Devon Larratt (born 24 April 1975) is a Canadian professional armwrestler, content creator, and a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces. Considered to be one of the best arm wrestlers in the world and as of the King Of The Table 7 event, considered by many to be the best arm wrestler in North America, he has collaborated to popularize the sport to a wider audience.
Early life
Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to a German mother, Devon could speak German up until he was 2 years old. His interest in arm wrestling began as an early teenager. Larratt's first opponent was his grandmother, a farmworker, who claimed to be "the best arm-wrestling woman in Alberta." From there, Larratt progressed to competing on the oil fields of western Canada. Larratt joined the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command at the age of 21, where he served with Joint Task Force 2 for sixteen years. He achieved the rank of master corporal, and was deployed seven times to Afghanistan, where he was wounded in action. Despite his deployments, Larratt managed to train and compete during his military service, and credits the experience gained at different military bases as a large part of his success. Larratt also competed in Judo during his youth.
Early career
In 1999, Larratt entered his first international competition, competing at a worlds event in Japan, where he defeated Krister Jonsson and lost to John Brzenk. Larratt placed third in the left handed 100 kg competition.
In 2003, at the Ontario Championships, Larratt defeated Robert Graham and Mike Gould.
In 2004, Devon Larratt once again dominated the Ontario Championships, but lost a super match in Chehalis, Washington against John Brzenk.
In 2006, after returning from a six-month deployment, Larratt defeated Ron Bath 3–1, at a Mike Classic event in Ontario, Canada. At the time Ron Bath was considered the #3 ranked heavy weight in North America, behind only John Brzenk and Travis Bagent. Devon Larratt has stated that this was his favorite match, "for a number of reasons", but mostly because of the difficulties and stressors of combat, and the uncertainty of returning to a "normal life". Larratt was shot, and took shrapnel to the hand while deployed to Afghanistan.
Career timeline
ArmWars
In 2007, Devon Larratt joined ArmWars, again defeating Ron Bath, this time with a score of 6–5 at the Trafford Centre in Manchester, England.
In 2008, Larratt was the first man in twenty five years to beat John Brzenk in a super-match. After defeating that arm-wrestling legend, 6–0, Larratt became an internationally recognized armwrestler, and was considered the new #1 ranked right handed arm-wrestler in the world. In the same year, Larratt also beat Marcio Barboza and Travis Bagent, defeating them both by the score of 5–1.
In 2010, Devon Larratt beat Travis Bagent 5–2, Tim Bresnan 5–1, and Don Underwood 4–3, to become the #1 ranked arm-wrestler in the world (both left and right).
In 2011, Devon Larratt defeated former Arnold Classic champion and number one contender, Don Underwood, to retain the right-hand title. He also defeated "Monster" Michael Todd and Christophe Ladu. Devon Larratt lost his left-hand title to Travis Bagent at UAL Backyard Brawl, but beat Bagent 3-0 for the right hand title at the same event.
UAL/MLA/ArmBet
In 2012, after ArmWars went into abeyance, Devon Larratt participated in UAL/MLA and ArmBet tournaments, where he defeated Tim Bresnan for the MLA right hand super heavy weight title. In the same year, Larratt defeated Andriy Pushkar at ArmBet 42, winning 5–1 to win the left hand title.
In 2013, Larratt beat Oleg Zhokh, Wilton Brock, and Eric Woelfel at UAL 4 to retain his left hand heavyweight title. He then underwent surgery on both elbows. As a result of the injury, Larratt lost his number one pound-for-pound ranking. He underwent a similar procedure on his left elbow in 2016, but was able to recover much faster, returning to win the WAL championship in the same year.
WAL & Super Matches
After recovering from elbow surgery, Devon Larratt joined the World Armwrestling League (WAL) in 2014, where he returned to win the left-handed title, defeating Marcio Barboza, 3–0. At the same event, Larratt lost the right-handed title to Marcio Barboza 0–3.
In 2015, Larratt won the WAL left-hand heavyweight title after Marcio Barboza withdrew (injury). In the right handed semi-finals, Larratt lost to American arm-wrestling legend John Brzenk. While Larratt won the first match in the straps, Brzenk displayed superior hand control and dominated the next two matches outside of the straps to win 2–1.