ONE of Europe’s strongest men is living on our doorstep.

Lee Osment, of St Andrew’s Road, Warminster, beat stiff competition to be named the third strongest man in Europe after completing a range of gruelling challenges earlier this month.

The 32-year-old is now one step closer to his dream of competing at the World’s Strongest Man competition in America.

Strongman Lee competed against 14 other hopefuls in the under 90kg category on Saturday, August 12 at Bloodstock Festival in Birmingham.

But it has been a long and difficult journey to get to this point.

After competing in Plymouth’s Strongest Man, England’s Strongest Man and Britain’s Strongest Man, the father-of-one’s score, putting him in seventh place at the last competition, wasn’t quite enough for him to qualify. However, a twist of fate resulted in him being offered a wildcard. And despite being up against some of the best athletes in the field, Mr Osment placed an amazing third place overall.

The competition, organised by 100% CA Strongman Promotions and Giants Live, involves a range of difficult challenges, in which Mr Osment excelled.

Each round involved a different strength testing challenge, including a max deadlift, a Viking press and a 20m truck pull.

Mr Osment said: “It has been something I have always been interested in since a young age. I’ve always wanted to get to the World’s Strongest Man.

“It was quite emotional for me. For my first year being in a high-profile competition, I wasn’t expecting to place that high up.”

Lee’s wife of five years, Louise, 32, was also emotional after finding out he had finished in the top three.

She said: “I was absolutely over the moon. I was quite emotional as it has been his life for the last six months. It was emotional for me and the rest of my family and it was good to see all the hard work pay off.”

Now Mr Osment, who trains at Club 24 Fitness in Westbury, is waiting to see if he has done enough to qualify for the World’s Strongest Man in America. The competition is so high profile that you have to be invited to take part.

He is also looking for sponsorship to help with his training and push him up the ranks.