Nick Best (born November 3, 1968) is an American strongman and powerlifter.
Prior to competing in strongman, Best won the USAPL National Powerlifting Championships in the 125 kg class in 1996 and 1997, as well as the WDFPF World Powerlifting Championships in 1996.[1]
In 2010, Best won the All-American Strongman Challenge which qualified him for the 2010 Arnold Strongman Classic where he finished ninth.[2] Two months later he competed in the 2010 World's Strongest Man and qualified for the finals and finished sixth. On the same year Best finished second at the Strongman Super Series Swedish Grand Prix behind Brian Shaw.[3]
In 2011, He placed second at the 2011 All-American Strongman Challenge which earned him an invite to the 2011 Arnold Strongman Classic, where he took seventh.[4] He competed in the 2011 World's Strongest Man contest but failed to qualify for the finals.
In 2012, Best competed in the 2012 All-American Strongman Challenge and finished third. He placed second at the 2012 Giants Live Melbourne, Australia behind Mike Jenkins.[5] In this competition, he set a joint world record in the hip lift event with Jenkins with a lift of 1,150 kg (2,535 lb).[5] This placing qualified Nick for the 2012 World's Strongest Man contest, he finished third in his heat and failed to qualify for the finals. In the television series, The Strongest Man in History, on the History channel, Best took this record up to 1,266 kg (2,791 lb).[6][7] Also in 2012, he competed in the inaugural SCL North American Championships in Warwick, Ontario, Canada placing third overall.[8]
In 2013, Best finished second in the Giants Live Australia Grand Prix in behind winner Derek Poundstone.[9] This placing qualified Nick for the 2013 World's Strongest Man contest.[9]
Despite qualifying for the World's Strongest Man competition in 2014, 2015 and 2016, he could not manage to get selected to the finals. However, in 2017 he got selected to the finals where he emerged tenth place.