Rogue Invitational Day One: Hooper Leads Licis by One Point as Jardine Holds Off Underdown
UPLIFT IRON CLUBThree Events In, the Leaders Have Almost No Breathing Room
Three events, two leaderboards and almost no daylight between the contenders: that is the picture after Friday's opening day of the 2026 Rogue Invitational in Aberdeen. Mitchell Hooper leads the men's contest with 23 points, but Martins Licis sits one point behind on 22. Rayno Nel has 21, while Paddy Haynes and Trey Mitchell share 20. A four-point spread across the top five is not a coronation; it is an invitation to make one mistake and lose several places.
The women's contest is every bit as compressed. Angelica Jardine has 25 points, Lucy Underdown 24 and two-time defending champion Inez Carrasquillo 23. Andrea Thompson and Rebecca Roberts are tied on 19. Those totals reflect three completely different tests: a deadlift ladder, repeated Viking presses and a punishing Conan's Wheel carry. An athlete could be outstanding at one and merely adequate at another, which is precisely why a multi-event title is more interesting than a single maximum lift.
Hooper entered as the three-time defending Rogue strongman champion and the reigning World's Strongest Man. He did not need to win every Friday event to take the lead. Instead, his fourth place in the deadlift ladder, third in the Viking press and third in Conan's Wheel added up to a remarkably consistent opening. Licis won the deadlift, placed fourth in the press and then gave away ground on the carry. Nel combined second in the deadlift, a difficult pressing event and second in the carry. Every athlete reached the same points total by a different route.
It is important to read those standings as a Friday snapshot, not a final result. Three more events remain on Saturday, October 24. A podium prediction now is a hypothesis about how these athletes will handle the next implements, not a statement of who has already won. The most interesting question is whether Hooper's lack of a glaring weakness will continue to beat specialists capable of taking ten points in one event and losing most of them in the next.
For viewers unfamiliar with strongman scoring, competitors receive placement points in each event and the totals are added. A winner can gain several points over a rival in just a minute of work. That makes the margin between 23 and 22 less secure than it looks. A slip in a loading medley or a failed stone can change the order faster than a long debate about who is stronger on paper.
Martins Licis Wins the Deadlift Ladder—and Announces His Return
The opening deadlift ladder was the moment Martins Licis reminded everyone that he can still beat the very best at a demanding combination of power and speed. The Latvian-born former World's Strongest Man completed six repetitions in 42.83 seconds. Rayno Nel also reached six, but needed 55.90 seconds; Paddy Haynes finished six in 66.40 seconds. Licis did not merely match their number. He moved through the ladder substantially faster.
Hooper and Trey Mitchell completed five repetitions, while Austin Andrade also finished five. Ondřej Fojtů and Thomas Evans reached four, and Pavlo Kordiyaka managed two. Those numbers matter because the task was not a conventional one-rep maximum. The men had to move through progressively heavier bars under a 90-second cap, ending with a 385-kilogram implement. Getting to the last bar and then producing useful work while breathing hard is a different skill from setting up for a single perfect pull after a long rest.
Licis has a particularly interesting history with this contest. He won the inaugural Rogue strongman title in 2021 after returning from a difficult period of injuries. He was also World's Strongest Man in 2019 and won the Arnold Strongman Classic in 2022. Those achievements explain why an early event win attracts attention, but they do not make Saturday's result inevitable. A past champion still has to beat a present field.
What separates a fast ladder performance from a sloppy one? The athlete has to choose foot position quickly, brace before each pull, keep the bar close and avoid wasting seconds on unnecessary movement. Straps, bar height, loading and event rules all influence the optimal approach. At this level the difference between first and second was more than thirteen seconds, a huge gap when the entire performance lasts under a minute.
There is also a useful lesson for ordinary lifters. A heavy deadlift single tests the ability to produce force once; a ladder adds transitions, repeated bracing and conditioning. Someone who can pull a big number fresh may be surprised by how quickly technique deteriorates after several near-limit efforts. Recreational training should imitate the principle, not the elite weights: try three progressively heavier sets of two to four technically clean reps with deliberate rest, then add a light carry. Speed matters only while positions remain safe.
Licis banked ten valuable points in the opener. His challenge after that was the broader one: convert an excellent pulling day into enough consistency across pressing, carries and stones to challenge Hooper for the overall crown.
Lucy Underdown Pulls 13 Reps, but the Women's Title Race Gets Complicated
Lucy Underdown delivered the most eye-catching deadlift number of the opening event: thirteen repetitions in 88 seconds. Jennifer Lyle and Angelica Jardine each managed nine, with Lyle winning their time tiebreak. Andrea Thompson finished seven, Grace Hilbourne seven, Rebecca Roberts six, Jackie Osczevski four, Inez Carrasquillo three and Katie Blunden one. The gap between Underdown and the rest was substantial, but a strongwoman contest is designed to punish anyone who relies on a single specialty.
