Many fans of strongman consider Zydrunas Savickas versus Brian Shaw to be one of the greatest - if not the greatest - rivalry in the sport's history. Longtime fans of the sport and athletes will get to see at least one more chapter in this historic story.
Savickas - a four-time World's Strongest Man and eight-time Arnold Strongman Classic Champion - has been confirmed by Shaw as the final athlete to accept an invitation to join the rest of the roster and compete in the 2021 Shaw Classic. The news was shared on a video published on his YouTube channel on March 5th. You can hear Shaw make the announcement at the 3:40 mark in the video below.
Shaw said that Savickas was supposed to compete in the inaugural contest in 2020, but it ultimately didn't happen. He did share his excitement about his presence this year.
“Everybody that was excited about that, I'm personally excited about that, and am certainly glad that Zydrunas had decided to compete in the contest, and I think that it's going to be just amazing.”
When the 45 year old Savickas travels to Colorado to take part in this competition, it will be his first international contest as a competitor since he finished 10th at the 2018 World's Strongest Man. In recent years, he had been involved in the sport as a judge, most notably in the World's Ultimate Strongman “Feats of Strength” series. He did dominate the 2020 Lithuania's Strongest Man contest and win the Static Monsters Worldwide online event last year.
The competitive rivalry between the two greats goes back over a decade when Shaw first started rising as a competitor on the world stage. The 2010 World's Strongest Man contest showed them tied on points at the end. Savickas claimed the title as a result of him having one more second place finish than Shaw. The 2011 contest featured Shaw defeating Savickas to take his first of four career WSM titles. They also battled on the Arnold Strongman Classic stage numerous times. Savickas has eight of those titles overall to his credit while Shaw has three.
[Competing in or training for strongman? Check out our list of the best lifting straps for strength athletes.]
There was even more news shared on Shaw's video. He has decided to move the 2021 Shaw Classic contest from its original date of October 29th and 30th to earlier in the year. It will now be held August 27th and 28th. This is due to a conflict of dates with Rogue, which plans to announce its own contest on those dates. The 2021 Shaw Classic will still take place in Estes Park, Colorado. Shaw shared in the video that news about tickets and other announcements would be forthcoming in the near future.
Featured Image: @kest_visual_artist, from @Savickas_bigz on Instagram
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