On Oct. 28-30, 2022, at the Dell Diamond Stadium in Austin, TX, the 2022 Rogue Invitational will feature the second edition of its Strongman Invitational. The competition features 10 of the world’s elite strongmen, including the defending champion, 2019 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) Martins Licis. Check out the full roster below:
2022 Rogue Invitational — Strongman Roster
- Martins Licis — Reigning Champion
- Oleksii Novikov
- Rob Kearney
- Maxime Boudreault
- Trey Mitchell
- Bobby Thompson
- Mitchell Hooper
- Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted
- Pavlo Nakonechnyy
- Kevin Faires
The roster includes several major shake-ups from the 2021 roster. The two-time reigning WSM champion Tom Stoltman and the 2021 Europe’s Strongest Man (ESM) Luke Stoltman both declined their invitations. Four-time WSM champion Brian Shaw also declined his invite. Tom Stoltman ranked second behind Licis in 2021.
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[Related: 2022 Strongman Champions League Bosnia Results — Dainis Zageris Wins]
The declined invitations by the Stoltman brothers and Shaw opens up a lot of potential for the rest of the roster to make a run for the podium in Austin. The 2021 results were as follows:
2021 Rogue Invitational — Strongman Results
- Martins Licis — 45 points
- Tom Stoltman — 42 point
- Oleksii Novikov — 34 points
- Mateusz Kieliszkowski — 29.5 points
- JF Caron — 28 points
- Rob Kearney — 26 points
- Brian Shaw — 23 points
- Luke Stoltman — 22 points
- Mikhail Shivlyakov — 13.5 points
- Jerry Pritchett — 12 points
Only three athletes from the above roster are returning to the Rogue Invitational in 2022: Licis, Novikov, and Kearney. Given that 70 percent of the roster is different, including three of the 2021 contest’s top five, the likelihood is that consistent performers like Hooper or Nakonechnyy, both of whom have had stellar 2022 seasons, can cap it off with a podium finish.
While Novikov and Licis are arguably the favorites going into the contest, the athletes on the 2022 roster are legitimate contenders to challenge them. Nackonechnyy has won a Giants Live contest, Hooper has strung together a slew of podium finishes on the Giants Live circuit since making his pro debut at the 2022 WSM contest, Boudreault is the 2022 Canada’s Strongest Man (CSM) champion, Mitchell recently scored his second Shaw Classic title, and guys like Thompson, Kearney, and Faires are current or former record holders.
We’ll see if Licis can fend off the roster of hungry challengers to retain his crown. While the events have not yet been announced at the time of this article’s publication, it will almost certainly be one of Licis’ most formidable title defenses of his career.
Featured image: @rogueinvitational on Instagram