Underdown's pulling pedigree makes the result understandable rather than routine. She owns extraordinary deadlift performances across several implements, including a 325-kilogram standard-bar strongwoman lift and a 318-kilogram Elephant Bar performance. Different bar designs, heights and rules mean those records should not be blended into one vague claim about the heaviest lift. What connects them is exceptional strength in the hinge pattern, refined setup habits and the capacity to express that strength in competition.
Winning the ladder put Underdown on the front foot, yet she finished Friday one point behind Jardine. The reason is that the next two events rewarded qualities that were not identical to deadlifting. Underdown posted fifteen Viking press repetitions and then 509 degrees on Conan's Wheel. Those are respectable performances, but Jardine took third in the press with sixteen and second in the carry with 797 degrees. The cumulative effect was enough to move Jardine to 25 points.
Defending champion Carrasquillo is the other critical name. She managed only three deadlift ladder reps, an unpromising start for an athlete trying to win a third straight Rogue title. Then she won both subsequent events: 23 Viking presses and 991 degrees on Conan's Wheel. That is how a nine-athlete contest can remain open even when one competitor dominates the first discipline. Carrasquillo's opening weakness did not erase her formidable pressing and carrying strengths.
There is a broader training message here, especially for athletes who equate a personal record with complete strength. The best deadlifter is not automatically the best presser, fastest carrier or most efficient loader. These tasks demand overlapping but distinct skills. Underdown's performance deserves recognition on its own terms, and Jardine's overall lead deserves the same respect. Saturday's combination of carries, grip and stones will decide which blend of abilities is most valuable.
The Viking Press Changes Everything: Trey Mitchell and Carrasquillo Strike
The Viking press is a cruelly simple way to expose an athlete's overhead endurance. Stand under a loaded lever apparatus, drive it overhead, control the return and repeat until the clock or your shoulders have had enough. The men's implement was listed at roughly 181 kilograms and the women's at about 102 kilograms, although a lever machine's feel cannot be translated directly into a barbell overhead-press maximum. Mechanics, lever length and the point of resistance all matter.
Trey Mitchell and Ondřej Fojtů both reached fifteen repetitions. Mitchell finished in 53.82 seconds, ahead of Fojtů's 59.99, so Mitchell took the event win. Hooper followed with thirteen reps, Licis with eleven, Thomas Evans with ten, Kordiyaka with eight and Andrade with seven. Rayno Nel completed two and Paddy Haynes one. This is the sort of result that explains why a deadlift ladder leader can find the scoreboard suddenly tightening.
Mitchell is known for tremendous static strength, but the event was not simply about moving a huge weight once. He had to cycle clean repetitions without losing rhythm, finish each lockout and conserve enough energy to maintain speed. Fojtů matching the rep count while losing the time tiebreak underlines the difference between capacity and efficiency. Two athletes can be equally capable of the final repetition, yet the one who wastes less time between efforts scores more.
The women's pressing event was even more dramatic. Inez Carrasquillo hit twenty-three repetitions in 55.76 seconds, a commanding win that transformed her position after the deadlift. Andrea Thompson managed seventeen, Jardine sixteen, Underdown fifteen and Rebecca Roberts fifteen. The distinction between fifteen and sixteen reps might seem trivial in the gym; on a leaderboard it can be a full placement and another precious point.
For a lifter looking to improve overhead performance, the sensible takeaway is to build a strong base of controlled presses before experimenting with short, repeatable sets. A practical accessory session might use a standing dumbbell press for three sets of six to ten, followed by a lighter neutral-grip press for two sets of ten to fifteen and loaded carries for trunk stability. Leave one or two technically clean reps in reserve on most sets. Elite contest-style exhaustion is entertaining to watch, but it is not a necessary weekly prescription.
Friday's press revealed two different competitive weapons: Mitchell's ability to win a heavyweight pressing test and Carrasquillo's exceptional repeat strength. Neither guarantee the overall title, but both radically changed the arithmetic before the final Friday event.
Conan's Wheel Rewards the Athletes Who Can Keep Moving
After the deadlift and press, the athletes faced an implement that looks less like a gym lift and more like a punishment invented by a medieval engineer. Conan's Wheel is a heavy pivoting beam carried in front of the body while the athlete walks around a central point. The men's load was listed at 260 kilograms. The scoring measure is angular distance: the farther the athlete can move the apparatus around the circle, the better the result.
Paddy Haynes won the men's event with 899 degrees, almost two and a half revolutions. Rayno Nel reached 869 and Hooper 837. Kordiyaka followed at 772, Fojtů at 739, Licis at 464, Trey Mitchell at 419 and Evans and Andrade at 366. The numbers are memorable, but the technical problem is the important part. Athletes have to maintain a strong torso position while an awkward load compresses the upper body and challenges breathing.
Haynes's win is an excellent reminder that strongman is not a contest of visual size alone. A comparatively lighter competitor can excel when the event rewards pacing, footwork, tolerance for sustained tension and the willingness to keep moving after the first wave of fatigue. Nel's second place restored momentum after a poor Viking press. Hooper's third was enough to push him ahead overall without producing a headline-grabbing event win.
