Raul Flores pulls 511kg for a new deadlift world record in Birmingham

Mexico's Raul Flores deadlifted 511kg (1,126.6lb) at the SBD World Deadlift Championships, held on Saturday 5 September at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham. The lift beat the record of 510kg set by Hafthor Julius Bjornsson at the same event in 2025 by exactly one kilogram.

Flores, 26, from Ciudad Victoria in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, becomes the first Mexican to hold the outright world record in the discipline and only the third man to complete an official strongman deadlift above 500kg. His previous competition best stood at 480kg from 2025, so the record attempt added 31kg to his own mark. Organisers reported that Bjornsson came out from backstage to congratulate him.

World Deadlift Championships

The deadlift was the first of five events at the Giants Live Strongman Open and the only one contested for a maximum. The placings:

• 1. Raul Flores (Mexico) — 511kg, world record
• 2. Hafthor Bjornsson (Iceland) — 480kg
• 3. Adam Bishop (England) — 470kg
• 4th-7th. Austin Andrade, Bryce Johnson, Evans Nana Aryee and James Jeffers — 453.5kg each
• 8th-10th. Gavin Bilton, Nick Guardione and Trey Mitchell — 425kg each
• 11th-12th. Ben Glasscock and Matyas Funiok — 400kg each

Bjornsson did not go on to heavier attempts after 480kg. His own record run in recent seasons went through 505kg and then 510kg, but on this night he was defending the overall Open title rather than a single-event mark.

Overall Open standings

Bjornsson held on to the title he won last season, finishing five points clear:

• 1. Hafthor Bjornsson — 50.5 points
• 2. Evans Nana Aryee (Ghana) — 45.5
• 3. Matyas Funiok (Czech Republic) — 44
• 4. Ben Glasscock (England) — 35.5
• 5. Trey Mitchell (USA) — 34

Second place gave Nana Aryee his first Giants Live podium, while Funiok, at 20, was the youngest man in the top three.

Event winners

• SBD World Deadlift Championships — Raul Flores, 511kg
• MIRAFIT Load & Push — Ben Glasscock, 46.64 seconds
• IRONRHINO Titan's Toss — Hafthor Bjornsson, nine bags in 31.05 seconds
• VITAKICK Dumbbell Press for Reps — Ben Glasscock, Evans Nana Aryee and Trey Mitchell tied on seven reps
• Castle Water Stones — Matyas Funiok, five stones in 22.87 seconds

How the record has moved

England's Eddie Hall was the first man past 500kg, in 2016, also at the World Deadlift Championships. Bjornsson pulled 501kg at World's Ultimate Strongman in 2020, then moved the mark to 505kg and 510kg last year. Flores has now added another kilogram, taking the total progression over a decade to 11kg.

All of these lifts were made under strongman rules, which permit a belt, straps and a deadlift suit, so they are not comparable to raw powerlifting results. Giants Live did not publish where Flores finished in the overall Open standings.