Flathead Steinholder Best Canadian strongman in exhibition match sponsored by Sam Adams

The Flathead Valley’s top steinholding competitor added another signature win to his resume last weekend when he defeated Canadian strongman Mitchell Hooper in a Sam Adams-sponsored steinholding exhibition at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

Sturzen said the field consisted of other qualified steinholders who had competed in Sam Adams’ “Hoist Like A Strongman” steinholding competitions, as well as Hooper.

Hooper, the 2023 World’s Strongest Man and winner of the 2023 and 2024 Arnold Strongman Classic, has deadlifted over 800 pounds, bench pressed over 460 pounds and deadlifted over 800 pounds . As part of his efforts to win the 2023 World’s Strongest Man competition, Hooper hauled a 50,000-pound bus over a distance of approximately 80 feet in 30 seconds.

A full glass of beer up to competition levels is about five pounds.

Despite clocking a time of 23 minutes, 22 seconds, good enough for the record if the US Steinholding Association ratifies the hold, during a qualifying event at Sam Adams in Butte, Sturzen managed just an 11-minute hold and 35 seconds in Denver.

But it wasn’t the altitude, or the nerves, that he says reduced his time much more, it was that he was ridden with an overfilled glass. Normally, competition glasses are filled to within two fingers of the rim of the glass, but Sturzen said at the Sam Adams competition that the glasses were filled to the rim. The concern then becomes not weight, but managing to keep the arm steady enough to keep it from falling. Even the kind of arm adjustments allowed in a steinholding competition become risky in the scenario Sturzen faced in Denver. He said he usually looks ahead and goes to his happy spot when trying to take a long shot, but last weekend Sturzen said he looked nervously at his arm on the glass the entire time.

“I don’t think anyone was ready for the overflowing glasses,” Sturzen said. “I trained once with it full just in case that happened. Literally any slight movement and it’s game over.

Sturzen said he was the last one standing for several minutes after the rest of the field had dropped out. Hooper, he said, was friendly and positive about the exposure, cheering Sturzen on after he dropped out and even giving Sturzen’s kids a shout-out.

Sturzen said he believes his edge over Hooper came in part because of their different training plans and different physiques. There’s more to endurance than explosive power and size, where Hooper, at 6-foot-3 and 320 pounds, has a 5-inch, 40-pound advantage over Sturzen. Longer arms, for example, affect leverage and muscle fatigue as they extend farther from the body.

After Sturzen officially finished the race, Hooper raised his arm and in the process raised Sturzen himself.

“It was great competition,” Sturzen said.

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