race, getting three barrels in 41.01 seconds.

The heat started with a disaster for Eddie Hall, who dislocated two fingers while training for the Barrel Loading Race.

Next up was the Deadlift for reps. Nick Best, finally putting his back problems to rest, managed a solid 12 reps while Szymanski got nine.

These two, Hafthor Bjornsson of Iceland and Terry Hollands of Great Britain, had combined for 14 final appearances and six podiums before arriving in Botswana.

An interesting fact is that all of the athletes in the group were 196 cm (6 ft 5 in) or more in height, the shortest man being Colm Woulfe.

The first event, the Loading Race, saw Bjornsson win easily, finishing 26 seconds faster than his closest rival, Derek DeVaughan.

The American beat Johnny Hansson of Sweden by 5 seconds, while Terry Hollands, battling an illness, finished in 4th place.

Hollands just cleared 6.75 meters to tie for the second spot with rookies Janashia and Hansson, but Thor was yet again unstoppable.

However, the opposite materialized: Hollands struggled and finished with three lifts, while Janashia was solid and managed five reps to take the lead.

While all Hafthor Bjornsson needed to qualify was to put one stone up, Terry Hollands had to beat Konstantine Janashia and hope that someone snuck in between him and the Georgian.

This meant that Bjornsson, of course, qualified, while Konstantine Janashia created one of the biggest upsets in World's Strongest Man history by beating Terry Hollands, a nine-time finalist, in the heats.

Laurence Shahlaei, freshly crowned Europe's Strongest Man, was one of them, and so was Jean-François Caron of Canada, a three-time finalist.

Four rookies made up the rest of the heat; Mikhail Shivlyakov, a 2015 finalist, was supposed to be there but pulled out and was replaced by Stan Carradine.

The Hercules Hold, a classic test of grip strength, saw Carradine set the early pace by posting a time of 41.68 seconds.

It was then on to the Squat Lift, and neither of the first four men to go made an impression as Ari Gunnarsson took the lead with three reps. Caron and Shahlaei decided to settle for the tie and 5.5 points each, both of them getting four easy reps before stopping.

Heat 5 featured the defending World's Strongest Man, Brian Shaw, squaring up against five men who had never made the final.

Eben Le Roux and Gerhard Van Staden were veterans of the competition, while Mateusz Kieliszkowski, Charlie Gough and Johan Els were rookies.

Els performed well again in the Bus Pull, finishing just behind his compatriot Van Staden, but Shaw set a time of 41 seconds to send a message to the rest of the heat.

The Car Deadlift was a struggle for Els, who only got two reps. Kieliszkowski, suffering from back problems, managed five, while Van Staden and Gough tied with seven reps. Brian Shaw got 10 very easy lifts in less than 30 seconds, before stopping to save energy.

In the Viking Press, Els struggled again while Van Staden set a solid mark of six repetitions to beat.

Shaw lifted four fast, while Kieliszkowski was a bit slower, but both men moved on to the final in strong fashion.

[4] The final featured five first-time finalists, including three World's Strongest Man rookies, a number not seen since the days of the IFSA split in the mid-2000s.

Hafthor Bjornsson, having lost the pulling events in 2014 and 2015, drove very hard and fought for every inch, taking the lead with a distance of 24.90 meters.

Still, this meant Shaw now had a three-point lead heading into the stones, while the battle for third was a one-point affair between Janashia and Hall.

Konstantine Janashia and Eddie Hall were in a battle for a podium, the winner of their duel guaranteeing the third spot in the 2016 World's Strongest Man competition.

The duel for the title was next, but The Mountain had a tall one to climb: He had to win the event and hope for Shaw to finish in over 34.80 seconds.

Brian Shaw's title tied him with Zydrunas Savickas, Magnus Ver Magnusson and Jon Pall Sigmarsson for second in all-time victories, while Hafthor Bjornsson had to make do with a fifth career podium.