SHANE Flowers confessed placing fifth on his Europe’s Strongest Man debut was “bittersweet”.
Weymouth strongman Flowers was invited to one of the biggest events on the calendar after a series of outstanding results.
He became England’s Strongest Man in 2021 and followed that up with an excellent display at Britain’s Strongest Man, securing fourth place and prize money of £3,000.
And Flowers was on course to achieve a stunning podium in Leeds, only for a bicep injury to hinder his progress in the final event – the atlas stones.
READ MORE: Shane Flowers comes fourth in Britain's Strongest Man 2022
Round one doubled as the World Log Lift Challenge, which Flowers rates as his bogey event.
Nevertheless, he managed to lift a 170kg weight to place sixth, while reigning champion Luke Stoltman, of Scotland, hauled 218kg before failing at his world-record effort of 230kg.
Flowers matched his placing of sixth in the deadlift ladder, where competitors begin at 300kg and work their way up to 400kg. The Dorset maestro managed 375kg in 61 seconds.
He began to accelerate in the carry and drag anchor, placing third in a time of 27.45 seconds and beating Stoltman in the process.
Flowers once again beat Stoltman in the power stairs, where the athletes climb 15 stairs with five weights of progressive difficulty, claiming third in a time of 29.27 seconds.
However, his bicep strain began to bite in the atlas stones and he could only manage four of the five weights to take 10th and slip to fifth overall.
Ukrainian star Oleksii Novikov beat Stoltman to overall victory, with Georgian athlete Konstantine Janashia and Ukraine’s Pavlo Kordiyaka the men ahead of Flowers.
Speaking to Echosport, the Weymouth athlete said: “Overall it went pretty good.
“Going in to it I said to my friends and family that if I broke the top five I’d be very happy and if I got top three I’d be over the moon.
“I placed fifth but to be honest it was bittersweet. Going into the last event I was sitting in third, two points clear.
“I was pretty much certain that the podium was mine and then messed it up on the last event. The bicep stopped working.
“But the show was decent, we had a sell-out crowd of 9,000 people which is the largest indoor competition in the world – more people attend it than World’s Strongest Man.”
He added: “The competition events were brutal. There were some new events like the power stairs and deadlift ladder. It was a new stimulus on the body that I wasn’t prepared for.
“Coupled with the fact that I’m working 60-70 hours a week I’m not getting the recovery I need at this level.”
And Flowers will attempt to ease his gruelling schedule ahead of travelling to Sacramento, California for World’s Strongest Man from Tuesday, May 24.
He said: “Europe’s and Britain’s you’re preparing for five events, whereas World’s there are 12.
“My training’s as optimised as it can be, so’s my nutrition, everything like that.
“The only other thing is to work less hours, so I’m trying to go down to part-time and make that transition to full-time strongman.
“I’m fairly certain that every other guy in World’s Strongest Man will be a full-time pro.
“If I’m going to beat these guys I need to at least match or beat their efforts in training and recovery.
“This week I’m resting and recovering the arm, getting physio done. Then we start training up next week.
“I work at Wytch Farm in Wareham, I’m there 60 hours a week.
“The sponsors I have in place are great and have upped my money and given my bonuses.
“But it’s still just not enough to cover my salary. I’m still crunching numbers to see if I can make it work. I need to take the leap, to be honest.”
He added: “The thing is with the World’s they’re not very specific with the events.
“They’ll tell you very broadly what you’re supposed to do, whereas with other shows it’s very specific.
“You’re told exact weights, heights and implements. I just need to focus on being well-rounded and improve on my weaker events.
“I do know the events but we’re not allowed to announce them.
“Some of them are good for me, the dynamic, medley and loading events.
“If I can get my body in decent condition and not carry any major niggles or injuries, then I’m pretty confident I can make the final.”
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