WEYMOUTH strongmen Shane Flowers and Kane Francis experienced contrasting fortunes at Britain’s Strongest Man in Sheffield.

Flowers, who rocketed to prominence in a breakthrough 2022, including qualification to World’s Strongest Man in California, withdrew after one round following illness.

However, his good friend and debutant Francis excelled to claim fifth spot despite receiving a late call-up.

Francis and Flowers were two of 12 competitors in a high-class field at the Utility Arena, where five events decided the winner.

READ MORE: Kane Francis takes third in Strongman Champions League

In the deadlift ladder, Francis finished seventh after four flights in 40.29 seconds while Flowers, who lost almost 10kg in bodyweight leading up to the event, managed two in 10.29 seconds.

Flowers withdrew with four events remaining but Francis continued to claim seventh in the car walk, where the strongmen muscle a 450kg car along a 20-metre course.

Francis managed 10 repetitions for fifth place in the Viking press before securing fifth in the loading race.

In this discipline, athletes have one minute to carry an anchor, two barrels and a tyre weighing 120kg each along a 12-metre course. Francis completed the task in 42.51 seconds.

And continuing his consistency, Francis took sixth spot in the power stairs in a time of 55.37 seconds.

Walking up three steps, the strongmen lifted five weights ranging in 10kg increments from 200 to 240kg, with Francis achieving 14 of the possible 15 flights.

His efforts were good enough for 35 points and fifth overall behind Adam Bishop (53.5), champion for a second time after his 2020 triumph.

Speaking to Echosport after his eye-catching debut, Francis said: “It was better than I thought I was going to do.

“Out of the 12, with a full prep I’d have put myself where I finished. Considering I had no prep at all, I was thinking a bit further down the board.

“It was a good day, I was consistent on every event. Being at Giants Live level, fifth place is big considering the quality. It’s the top 12 in the UK essentially.

“I’ve made a mark. I loved it, it’s probably the least nervous I’ve been for a competition.”

Francis could earn another Giants Live invite and also has the chance to build on third place in last year’s Strongman Champions League.

Meanwhile, Flowers took to social media to express his frustration.

He said: “Prep for this has been fantastic. We made quite significant progress during my off-season which I was looking forward to displaying.

“Sadly, it just wasn’t meant to be. I’ve been suffering with ongoing health issues which caused me to drop 9.5kg bodyweight earlier this week.

“We took an aggressive approach to try and salvage my prep but ultimately it was too dangerous and I was in too much pain to do anything useful.

“Apologies to everyone that came to support me. Thanks for all the messages. Not the start to 2023 I wanted but I’ll be sure to turn it around.”

Flowers must now wait on potential invites to Europe’s Strongest Man and World’s Strongest Man later this year.