Third World Title for vegan strongman

An incredible year continues for Britain’s Tom Butts, who followed his Britain’s Strongest Man with an attempt at a third title at Natural Strongman’s World Championships.

He faced 23 of the planet’s strongest in the u90 kg category. They faced seven events including titanic static tussles and mobile events which tested the heart and lungs as well the as the raw strength.

“This was by far the mentally toughest competition I’ve ever done” Tom reflected afterwards. “This year there was a huge expectation to win, from the outside world, the strongman community, and from myself.”

“I used to be nervous just before stepping out onto the comp floor, now it’s more like anxiety for a good while building up to it.”

The first events saw some outstanding performances from those around him, and winning the last event on day one still placed him off the pace.

“I only gained 1 point on Jakub (cutting the lead to 12 points), as he came 2nd.” Jakab Navratil of the Czech Republic was considered his main rival.

On the second day he won all the events, finishing with a 5.5 point lead to take the title.

Overall he was top three in six of the seven events, showing the power of consistency.

Over the course of the competition he had deadlifted 260 kg for reps, completed a 150 kg axle overhead clean and press, and loaded multiple 120 kg sandbags.

Vegan power

Tom has been vegan since 2020, and had never competed before this. The change was “purely for animal ethics and not wanting to contribute to animal agriculture”. He eats plenty of carbs, and hits protein targets with his food, saying “I have four meals a day and roughly 3,700kcal. Meals vary in size, but usually have around 50g protein and are just shy of 1,000 kcal.”

Wins at this level rarely come easily, and Tom reflects on the effort needed to fight for his title.

“I knew from then going into Day 2, it wasn’t in my hands anymore. No matter how well I did, Jakub just needed to place decently in the last 3 events to win. I can’t be confident when the win is out of my hands.”