The 2023 America’s Strongest Man (U105KG) & Woman (U82KG) competition took place on July 22nd at the Tinley Park Convention Center, in Illinois. It consisted of five events, with 12 men and six women competing for the title of America’s Strongest in their respective divisions.
In the end, Jeffrey Lee was crowned as the men’s U105KG American champion after a very tight battle with Zack McCarley. On the other hand, Erin Murray won the women’s division with a bit more comfort than Lee, but she still had to push until the very end so none of her rivals overtook her.
Another factor proving just how versatile the U105KG weight class is in American Strongman is that this year’s roster was almost completely different from last year’s one. The only man who competed last year and came back this year was Michael Congdon. So, all 12 other men did not take part in the 2022 edition of this show.
2023 America’s Strongest Man U105KG Leaderboards
- Jeffrey Lee — 57 points
- Zack McCarley — 55 points
- Nick Hein — 43 points
- Brandon Burley — 39 points
- Justin Loy — 39 points
- Alec Soukup — 38 points
- Dan Hughes — 34 points
- Matt Moeller — 32 points
- Kevin Candito — 30 points
- Michael Congdon — 28 points
- Bill Kendall — 26.5 points
- Jon Parker — 26 points
- Johnny Wasiczko — 7.5 points
2023 America’s Strongest Woman U82KG Leaderboards
- Erin Murray — 30 points
- Jessica Mitchell — 26.5 points
- Erin Walklet — 23 points
- Katie Gutwald — 22.5 points
- Cassandra Moore — 18 points
- Rachael Peterson — 13 points
- Jamie Schamma — 5 points
Related: 2023 North America’s Strongest Man Results — Trey Mitchell Wins
Event Recap
Both the U105KG Men and the U82KG Women took part in the same five events. The only difference between these two categories was the weight of the implements.
Event 1: Press Ladder
The first event of the 2023 America’s Strongest Man (U105KG) & Woman (U82KG) was an Overhead Press Ladder. The athletes encountered five implements, some being Axle Presses and others Log Lifts. Each implement got substantially heavier than the previous one. So, the goal was to overhead press as many implements as possible, as quickly as possible.
Weights:
- U105KG: 270-lb, 290-lb, 310-lb, 330-lb, 350-lb
- U82KG: 170-lb, 185-lb, 200-lb, 215-lb, 230-lb
Men
- Zack McCarley — 5 in 59.13 seconds
- Nick Hein — 4 in 32.97 seconds
- Jeffrey Lee — 3 in 21.28 seconds
- Justin Loy — 3 in 23.21 seconds
- Brandon Burley — 3 in 25.9 seconds
- Dan Hughes — 3 in 26.28 seconds
- Alec Soukup — 3 in 27.81 seconds
- Matt Moeller — 3 in 30.09 seconds
- Michael Congdon — 3 in 32.01 seconds
- Kevin Candito — 3 in 38.87 seconds
- Jon Parker — 3 in 48.89 seconds
- Bill Kendall — 1 in 6.09 seconds
- Johnny Wasiczko — 1 in 14.02 seconds
Women
- Jessica Mitchell — 5 in 49.87 seconds
- Erin Murray — 4 in 38.35 seconds
- Cassandra Moore — 4 in 42.44 seconds
- Erin Walklet — 3 in 30.09 seconds
- Rachael Peterson — 1 in 7.4 seconds
- Katie Gutwald — 1 in 8.9 seconds
- Jamie Schamma — 1 in 9.31 seconds
Event 2: Max Farmer’s Carry
Similar to the first event, in the second event of 2023 America’s Strongest Man (U105KG) & Woman (U82KG) featured multiple implements that got progressively heavier. They had to complete 30 feet with each implement in order to progress to the heavier one. In the end, the goal was to reach the heaviest possible Farmer’s Carry implement.
No skipping of weight was allowed, so a strict rule was that an athlete MUST complete the full distance with the lighter implements first.
Weights:
- U105KG: 260-lb, 300-lb, 340-lb, 370-lb, 400-lb, 430-lb, 450-lb
- U82KG: 180-lb, 210-lb, 240-lb, 270-lb, 300-lb, 320-lb, 340-lb
Men
- Jeffrey Lee — 430 lbs – 26ft 5in
- Dan Hughes — 430 lbs – 15ft 8in
- Zack McCarley — 430 lbs – 10ft 0in
- Kevin Candito — 430 lbs – 7ft 11in
- Alec Soukup — 400 lbs – 29ft 4in
- Brandon Burley — 400 lbs – 21ft 10in
- Bill Kendall — 400 lbs – 19ft 8in
- Justin Loy — 400 lbs – 18ft 11in
- Michael Congdon — 400 lbs – 9ft 8in
- Jon Parker — 400 lbs – 6ft 0in
- Matt Moeller — 370 lbs – 30ft 0in
- Nick Hein — 370 lbs – 11ft 8in
- Johnny Wasiczko — 340 lbs – 18ft 6in
Women
- Katie Gutwald — 300 lbs – 30ft 0in
- Erin Murray — 300 lbs – 16ft 8in
- Cassandra Moore — 300 lbs – 7ft 7in
- Erin Walklet — 270 lbs – 30ft 0in
- Rachael Peterson — 270 lbs – 30ft 0in
- Jamie Schamma — 270 lbs – 30ft 0in
- Jessica Mitchell — 270 lbs – 29ft 0in
Event 3: Conan’s Wheel
The third event of the competition was Conan’s Wheel, a well-known test of strength and endurance in Strongman and Strongwoman. The aim of the event was to pick up a heavy metal beam with the forearms and cross as much distance as possible without dropping it. The beam pivots around a center point, meaning that the athletes spin in circles.
