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British strength athlete From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Laurence Cristiaan David Shahlaei (born 25 December 1982) is an English YouTuber, strength sports commentator, analyst, coach, and a retired strongman and powerlifting competitor. He is most noted for winning the 2016 Europe's Strongest Man competition. [1]
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He has made the finals of the World's Strongest Man competition 5 times, winning fourth place in 2011.[2] He also won fifth place at the 2018 World's Ultimate Strongman,[3] and seventh place at the 2012 Arnold Strongman Classic.[4] He is also the winner of England's Strongest Man (2009) and Britain's Strongest Man (2012, 2013) at the national circuit.
Shahlaei was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.[5] His father is Iranian from Kermanshah and his mother is English from Newcastle upon Tyne. He attended Balcarras School, and later moved to Stroud, Gloucestershire[5] where he developed his passion towards strength sports.
Shahlaei started strongman training in 2005 and entered his first novice competition that year, where he finished 8th. Within two years, he entered his first Britain's Strongest Man ("BSM"), having won the Midlands qualifier. In that competition, he made a huge impact, making it to the final, only to tear his biceps in the tyre flip, which forced him to withdraw. He won the Midlands qualifier again in 2008, and once again made the final, this time finishing 4th behind Jimmy Marku, Terry Hollands, and Mark Felix. This placing landed him an invite to the World's Strongest Man in 2008. He did not make the final.
In 2009, four years after beginning strongman, he became the UKSC Midlands Strongest Man and also won the UKSC England's Strongest Man, citing this, alongside his WSM 2008 squat win, as the greatest moment of his career (Shahlaei did not compete in the WSM qualifier titled "England's Strongest Man", which replaced the Britain's Strongest Man contest in 2009 and was won by Terry Hollands). His favourite strongman events are the Squat for reps, Farmer's walk, and Super Yoke, while his least favourite is the Atlas stones.[6]
In his career spanning across 15 years, Shahlaei has competed in 55 international competitions and won 8 of them[7] including his best win, the 2016 Europe's Strongest Man. He also managed to win the 4th place at the 2011 World's Strongest Man while securing 7th, 9th, 9th and 10th places in 2017, 2009, 2014 and 2016. Laurence also competed in the inaugural World's Ultimate Strongman competition in Dubai at the Bab al-Shams Arena in October 2018. He placed 5th in a stacked field of 12.[8] He also placed 7th in the 2012 Arnold Strongman Classic, widely considered the heaviest and most difficult strongman competition in the world.[9] His final competition was the 2021 Giants Live Strongman Classic where he won 7th place.
Shahlaei had an acting role in film The Golden Compass (2007).[10] On 19 August 2011, Shahlaei competed on Deal or No Deal, where he won £20,000 and lifted presenter Noel Edmonds up above his head. In August 2012, Shahlaei opened a personal training business in Swindon, Wiltshire. Shahlaei has since written various training programs which he sells via his website, as well as various other merchandise labeled 'Team Loz'.
Since retiring from competition, Shahlaei has become a popular strongman analyst and commentator. Alongside his wife Elizabeth, they maintain a YouTube channel taitled Big Loz Official[11] sponsored by Cerberus Strength. Since 2016, the channel has covered many strongman-related topics including training, event coverage, athletes and competition analysis, strongman history, trivia, predictions, new developments and live Q&A sessions with strongman fans, and has released more than 1,500 videos.
On 2 May 2020, Shahlaei was the official commentator of Hafþór Björnsson's 501 kg world record deadlift done in World's Ultimate Strongman Feats of Strength series during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic. He was also an official commentator at the 2022 Rogue Invitational[12] and 2024 Shaw Classic.
Shahlaei also runs a coaching business, with a number of his clients competing in major strongman competitions. In 2023, he coached Mitchell Hooper to both the Arnold Strongman Classic and World's Strongest Man titles,[13] and also trains 2018 World's Strongest Woman (WSW) champion Andrea Thompson and 2022 America's Strongest Man (ASM) champion Bobby Thompson among a few others.
Shahlaei and his wife, Elizabeth (Liz) Mason, live in Swindon, Wiltshire.[14]
They have 3 children[15] daughters Ava, Alexa and son Lewis, whom Shahlaei described as his greatest achievements.
Powerlifting
Strongman
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