VIDEO: The World's Strongest Man has more brains than brawn

When Rayno Nel stood on top of the podium in Sacramento, California, this past Sunday, having just been crowned the World’s Strongest Man, it raised many eyebrows.

However, back in Bloemfontein, there were a few ‘I told you so‘ remarks.

The 30-year-old Nel had upstaged defending champion Tom Stoltman, a winner in three of the previous four world championships, and the 2023 winner Mitchell Hooper.

It mattered not that Nel’s winning margin was by the slimmest of margins, just 0.5 points.

Andre ‘Skillie’ Bester, coach of the CUT Ixias Varsity Cup and Varsity Shield teams, knew from the outset he had found a gem at Hoërskool Duineveld in Upington, in the Northern Cape, all those years ago.

“I recruited him and [World Cup-winning Springbok] Japer Wiese together,” Bester told @rugby365com.

“From the outset, he [Nel] was more than just a player.

“He was a leader in every aspect,” he said of a guy who captained the Central University of Technology to their first Varsity Cup win.

“He is a person who does not understand the meaning of giving up.

“However, his studies were always a priority,” he said of Nel, who graduated with an M.Eng in Engineering and works as an Electrical Engineer.

Now he competes in one of the most demanding sports.

The World’s Strongest Man competition is designed to push the Strongmen to their absolute limits, challenging not only their physical strength but also their agility and mental toughness.

Nel’s meteoric rise in the sport has seen him win several international titles since he took up the sport in 2023.

He is a two-time Africa’s Strongest Man, a two-time South Africa’s Strongest Man and the defending Strongman Champions League world champion.

Nel is the first World’s Strongest Man winner from South Africa, from the continent of Africa and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first rookie winner since 1997.

* @king365ed sat down with Nel to get to know South Africa’s latest world champion!

The early years

Like a typical South African, strongman competitions were not part of his goals or dreams.

“The dream was to play for the Springboks,” Nel told @rugby365com, adding: “I pursued that dream until my early 20s.”

He spent his entire school life in Upington and only moved to Bloemfontein after Bester recruited him during his matric year.

But his studies were always a priority.

“Engineering is a big passion for me.

“I shot myself in the foot in terms of my rugby, because I never wanted to miss class and wanted to be well prepared for exams.

“I’m glad I studied engineering, but they are worlds apart.

“Strongman is this hardcore sport where you pick up heavy stuff, pull trucks and things.

“Then, in my day job, I sit in front of a computer crunching the numbers.”

At university, his ‘main pillars’ of life were studying and playing rugby.

“For me, it was a perfect world – being able to play rugby and study engineering, the two things I loved the most.”

At 191 centimetres, he often played lock, but calls himself a flank at heart, but a lock by choice – the coaches’ choice.

“I wanted to play No.7 flank, but was pushed into lock.

“You won’t believe it if you see my weight now [148kg], but I was a mobile player and I have extremely long arms, which helped me in the line-outs.”

He had one season for the Cheetahs’ senior team in the Challenge Cup.

“It is something I am proud of, having made it to that level of the game.”

Difficult life choices

Nel said a serious knee injury in 2018, his final year at university, forced him to make a life-changing decision.

“The plan was to finish my studies and pursue rugby,” he told @rugby365com.

After having undergone surgery, to cover the ‘cost of life’ he had to start working.

In 2019, he worked full-time.

“It was the best life decision to make, carrying on as an engineer.”

He loves his career choices and says he doesn’t regret the decisions he made.

With COVID in 2020, it was a ‘no-brainer’ that he continued his career path in engineering.

When the strongman bug bit, and got a coach

As a competitive person, he eventually felt the need to return to sport, and he enjoyed Strongman competitions since his childhood.

“I admired them a lot,” he said of the competitors.

“After COVID, I fell into the work trap and by the end of 2022, I knew I had to do something.

“I wanted to do sport. It is the type of person that I am.”

At the start of 2023, he took the plunge and started his Strongman journey.

Having followed his then-girlfriend, now wife, to Krugersdorp, it was Chris van der Linde, the reigning African Deadlift record holder, who directed him to a strongman gymnasium on the West Rand of Johannesburg.

“I went there and the guy who owns the gym, Terence Bosman, became my mentor and is my coach to this day – an amazing strongman and amazing coach.

“Everything just fell into place.”

He added that moving from Upington, even though it was with a detour through Bloemfontein, he is still adjusting to the city life in Johannesburg.

The wildcard

Nel said he is ‘built’ for the sport of Strongman competitions.

“Halfway through my first year of competition, I was crowned SA Strongman champion,” he told @rugby365com, adding: “That same year I was also crowned Africa’s strongest man.”

No records exist that can confirm it, but it is probably the first time a rookie won both those titles in his first year.

He defended both titles in 2024 and set sail for the international circuit.

The qualifiers for the World’s Strongest Man finals were held in America, and Nel could not attend them in 2024.

However, he competed in the Strongman Champions League series, where he placed first in all three – in Groenlo (Netherlands), Cape Town (South Africa) and Alanya (Turkey).

He also featured in the Siberian Power Show in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

That and some heavy lobbying by Strongman fans resulted in a wildcard invite to the World’s Strongest Man finals in Sacramento, California, this month.

“The invite came just before the competition, and I went for it.”

He said for someone coming from rugby, it is a very different sport.

“Exercises don’t last longer than two minutes at a time,” he explained.

“Even what a Strongman will call cardio, a rugby player will laugh at it.

“It is extreme heat [intensity] and very heavy weights for two minutes.”

Exercises include pulling a truck, Carry & Hoist, an 18-inch Deadlift, Hercules Hold, Flintstone Barbell and Atlas Stones.

“It is generally testing every day movements, but with a heavy, heavy load.”

One of the most intense disciplines is the Deadlift, which requires as much technique as it does strength.

Nel, with 490kg, finished second behind American Trey Mitchell (500kg), who eventually finished fourth overall.

“If your technique is not correct, you will fracture your back,” the South African said.

“Overhead presses are far more technical. In Strongman, you don’t bench a lot, but do overhead presses.

“In those events, technique can give you up to a 30 percent improvement.

“It is an unforgiving sport if your technique is not good.”

The future of a Strongman competitor

At the age of 30, Nel is just reaching the peak of his strength and can go for a few more years.

“It is comparable to a prop in rugby,” he said, adding: “You age like wine, and Strongman is the same.

“I’m in the prime of my journey.

“I would like to defend my World’s Strongest Man title at least once.

“There are other major events also on my bucket list.

“I want to be active. I am still new in the sport and want to see the world.

“I want to compete against everyone out there – in competitions like the Arnold [Strongman Classic], Brian Shaw [four-time World’s Strongest Man champion and three-time winner of the Arnold Strongman Classic] has his competition, the Strongest Man on Earth [or Shaw Classic].

“Those are the big ones I also want to win.”

He said he is still not making any money, but his world title now has offers streaming in.

“The money in this sport is not comparable to any other professional sport.

“It is up to you to set up the financial stability and get sponsors.

“I love the sport and want to do it professionally.”

Parting shot

As a Northern Cape scholar and a former Cheetahs player, his rugby loyalties are further north – the Bulls.

“If you told me that 10 years ago, I would have been upset with you and thought you are the biggest fibber.

“However, I support the Bulls.”

@king365ed
@rugby365com

Picture credit: Rich Storry/World’s Strongest Man