Rebecca Roberts (born 18 December 1994), is a Welsh strongwoman and grip athlete.
She is the reigning UK's Strongest Woman and the winner of 2021, 2023 and 2024 World's Strongest Woman competition. She is one of only six women in history to become a multiple World's Strongest Woman champion.
Early life Roberts grew up in Bangor, Gwynedd, in North Wales. She lost her mother at a young age and her father suffered from dementia. She attended University of Liverpool where she studied forensic psychology and through university clubs discovered rugby.
Career Roberts was introduced to strength sports by her partner Paul Savage in 2016. