Hafthor Björnsson has just become the first person in history to deadlift 510kg – smashing his own record set in July.
Check out the history moment unfold below:
On the evening of September 6, 2025, inside the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, England, the 36-year-old Icelandic strongman and former Game of Thrones star stunned a packed crowd at the Giants Live Strongman – hosting the Mutant Nation World Deadlift Championships – by successfully pulling 510 kilograms (1,124 pounds) from the floor.
The lift, cheered on by thousands of fans, makes Björnsson the undisputed king of the deadlift, surpassing his own mark set just weeks earlier.
The 6ft 9in Icelander and spectators roared as Björnsson became the first man to cross the 1,120lb barrier – the heaviest deadlift in history.
In response to the outstanding accomplishment, social media users and fans have flooded the Icelandic giant with praise. “OH MY GOD. That was easier than his 501 and 505. This man is a living legend and I hope he pushes the record so far that no one will be able to touch it for decades. Absolutely mind blowing,” one person wrote on YouTube.
“Absolutly ludicrous, the greatest lift of all time no contest, that speed was insane,” a second added, with a third writing: “An incredible feat, congratulations Thor!”
Björnsson’s achievement was not without hardship. A torn pectoral muscle in 2023 and a frightening accident earlier this year—when he dropped a 200kg barbell on his back—raised questions about whether he could ever return to world record form.
But months of relentless training paid off. “This is the product of more than twenty years of work,” Björnsson said in Germany after his 505kg lift, per Men’s Health.
Despite Thor’s long-standing rivalry with fellow strongman Eddie Hall, the 2017 World’s Strongest Man has been supportive in his comments over the last few months.
Back in July, prior to Thor’s 505kg pull, Hall wrote on Instagram: ‘Massive good luck to Thor this weekend as he goes for the 505kg deadlift. I truly hope he nails it – it would be an incredible achievement and something the whole strength world would celebrate. There’s been some bad things said from Thor’s side about me this week, but I just want to put all that aside and say this: Thor is one of the greatest strength athletes of all time. His contributions to the sport – from winning World’s Strongest Man to setting records – have inspired millions, myself included. I genuinely wish him nothing but success and happiness in this next chapter.
“I’m proud to have lifted 500kg back in 2016 and helped show that the ‘impossible’ might just be possible. One day, 500kg might just be a warm-up – and that’s a beautiful thing to witness.”
No doubt all the strongman community will be praising Thor following today’s accomplishment.
Björnsson, who first entered the record books with a 501kg deadlift in 2020, has been steadily rewriting history. In July 2025, at the Eisenhart Black Competition in Bavaria, Germany, he became the first man to pull 505kg in front of a live arena crowd—erasing any doubts left from his lockdown-era record.
That lift was praised across the strongman world, including by his former rival Eddie Hall, who famously pulled 500kg in 2016. “Records were meant to be broken,” Hall said at the time.
But Björnsson wasn’t finished. Today, just over a month later, he walked into Birmingham’s Utilita Arena with the weight of history on his shoulders — and added another 5kg to his total, etching his name into history again.
Featured image credit: Instagram/YouTube/@giantslivestrongman (Screenshot)
