Raul Flores lifts 511kg to claim deadlift world record in UK

Raul Flores set a 511kg deadlift world record in Birmingham, moving the strongman benchmark 1kg beyond Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson’s mark.

The 26-year-old Mexican strongman made the lift on September 5, 2026, at the Giants Live World Deadlift Championships in Birmingham, England. The 511kg pull is equivalent to about 1,126.6 pounds, compared with the prior mark that Flores exceeded by 2.2 pounds.

The result gave strongman a new holder for one of its clearest strength records: a single barbell, a measured load and no scoring system for interpretation. It also put Flores ahead of Björnsson, one of the sport’s most recognizable athletes and the man whose standard had defined the event entering Birmingham.

Tayzon promise reaches Birmingham

Flores framed the lift less as a career milestone than as the completion of a private pledge. In an Instagram post after the event, he dedicated the record to Tayzon, a late dog whose name he had already carried into competition through the handle TayzonStrongman.

In the post, Flores wrote, "Today I didn’t just fulfill a dream. I fulfilled a promise today." He later described the moment on the Giants Live stage by writing, "I wasn’t just lifting a bar. I was lifting a promise."

The post gave the record a personal reference point beyond the number on the bar. For athletes in strength sports, where careers are often measured by kilograms added in small steps, that public dedication turned a 1kg margin into a broader identity marker for Flores.

Björnsson applauds the 1kg margin

Björnsson, known widely in strongman as Thor, was also at the Birmingham event but did not make a record attempt on the night. After Flores cleared the new mark, Björnsson took the microphone and acknowledged the performance in front of the crowd.

"I think he’s amazing," Björnsson said, according to the account of the event. His response mattered because Flores’ lift displaced his own record rather than merely adding another result to a crowded competition table.

Eddie Hall, another former deadlift record holder, also praised the lift. Hall set a 500kg benchmark in 2016, equivalent to about 1,102 pounds, and wrote that it was "So great to see the world record getting smashed by a 26-year-old."

A Mexican lifter widens the circuit

Flores’ record gives Mexico a new reference point in a strength discipline long associated with European and North American stars. The geography matters for promoters, sponsors and equipment makers trying to turn strongman from a specialist event into a broader international draw.

The immediate competitive effect is straightforward: every elite deadlift attempt now has to be measured against 511kg. Athletes who were planning record runs around Björnsson’s previous standard face a higher technical and physical threshold, while promoters gain a clearer headline matchup for future events.

For Giants Live and the wider strongman circuit, the commercial mechanism runs through attention rather than league tables. A younger record holder can extend the calendar’s appeal if rival lifters enter events specifically to chase his number, bringing repeat audiences to contests that otherwise depend on a small group of marquee names.

511kg sets the next target

If the 511kg mark holds through the next major deadlift cycle, Flores becomes the athlete around whom record attempts are organized. That path would make him more valuable to event organizers and sponsors, while giving the sport a clean global storyline built around a Mexican champion defending a measurable standard.

If Björnsson, Hall or another elite lifter instead returns to challenge the number quickly, the pressure shifts back to the competitive field. That scenario would raise the profile of heavyweight deadlifting as an event category, but it would also make Flores’ next decision more delicate: defend immediately, build toward a larger pull, or use the record to broaden his standing in the sport.

The main uncertainty is not whether 511kg is a visible target; the record already supplies that. The open question is how long Flores can hold the advantage in a discipline where progress is counted in kilograms, recovery time is finite and one successful lift can reset the sport’s commercial calendar.