‘Game of Thrones’ actor Hafthór Júlíus Björnsson has won the title of Europe's Strongest Man for the second consecutive year.
Björnsson, who comes from Iceland, made his first appearance as Gregor Clegane aka The Mountain in ‘Game Of Thrones’ season four, and also appeared several times in the fifth season.
The strongman competitor became the third actor to take on the role of 'The Mountain' following Conan Stevens in season one and Ian Whyte in season two.
The 26-year-old actor, who stands at 2.05m (6ft 9in), previously played professional basketball as well.
Last month, Björnsson bagged the first place award in the annual Europe's Strongest Man competition, which has been carried out in Leeds over the past three years. Aside from earning the crown for the second year running, he had also set a new personal record in the deadlift event of 450kg (990lb).
Björnsson, who weighs in at 180kg (397lb), impressively placed third in the global competition for World's Strongest Man in 2012, 2013 and 2015, and finished second in 2014.
His personal best when it comes to the squat event is currently 350 kg (770 lb), while his bench press personal best is 230kg (510 lb). A video from Björnsson's latest Europe's Strongest Man victory can be viewed below.
Björnsson has also started his own company, Thor’s Powerr, which sells t-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise. Interestingly, it offers remote workout programs for individuals, carried out by the Mountain himself.
Meanwhile, there have been no announcements whether Björnsson will still be signing on to ‘Game of Thrones’ season six.
As filming has already begun, it was recently announced that two new cast members have joined the series- veteran actors Max von Sydow and Ian McShane.
Von Sydow will take on the role of the Three-Eyed Raven, the mysterious character who last appeared in the concluding episode of season four, when Bran and his company came across the powerful one played in the finale by Struan Rodger.
As for McShane, the ‘Deadwood’ actor signed on to the HBO fantasy drama series for a mystery role whose character details are yet to be revealed.
With speculations claiming that ‘Game of Thrones’ is set to reach only seven seasons, HBO programming president Michael Lombardo has confirmed that the series is expected to continue for at least eight seasons.
"Seven-seasons-and-out has never been the [internal] conversation," he explained to the media at the Television Critics Association's press tour on July 30.
"The question [now] is: How much beyond seven are we going to do? Obviously we're shooting six now, hopefully discussing seven,” Lombardo added. “[David] Benioff and [Dan] Weiss feel like there's two more years after six. I would always love for them to change their minds, but that's what we're looking at right now."
‘Game of Thrones’ season six is set to make its premiere in spring 2016 on HBO; an official date is yet to be announced.
