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Dec 2020
Harrogate man finishes 9th at World's Strongest Man
A Harrogate man is set to dominate TV screens over the festive period after finishing ninth at the World's Strongest Man.
Luke Richardson's result in Florida completed a remarkable year that has seen him go from novice to one of the most talked about strength athletes on the planet at the age of just 23.
Luke, a former powerlifter, only took part in his first strongman competition last year. Since then he has finished fourth at Britain's Strongest Man, won Europe's Strongest Man and is now ranked ninth in the world.
Channel 5 is due to broadcast coverage of all three events over Christmas and New Year.
It's still sinking in for Luke, who was working as a lifeguard at Starbeck Baths recently and is now a professional strongman with his own gym, multiple sponsors and almost 60,000 Instagram followers. He says:
"It's been quite a year. But I was actually a bit disappointed with my performance in the World's Strongest Man final.
"I held my own on some events but some silly mistakes on others let me down. Next year I'd like to get in the top five, then finish on the podium and then maybe win a few."
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Luke would become the youngest ever winner of the World's Strongest Man if he takes the title in 2021. Beyond that, he has his sights set on breaking the all-time record of five World's Strongest Man titles held by Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski. He says:
"It's a tall order but i've got age on my side and I love what I do. It's my passion."
Starbeck school
Luke has lived in Harrogate all of his life. He attended Starbeck Community Primary School and Harrogate High School and discovered he was "quite strong" when he joined Phoenix Fitness in Starbeck at 18.
North Yorkshire is a strongman hotspot. Darren Sadler, a former World's Strongest Man competitor who now organises many of the leading events, owns Absolute Fitness in Boroughbridge which attracts many top competitors.
Luke trains there on a Monday night but has opened a gym in Wetherby with his training partner Richard Parish called the LR Strength Shed.
He entered his first powerlifting competition when he was 19 and won three British, two European and one world title before switching to strongman 18 months ago.
He only lost one powerlifting competition and at 21 became the youngest person ever to achieve a total of 1,000 kg in the three powerlifting lifts when he managed a 403 kg squat, 222.5 kg bench press and 385 kg deadlift.
Weighs 150 kg
Strongman is far more multi-faceted than many people realise, which makes Luke's rapid ascent to the top even more remarkable. Luke, who is 6 ft 3 tall and weighs 150 kg, explains:
"My training has changed massively. You have to be the most versatile athlete: you've got to have the strength of a powerlifter and the movement of a Cross-Fitter. You have to be a jack of all trades.
"The guy who can pull 500kg on a deadlift probably won't be as good carrying five sacks down a course because he won't be as quick. You have to be fit, fast and big."
6,000 calories a day
Luke trains five days a week for four hours a time. He eats 6,000 calories daily in five meals.
By strongman standards, he's quite small. Hafþór Björnsson, the Icelandic former World's Strongest Man and Game of Thrones star, is 6 ft 11 and 205 kg. Luke says:
"We are emerging out of the era of mass giants. You don't have to be 200kg to win these days."
It isn't easy for strongmen to blend in but Luke still walks around Harrogate largely unnoticed. Does he ever get recognised?
"Sometimes when I'm in shops. I don't mind. It's nice to be recognised when you try hard to achieve something."
After this month's strongman TV coverage, it may happen more often.
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