When last heard from in November, Cristian Candemir, a 30-year-old Montauker, whose claim to be “the world’s strongest barista” has yet to be gainsaid, had just returned from Iceland where he’d lifted and carried the 410-pound Husafell Stone 115 feet around an 18th-century goat pen, one of the smallest men, if not the smallest — he weighs 199 pounds on a good day these days — ever to do so.
“Stone lifting,” he said afterward, “is an ancient tradition — people have been doing it since the Vikings. The stones were used to measure a man’s strength and his position on the ships they rowed.”
Stone-lifting wasn’t the only thing he’d come to The Star to talk about Friday, but also the fact that he will compete in the Strongman Corporation’s under-200 national amateur championships in Las Vegas on Sept. 12 and 13.
Almost two and a half years ago, in March of 2023, the affable, bearded 2012 East Hampton High School graduate placed fifth among the under-175-pound contestants in the amateur Arnold Strongman world championships in Columbus, Ohio. His deft handling of a 265-pound fire hydrant, which he lifted onto a waist-high platform, put him over the top.
This will be his fourth nationals, and his last for now, he said, for his sights are set on lifting and carrying more legendary stones — in Scotland, Tibet, Japan, Pakistan, Spain, and Hawaii. “These feats are the next on my bucket list of goals — I’ve achieved the ones I had in the competition circuit. The top contenders in my division at nationals will be far bigger and stronger than me. They will have sweated and dieted off the pounds to make weight, while I’ve been bulking up. But I’ve always been the underdog, always have been.”
“You know, I wasn’t athletic in high school — I wasn’t into lifting then, I was a theater kid. I was George Bailey in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ I was competitive only when it came to eating. I challenged anyone to eat more Fierro’s pizzas than me in a timed contest. That film John Candy was in, ‘The Great Outdoors,’ where he takes the Big Texan 96er steak challenge — I rented it at the library — that’s what inspired me.”
His diet nowadays is far lighter than the rare four-and-a-half-pound steak, baked potato, shrimp cocktail, salad, and dinner roll he once put away, “with five seconds left on the clock,” at the Big Texan Ranch in Amarillo. And the main source of inspiration since the 2019 world championships has been “the incredible Hannah Linzay, who very recently carried the Dinnie (granite) Stones in Scotland, a total of 733 pounds — the first woman ever to achieve this. Seeing her intensity at the worlds showed me what I needed to do to compete at such a high level. Her intensity is unparalleled. She opened my eyes.”
Candemir returned from a three-month stay in Houston, where his family is now, in April. “This is my area of familiarity, my home town, and, moreover, my mom’s mom is buried here, in the Catholic cemetery. My grandmother was my best friend.”
When he came back, “all the Starbucks out here were closed for renovations. I had to find a store to retain my benefits, and, guess where I am, two days a week — at a drive-through in Bergen County, N.J. When I was an intern at the Starbucks in the Empire State Building, I commuted from Montauk every day. A train, a bus, whatever. This Starbucks in Bergen County is a great store. They understand the culture of Starbucks — the team is great. Very different from out here. I commute Tuesdays and Wednesdays and then train at the Underground Training gym in Tenafly, which is relatively close. It’s a great gym with great people, a fantastic community. . . . I’m jumping into the nationals from my Dinnie stone training. I’ve been doing that for the past four months. I’ve done the qualifying lift of 660 pounds minimum. I’ll do the Dinnie Stones next year.”
The timed events at the two-day nationals, he said, will comprise “an overhead press off blocks, a deadlift medley, and an arm-over-arm hoist on day one, and, on day two, a one-handed circus dumbbell lift, a timber frame carry, and a 300-pound keg lift and load. That’s everything.”
Then, Candemir, who continues to train with Kalle Beck, his California coach, and Saxby Payton, a Houston-based nutritionist, said, “I’ll jump in and return to my Dinnie stone training.”
When it was noted that Cole Brauer, who in 2024 became the first American woman to sail solo, nonstop around the world, had said at her East Hampton High School Hall of Fame induction last fall that weird kids such as she might well wind up on the Today Show, Candemir smiled. “She and I were voted ‘most unique’ in our yearbook. I intend to be on TV too.”