Having to hold the beam at the forearms and mid-chest height means that the athletes are not able to breathe properly, making this event quite a painful and uncomfortable one.
Weights:
- U105KG: 650-lb
- U82KG: 400-lb
Men
- Justin Loy — 167.89 ft
- Nick Hein — 161.91 ft
- Michael Congdon — 148.27 ft
- Alec Soukup — 148.17 ft
- Zack McCarley — 138.36 ft
- Jeffrey Lee — 136.54 ft
- Bill Kendall — 133.45 ft
- Matt Moeller — 127.56 ft
- Kevin Candito — 107.94 ft
- Brandon Burley — 104.01 ft
- Dan Hughes — 82.43 ft
- Johnny Wasiczko — 68.69 ft
- Jon Parker — 36.31 ft
Women
- Jessica Mitchell — 254.14 ft
- Erin Murray — 200.18 ft
- Erin Walklet — 177.8 ft
- Katie Gutwald — 165.83 ft
- Cassandra Moore — 125.6 ft
- Rachael Peterson — 96.16 ft
- Jamie Schamma — 12.76 ft
Event 4: Ukrainian Deadlift
The Ukrainian Deadlift has proven to be quite a strength test recently, which is why it made its appearance at the 2023 America’s Strongest Man (U105KG) & Woman (U82KG). It is basically a deficit deadlift with a short handle, meaning that the athletes cannot position themselves in a standard conventional stance, but instead more of a sumo stance is needed.
The Ukrainian Deadlift at this competition started off by doing one rep with each of the weights listed below. However, once athletes reached the final weight (Men: 680-lb / Women: 440-lb), they kept performing as many reps as possible.
Weights:
- U105KG: 560-lb, 600-lb, 640-lb, 680-lb for reps
- U82KG: 350-lb, 380-lb, 410-lb, 440-lb for reps
Men
- Jeffrey Lee — 9 reps
- Zack McCarley — 9 reps
- Jon Parker — 9 reps
- Nick Hein — 7 reps
- Dan Hughes — 6 reps
- Alec Soukup — 5 reps
- Brandon Burley — 4 reps
- Matt Moeller — 4 reps
- Kevin Candito — 4 reps
- Michael Congdon — 3 reps
- Bill Kendall — 2 reps
- Johnny Wasiczko — 2 reps
- Justin Loy — 1 rep
Women
- Erin Murray — 6 reps
- Jessica Mitchell — 5 reps
- Katie Gutwald — 5 reps
- Erin Walklet — 4 reps
- Cassandra Moore — 3 reps
- Rachael Peterson — 2 reps
- Jamie Schamma — 0 reps
Event 5: Atlas Stone Series
Like in almost every Strongman and Strongwoman competition, the Atlas Stones were the final event of the 2023 America’s Strongest Man (U105KG) & Woman (U82KG). The athletes had to lift five progressively heavier Atlas Stones on a platform in front of them.
Usually, as the Atlas Stones progress in weight, the platform’s height gets lower. However, at this specific competition, the platform height was the same for every Atlas Stone, regardless of weight.
Weights:
- U105KG: 300-lb, 325-lb, 350-lb, 375-lb, 400-lb
- U82KG: 220-lb, 240-lb, 260-lb, 280-lb, 300-lb
Men
- Jeffrey Lee — 5 in 27.27 seconds
- Brandon Burley — 5 in 46.51 seconds
- Matt Moeller — 5 in 50.57 seconds
- Zack McCarley — 4 in 24.02 seconds
- Justin Loy — 4 in 33.59 seconds
- Bill Kendall — 4 in 37.02 seconds
- Nick Hein — 4 in 37.83 seconds
- Jon Parker — 4 in 39.58 seconds
- Kevin Candito — 4 in 44.53 seconds
- Alec Soukup — 3 in 21.1 seconds
- Michael Congdon — 3 in 24.85 seconds
- Dan Hughes — 3 in 43.09 seconds
- Johnny Wasiczko — 3 in 46.89 seconds
Women
- Erin Walklet — 4 in 26.51 seconds
- Jessica Mitchell — 4 in 27.53 seconds
- Erin Murray — 4 in 40.33 seconds
- Katie Gutwald — 3 in 37.7 seconds
- Rachael Peterson — 3 in 46.87 seconds
- Cassandra Moore — 2 in 22.88 seconds
- Jamie Schamma — No lift
Watch the full competition here:
The organizers of the 2023 America’s Strongest Man (U105KG) & Woman (U82KG) made sure to award the efforts of their competitors accordingly. So, the winners of both divisions were awarded $5,000. In addition, every athlete who finished in the top 7 athletes got their piece of the prize pool: second place ($3,000), third place ($2,000), 4th-7th place ($500 each).
Published: 26 July, 2023 | 9:30 AM EDT
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