The 2024 U82KG World’s Strongest Woman competition took place on December 6-8 in Madison, Wisconsin. This specific weight class was one of the most highly anticipated, mostly because of the stacked lineup that it featured. This was reflected in the results, as Nadia Stowers was crowned the champion following a late upset.
Nadia Stowers’ performance at the 2024 U82KG World’s Strongest Woman competitions is certainly one for the history books. She had an incredible start to the competition but suffered an injury on the fourth event. This setback made her path to victory significantly more difficult, but Nadia still managed to pull through. She ended up winning the competition by just 1.5 points after beating Sabrina Retzer in the final event of the competition.
2024 U82KG World’s Strongest Woman Results
- Nadia Stowers — 56 points
- Sabrina Retzer — 54.5 points
- Claire Myler — 46 points
- Angéline Berva — 44 points
- Chelsea Held — 39 points
- Josée De Lachevrotière — 33.5 points
- Nichole Wight — 32.5 points
- Lydia Wallace — 28.5 points
- Donna Mecoli — 27 points
- Sarah Hallifax — 24 points
Related: 2024 World’s Strongest Woman Results — Rebecca Roberts Victorious
Event One — Log Lift
The 2024 U82KG World’s Strongest Woman opened up with a test of upper body, where the athletes lifted either the 84-kg (185.2-lb) or 95-kg (209.4-lb) Log for as many reps as possible. Those that chose the lighter log accepted that any athlete who performed even just one rep with the heavier log would rank higher than them.
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Nadia Stowers does not have any outlying weaknesses, but her stationary power is very clearly one of her greatest strengths. She absolutely crushed her rivals in the opening event of the competition, lifting 95 kilograms (209.4 pounds) overhead for five reps. On the other hand, the second place went to Berva and Held, both of whom performed three reps less than Nadia.
- Nadia Stowers — 5 reps (95 kg)
- Angéline Berva — 2 reps (95 kg)
- Chelsea Held — 2 reps (95 kg)
- Sabrina Retzer — 1 rep (95 kg)
- Josée De Lachevrotière — 3 reps (84 kg)
- Claire Myler — 2 reps (84 kg)
- Nichole Wight — 2 reps (84 kg)
- Donna Mecoli — 2 reps (84 kg)
- Lydia Wallace — 1 rep (84 kg)
- Sarah Hallifax — 1 rep (84 kg)
Event Two — Car Walk
The second event of the 2024 U82KG World’s Strongest Woman was all about moving since the athletes had to pick up and carry a 295-kg (650.4-lb) Car Frame for a distance of 15 meters. The given time limit came out to 60 seconds, but the athletes strived to reach the finish line as quickly as possible.
Lydia Wallace proved that her abilities in this format of events are unmatched by any other woman in the 82-kilogram weight class. She was the only one to finish the run in under 20 seconds, crushing the milestone and ending up with a time of 17.87 seconds. Claire Myler was the second woman to cross the finish line, doing so five seconds after Lydia.
- Lydia Wallace — 17.87 seconds
- Claire Myler — 21.99 seconds
- Nichole Wight — 25.50 seconds
- Chelsea Held — 32.90 seconds
- Nadia Stowers — 34.21 seconds
- Sabrina Retzer — 47.66 seconds
- Donna Mecoli — 10.67 meters
- Sarah Hallifax — 9.5 meters
- Josée De Lachevrotière — 9.17 meters
- Angéline Berva — 8.31 meters
Event Three — Deadlift
The third event shifted the focus back towards stationary power, tasking the athletes with an Axle Deadlift for as many reps as possible. Similar to the first event, the athletes had a choice between a lighter and a heavier deadlift, which came out to 197-kg (434.3-lb) and 231-kg (509.3-lb) respectively. The use of lifting straps was allowed.
Nadia Stowers was the clear favorite for the deadlift event since she has put up countless mind-blowing pulls in recent years. In turn, Nadia did what was required of her, locking out seven reps to grab the second event win of the competition. Claire Myler also had an impressive performance, locking out five reps with 231 kilograms (509.3 pounds).
- Nadia Stowers — 7 reps (231 kg)
- Claire Myler — 5 reps (231 kg)
- Sabrina Retzer — 3 reps (231 kg)
- Josée De Lachevrotière — 3 reps (231 kg)
- Nichole Wight — 2 reps (231 kg)
- Angéline Berva — 2 reps (231 kg)
- Chelsea Held — 1 rep (231 kg)
- Sarah Hallifax — 1 rep (231 kg)
- Lydia Wallace — 3 reps (197 kg)
- Donna Mecoli — 1 rep (197 kg)
Event Four — Medley
The midway point of the 2024 U82KG World’s Strongest Woman competition was marked by a Medley, which consisted of three parts. Firstly, the athletes had to carry a 90-kg (200-lb) sandbag. They then had to do the same again, but with a 102-kg (225-lb) sandbag instead. Lastly, they had to push a 192-kg (425-lb) sled. The total distance that they had to cross came out to 45 meters, or 15 meters per implement.
