The Rogue Strongman Invitational returns in 2023 on Oct. 27-28, in Round Rock, TX, at the Dell Diamond Stadium. The invitational features a strongman competition comprised of 10 of the world’s top athletes alongside the 2023 Rogue Invitational, a CrossFit competition.
The 10 strongmen who will compete in Round Rock are confirmed, and the prize purse for the entire competition, including CrossFit, is $1,533,263 at the time of this article’s publication. While not all of that money is paid out to the strongmen, it is nonetheless the largest prize purse of any strongman contest in the world — it is the only strongman contest that features a six-figure purse for the champion.
Below are the 10 athletes who have confirmed their invitations:
2023 Rogue Strongman Invitational Roster
- Oleksii Novikov (Ukraine) — Defending Champion
- Mitchell Hooper (Canada)
- Trey Mitchell (USA)
- Luke Stoltman (UK)
- Mateusz Kieliszkowski (Poland)
- Pavlo Nakonechnyy (Ukraine)
- Tom Stoltman (UK)
- Bobby Thompson (USA)
- Evan Singleton (USA)
- Maxime Boudreault (Canada)
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As has been the case since the Rogue Invitational expanded to include strongman competition in 2021 — the inaugural contest won by 2019 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) champion Martins Licis — the roster is absolutely stacked. It features four WSM titles amongst the 10 athletes and 11 total WSM podium appearances. The only athlete on the roster who didn’t compete at the 2023 WSM contest was Boudreault due to injury.
While the other athletes on the roster don’t have podium finishes in WSM competition, they aren’t too far off. Mitchell and Singleton, respectively, ranked fourth and fifth at the 2023 WSM contest. Mitchell is a two-time Shaw Classic champion (2021-22) and recently won the 2023 North America’s Strongest Man title. Singleton recently won the 2023 Strongman Classic.
Similarly, Thompson was the 2022 Americas Strongest Man champion, and Luke Stoltman stood atop the 2021 Europe’s Strongest Man podium. Nakonechnyy has been plagued by a string of injuries in 2023 that compelled him to withdraw from several competitions. Still, Nakonechnyy is the physically largest man in the lineup and has an international win from the Giants Live World Open in 2022 on his resume.
The 2023 Rogue Strongman Invitational events have not yet been released at the time of this article’s publication. Novikov will have to bring his best performance to retain his title against this roster where there isn’t a weak link.
Featured image: @rogueinvitational on Instagram
