Timmins — Lifting, pushing and throwing hundreds of pounds is no easy feat — but a man born and raised in Kapuskasing, Ont., made it his mission to become one of the world's greatest. Maxime Boudreault came closer than he expected to his goal at the 2021 'World's Strongest Man' competition in Sacramento, Calif., last week. The Thunder Bay man took home bronze, beating out many of the world's top athletes. "It's still surreal, I wasn't expecting that," said Boudreault, of his second time competing in the world championship. "My goal was only to make the finals this year. I never visualized going to the podium until next year and I made it this year. It means a lot. It's special. It's a dream come true." He also beat out Canadian legend Jean-Francois Caron — who took last year's bronze medal — although the Quebec man was grappling with an injury during the competition. Boudreault powered through 12 events across five days, demonstrating his strength in challenges including deadlifts, lifting atlas blocks, and pushing a train. He also set a new Canadian record for log lifting, raising up a 574-pound log. Having competed against major names for around five years in competitions like the Arnold Strongman Classic — as in Schwarzenegger — American sportswriter Phil Blechman said specialists in the world of strongmen had high expectations for Boudreault. "You're in the range of 30 to 35 guys that are the best in the world and Maxime was able to compete not only with them, but beat them to a third-place finish," said Blechman, senior writer at BarBend.com. "He lived up to the expectations, which is really tough to do." Blechman said if Boudreault had performed better in some of the other events — his deadlift game suffered after his record-breaking log lift — he could have placed higher on the podium. Reaching a world championship final is a feat on its own, Blechman said, adding that Boudreault's confidence amongst the world's greats was admirable. No room for nervousness For the 330-pound Canadian, Boudreault said there was no room for nervousness and that's he's grown familiar with his fellow competitors over the years. Ever since his first step into strongman-ship more than 10 years ago, he said the key to achieving success is unwavering focus and commitment. "I've never missed a week of training, it's just something that I was passionate about and just keep going," Boudreault said. "It's a long process and it's hard, it's fun, it's a big challenge." Blechman added that strongman competitions reward consistency across challenges and that Boudreault's performance has been remarkably so. If he can keep it up and not get injured, Blechman said the northern Ontario man has the potential to become a household name in the world of strongmen. "I think he's going to have a career where he's going to be in podium contention every year he is able to compete," Blechman said. As for Boudreault, he said the plan is to continue training for competitions to come throughout the year, including a national competition and the Arnold Classic. He's also been invited to the next World's Ultimate Strongman championship, he said. Boudreault said he also wants to become a role model for people in the north and support people who hope to achieve strongman greatness. "It's all about discipline, it's more than motivation," said Boudreault. "Everyone has times that they don't want to wake up in the morning to do it, but if you do it every day, it's better than the next day."
