| Stefán Sölvi Pétursson | |
| Birth Date: | 20 March 1986[1] |
| Birth Place: | Iceland |
| Occupation: | Strongman, Highland games |
| Weight: | NaNkg (-2,147,483,648lb) |
| Medaltemplates: | [2] |
Stefán Sölvi Pétursson (born 20 March 1986) is an Icelandic strongman 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.[3] He has also won Icelandic Strongman competitions multiple times including Iceland’s Strongest Man in 2009 and 2010.[4]
Stefán was just 20 when he won his first major senior strongman title, becoming Iceland's Strongest Viking in 2006. At 22 years and 178 days old, he is also the 7th youngest athlete in history to qualify for the World's Strongest Man competition. Prior to that he had concentrated on powerlifting, however 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.[5] 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[6] which took him about 3 years to recover, in addition to getting injured during 2012 Nordic Strongman Championships in Harstad, Norway.[7] Upon returning to Strongman, Stefán 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. Despite never getting fully recovered from the injury, he returned to competitive strongman in 10 months and continued with World's Strongest Man, Strongman Champions League and International Strongman Federation, but a biceps tear, which occurred during 2020 Iceland’s Strongest Man competition, forced him to retire from competitive strongman.
Stefán was intrigued with the sport of strongman after seeing Jón Páll Sigmarsson, whom he considers as one of his biggest inspirations.[8] 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,[9] 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.[10] Stefán's favourite strongman event is also Natural stone loading.