The win in the medley event went to Sabrina Retzer, who narrowly beat Claire Myler to take ten points. The difference between Retzer and Myler came out to just 0.53 seconds after the results were revealed. It is important to note that Nadia Stowers placed second-to-last, but only because she suffered a partial tear of her right Achilles tendon.
- Sabrina Retzer — 41.03 seconds
- Claire Myler — 41.56 seconds
- Donna Mecoli — 42.15 seconds
- Angéline Berva — 42.34 seconds
- Sarah Hallifax — 46.79 seconds
- Lydia Wallace — 49.13 seconds
- Josée De Lachevrotière — 49.81 seconds
- Chelsea Held — 58.88 seconds
- Nadia Stowers — 31.29 meters
- Nichole Wight — 15.24 meters
Event Five — Sandbag Toss
The fifth challenge that the competitors had to complete as a part of the 2024 U82KG World’s Strongest Woman was the Sandbag Toss. In this event, the women rushed to toss six sandbags whose weight ranged from 11-kg (24.3-lb) to 18-kg (39.7-lb) over a beam set to a height of 4 meters.
Despite suffering an unfortunate injury on the fifth event, Nadia Stowers was still healthy enough to win the Sandbag Toss. She was the only woman that managed to complete the entire sandbag series, leaving no doubt about who the greatest was. Multiple athletes finished five stones, but Chelsea Held was the one who finished in second place with a time of 24.10 seconds.
- Nadia Stowers — 6 in 31.18 s
- Chelsea Held — 5 in 24.10 s
- Josée De Lachevrotière — 5 in 28.65 s
- Sabrina Retzer — 5 in 30.59 s
- Angéline Berva — 5 in 31.17 s
- Claire Myler — 5 in 33.47 s
- Lydia Wallace — 3 in 16.27 s
- Sarah Hallifax — 3 in 22.30 s
- Nichole Wight — 3 in 29.36 s
- Donna Mecoli — 2 in 31.44 s
Event Six — Wrecking Ball Hold
Although the competition was slowly coming to an end, the events were not getting any easier. Instead, the women had to perform the Wrecking Ball Hold, which is known for inducing a lot of pain. The goal of the event was to hold the 227-kg (500-lb) implement for as long as possible, shifting into focus the grip strength that the women possessed.
The Wrecking Ball Hold proved to be quite an unpredictable event, especially since the majority of women managed to hold out for longer than a minute. However, Sabrina Retzer’s performance looked effortless, as she managed to hold the implement for nearly two and a half minutes. This was a feat that no other woman managed to achieve, giving Retzer another event win.
- Sabrina Retzer — 138.45 seconds
- Angéline Berva — 130.07 seconds
- Nadia Stowers — 118.25 seconds
- Nichole Wight — 86.53 seconds
- Sarah Hallifax — 85.40 seconds
- Donna Mecoli — 77.17 seconds
- Lydia Wallace — 71.61 seconds
- Josée De Lachevrotière — 62.94 seconds
- Chelsea Held — 57.97 seconds
- Claire Myler — 38.77 seconds
Event Seven — Atlas Stones
The Atlas Stones marked the end of the 2024 U82KG World’s Strongest Woman competition, putting the athletes up against a series of extremely heavy boulders. Specifically, the women had to lift six stones ranging in weight from 79-kg (174-lb) up to 136-kg (300-lb) in the shortest time possible.
Nadia Stowers needed an incredible performance on the final event to secure the victory since she was stuck in second place behind Retzer on the overall leaderboards. However, despite her injury, Nadia turned out to be the fastest on the Atlas Stones, thus completing an incredible last-minute comeback.
- Nadia Stowers — 6 in 40.56 s
- Claire Myler — 6 in 42.95 s
- Sabrina Retzer — 6 in 43.65 s
- Angéline Berva — 5 in 36.54 s
- Chelsea Held — 5 in 46.31 s
- Nichole Wight — 5 in 53.33 s
- Donna Mecoli — 5 in 57.60 s
- Josée De Lachevrotière — 5 in 58.10 s
- Lydia Wallace — 3 in 22.25 s
- Sarah Hallifax — 3 in 28.71 s
Related: 2024 Magnus Ver Magnusson Strongman Classic Results — Mateusz Kieliszkowski Wins
Coming into the competition, Nadia Stowers was recognized as a 2x U82KG World’s Strongest Woman, having won titles in 2021 and 2022. However, she lost the crown in 2023 after finishing in second place behind Erin Murray. Well, it didn’t take long for her to reclaim the throne, as she now won the 2024 U82KG World’s Strongest Woman competition.
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