Life

Rauno Heinla is a professional strongman from Estonia who has been competing for over twenty years and has amassed several world records in variations of his favourite event – the deadlift. He is a two-time World Deadlift Champion and despite having long since moved into his forties, is still regarded as one of the best pullers on the planet.

Heinla still seems to be improving his strength and is showing little sign of winding down his competitive activities, nor his pursuit of the illusive 505kg deadlift world record. He has a daughter, Marie Heinla, and when not training and competing he works with clients as a certified personal trainer.

Career

Rauno began his competitive strength career in powerlifting and deadlifted over 400kg/882lb lifting “sumo” style, long before he came to the fore in strongman. He became involved in local strongman competitions in 2000 and won his first international contest – Estonia’s Strongest Man – in 2008. In fact, Rauno is the only Estonian to capture this title six times, with compatriots Tarmo Mitt and Andrus Murumets taking five titles apiece.

It took over twenty years of competing in strongman before Rauno finally made his debut at World’s Strongest Man and he has appeared only occasionally at major contests such as Europe’s Strongest Man or the Arnold Strongman Classic. Instead, he has become renowned for single lift events in the deadlift, and this is where he has made his greatest achievements. His 4^th place finish at the 2021 Europe’s Strongest Man is arguably his best competitive result over a full contest, although he has also picked up competition wins at Strongman Champions League and Arnold Pro Strongman World Series events.