Travis Weick can now call himself Australia's third strongest man.

At the annual gauntlet of obscure tests of human strength, the Toowoomba athlete battled through a dislocated thumb on the first day to remarkably finish with a spot on the podium in Melbourne at the weekend.

"It's Australia's Strongest man; you don't just give up,” Weick said.

"The medical team said I should pull out but I said 'nah that's not happening',”

Weick somehow remained in the race for the top spot right up until the final event.

In what he is describing as his biggest accomplishment to date, Weick overcame a slip while pulling an 18-tonne truck which resulted in him crushing his thumb on the bitumen on day one.

"It was quite painful actually. There was a lot of Nurofen and Panadol but I used the pain to make the events go quicker,” he said.

"I heard it go crack and I knew it wasn't good but you keep going, you don't need your thumb to pull a truck.”

After taking up the sport of strongman just a year ago, Weick's meteoric rise has left a lot of people in the sport scratching their head as to how he has adapted so quickly.

Weick told The Chronicle upon his initial invitation to the weekend's event a few months ago that just a top five finish would be a feather in his cap, though now a chance at the World's Strongest Man competition looks well within his reach.

"This would have to be my biggest accomplishment so far,” he said. "I came third at the Arnold's but this one was with the big boys and the top 12 professionals in the country.

"Just coming third feels like a win to me.”