In the women's division, Carrasquillo was dominant again, covering 991 degrees. Jardine managed 797, Rebecca Roberts 524 and Underdown 509. That result explains the tight Friday leaderboard better than any general statement about determination. Carrasquillo had started with just three deadlift repetitions but finished with two event victories; Jardine's balanced performances kept her narrowly ahead; Underdown's exceptional pulling kept her close enough to challenge on Saturday.
The everyday equivalent of Conan's Wheel is not a literal rotating machine. It is the broader capacity to brace, breathe and walk under load. Front-loaded sandbag carries, bear-hug carries and farmer's walks train related qualities without reproducing the same apparatus. Begin with twenty to thirty meters at a weight that allows stable steps and normal head position. Rest fully between efforts. Increase distance or load gradually rather than turning every carry into a collapse test.
Conan's Wheel is particularly revealing because stopping for a breath can mean losing the entire attempt. Athletes need both force production and enough efficiency to avoid spending it all too early. By Friday evening, that combination had put Hooper and Jardine into narrow leads, with multiple rivals still capable of overturning them.
Saturday's Carries, Grip and Stones Can Rewrite the Standings
Three events remain on Saturday, October 24: a yoke-and-log carry/press challenge, a grip medley and the Mons Megs stones finale. They are not three variations of the same test. The yoke-and-log event requires moving an enormous load across a set distance and then pressing a log; the grip medley adds awkward picks and transitions; the stones reward efficient loading and the ability to keep producing force when fatigue has already accumulated.
For the men, the published event outline calls for a 476-kilogram yoke over fifteen meters before repetitions with a 165-kilogram log. The grip medley includes a 227-kilogram duck walk, a 160-kilogram farmer's carry and ascending sandbag loads. The final stones are listed at 140, 160, 180 and 200 kilograms. These are event specifications, not suggested workout weights. Equipment geometry, surface and rules can make the same nominal load feel radically different.
What does that mean for the men's title? Hooper's consistency gives him an advantage because he has demonstrated an ability to score near the top across multiple formats. Licis is only one point back and has the technique and contest history to take a moving event. Nel's ability to recover points on the carry makes him dangerous. Haynes has already shown how much ground a specialist can gain with one superb event, while Trey Mitchell's press win confirms his ceiling remains high.
The women's competition is similarly unpredictable. Jardine's one-point lead over Underdown is tiny. Carrasquillo's two event wins demonstrate that her early deficit did not define her day. Underdown's deadlift excellence may help with awkward picks, but the event is not the same as a barbell pull. Grip fatigue, transition speed and loading technique will be decisive. It would be a mistake to assume a woman who wins a maximum deadlift automatically wins a long carry or a stone series.
Watch the transitions, not only the headline loads. Does an athlete approach the next implement with a rehearsed grip? Can they recover their breath without losing momentum? Do they waste time resetting a stone after a failed lap? In an event where the top men are separated by one or two points, a clean pickup may be worth more than an impressive-looking but poorly timed extra attempt.
Strongman rewards the complete package. Saturday is designed to discover whether Friday's leaders can remain adaptable once the sport changes the rules of the physical problem again.
What Lifters Can Learn From the Weekend Without Copying Elite Loads
There is a temptation after watching strongman to reduce the entire lesson to one word: heavier. That misses the best part of the sport. The Rogue Invitational tests maximal force, repeat strength, efficient movement under load, grip endurance, conditioning and decision-making. The athletes are not merely lifting heavy things. They are solving different physical problems while tired, with very little margin for error.
A normal gym program can borrow that variety without turning into a six-event competition. Keep a basic strength movement such as a squat, hinge or press; add one loaded carry; and train a modest amount of conditioning. For example, a two-day supplemental plan could pair three sets of five to eight Romanian deadlifts with four twenty-meter farmer carries on day one, then use three sets of six to ten overhead presses and four light sandbag carries on day two. Start below the point where technique becomes unstable.
Progression should be measured with more than a personal-record screenshot. A heavier farmer carry is useful, but so is covering the same distance with steadier steps. A deadlift with cleaner bracing is progress even before the load increases. A press that maintains identical range of motion across every repetition tells you more than one ugly final rep. Strongman athletes understand this because competition exposes weaknesses that a single gym lift can hide.
Fatigue management matters just as much. A ladder, a press-for-reps event and a heavy carry in the same day accumulate stress through the lower back, hands, shoulders and nervous system. Competitive professionals train specifically for that sequence and have coaching, recovery and equipment support. Recreational lifters should not reproduce a 385-kilogram deadlift ladder or a 260-kilogram front-loaded wheel because it looked thrilling on a stream. Build capacity with ordinary weights and predictable technique first.
The Friday results also offer a lesson about specialization. Licis won the deadlift but did not lead overall. Underdown demolished the women's ladder but finished Friday second. Carrasquillo lost ground early and then won two events. Hooper took the men's lead without winning any of the three. None of those outcomes contradicts the others. They show that the strongest athlete depends on what strength is being tested.
Saturday's final scores will settle the trophies. Friday has already delivered the more durable story: versatility can beat one spectacular strength, and a single bad event does not have to end the competition. That is a useful attitude for anyone whose training occasionally goes wrong. One poor set is information, not an identity.
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