It was a shock to everyone, including himself, when Quebec City’s Gabriel Rhéaume clinched the title of Canada’s Strongest Man with an event to spare...
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It was a shock to everyone, including himself, when Quebec City’s Gabriel Rhéaume clinched the title of Canada’s Strongest Man with an event to spare.
"I just wanted to stay close to the top guys. I was aiming for a top 5 finish, and I trained really hard… This is the result!" an ecstatic Rhéaume told the crowd.
The 24-year-old delivered a very impressive performance throughout the weekend. Despite winning only one of the ten events - the Viking Press, where he powered his way to 14 reps - Rhéaume was consistently in the top 5 places, which brought him the title as his fellow competitors all lost major points in at least one discipline.
It was the first time since 2010 that someone other than Jean-François Caron won the Canadian title. The nine-time winner was forced to miss this year’s edition due to a serious hamstring injury suffered at this year’s World’s Strongest Man. Still, Caron worked hard to organize the two-day competition, which brought hundreds of fans to the small town of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, near Quebec City.
The Turning Point
Odds-on favourite Maxime Boudreault had been trailing Gabriel Rhéaume by four points after the first day of competition. Boudreault was looking for his first Canada’s Strongest Man title, just over a month after finishing 3rd in the World’s Strongest Man competition. The man from Thunder Bay saw his chance in event 7, the Loading Race. Boudreault easily loaded the first three implements, but the 360-pound train wheel caused him some problems as he could not position it high enough on his chest. Boudreault’s right ring finger became stuck between the wheel and the platform, and although he ended up loading the implement in a winning time of 47.28 seconds, the damage was done.
In the Viking Press, Boudreault struggled with a shoulder injury he had suffered at World’s Strongest Man. Normally, any overhead pressing event is great for Boudreault, but he had to settle for 15th place (of 17) on Sunday afternoon, conceding 14 points to Rhéaume.
The Power Medley saw Boudreault unable to squeeze the farmer’s walk implements because of his finger injury. After attempting it twice, the Ontarian let out a disgusted scream and walked away in pain.
This left the door wide open for Gabriel Rhéaume, and he took advantage of it. Rhéaume, who trains at Jean-François Caron’s gym in Quebec City, clinched his victory with a solid performance in the Power Medley, where he made a 915-lb yoke and a 366-lb farmer’s walk (for 15 metres each) look easy.
In the end, Rhéaume won by an astounding 15 points. Although he was not a household name before the weekend, the international strength community will certainly be aware of him now.
Up-and-coming Talent
The World’s Strongest Man podium finisher ended up missing out on the top 3 places because of excellent efforts by Wesley Derwinsky and Sean Hayes.
Derwinsky, from Thorold, Ontario, showed his tremendous potential on Saturday by completing all 8 kegs in the 40 to 55 lb Keg Toss, in a time that would have rivalled the likes of Tom Stoltman, Jean-François Caron and Brian Shaw. He also demonstrated his speed and agility in the Loading Race, finishing 3rd in the event, and in the Power Medley, narrowly missing out on the win.
Derwinsky then won the final event of the weekend, the Power Stairs, in dominant fashion, being the only athlete to complete all 15 stairs. This was no small feat, as most of the athletes had difficulty walking at that point.
This was the case for British Columbia’s Sean Hayes, who suffered a quad tear in the Atlas Stones but courageously carried on during Sunday’s events. Hayes had won the Deadlift on Saturday, and he then managed to maintain himself in the top 8 in every event.
The Power Stairs proved to be a scary moment for Hayes, who either needed 7 stairs or 6 in a good time to guarantee himself a podium finish. However, the British Columbian ran out of gas after the sixth step, and he had to rely on his time. Luckily for Hayes, he had done enough to hold off an injured Boudreault for 3rd place.
Hayes’s performance gave Western Canada its first podium since 2012 (Scott Cummine). With Quebec, Ontario and Western Canada represented in the top 3, it was the first time in the 22-year history of the competition that less than two Quebec athletes finished on the podium.
A Courageous Return
Former World’s Strongest Man competitor Jimmy Paquet knew that he was not in his best shape coming into Canada’s Strongest Man, but he showed up anyway.
"I came here for some motivation to train harder, and it definitely worked. I will compete in strongman as long as my body allows me to do so", said Paquet when interviewed by master of ceremonies Mike Saunders.
Paquet, who had finished 2nd at Canada’s Strongest Man from 2016 to 2019, could not train as hard as he would have liked during the pandemic as he worked long hours on construction sites.
This was evident in all four static events, where Paquet got no points. Still, in the moving events, the crowd saw the same old Jimmy Paquet: fit, fast… and never, ever, giving up.
All in the Family
Strongman has had no shortage of powerful brothers in the past, and a new family of strength might be on the way.
During the weekend, Gabriel Rhéaume delivered a phenomenal performance to win the title, but his identical twin, Frédérick, didn’t do too badly either, finishing 6th overall. The twins clearly have very different strengths: Frédérick got his best result in the Deadlift, while Gabriel seemed to have better overhead pressing and grip power.
At only 24 years old, the Rhéaume brothers might not be able to challenge Tom and Luke Stoltman just yet… But they are certainly the strongest identical twins in the world!
Full results - 2021 Canada’s Strongest Man
