Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, The “Mountain” From ‘Game of Thrones,’ Wins World’s Strongest Man Competition

If, when you’re watching Game of Thrones scenes with Gregor Clegane (aka “The Mountain”), you say to yourself, “That guy ought to be lifting and pulling heavy objects and earning trophies for it,” well then you know what you are talking about. For it turns out that Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, the actor behind The Mountain, has been competing in World’s Strongest Man competitions for the past several years, and in 2018 he finally emerged victorious.

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The 29-year-old, 6’9″, 400-lb. Icelander (side note: whenever someone approaches seven feet and 400 pounds, I cannot help but think of the classic SNL Bill Brasky sketches) had finished second in the past two competitions and either third or fourth in the four previous years. He posted a pic of himself holding his trophy aloft on Instagram to thank his loved ones and fans for their continued support:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BibxEDfFNOV/?utm_source=ig_embed

The World’s Strongest Man finals were held this past weekend in Manila, the Philippines. For those of you keeping track, second went to Poland’s Mateusz Kieliszkowski, while Brian Shaw of the U.S. managed to snag third place.

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The Mountain’s fate for the eighth and final Game of Thrones season (set to air sometime in 2019) is uncertain, though he probably will not ascend to the Throne as definitively as he ascended to the top of the World’s Strongest Man heap. Though if I were Bjornsson, I would insist to David Benioff and D.B. Weiss that I get some screentime tossing a boulder hundreds of yards or dragging a tractor-trailer atop some dragons.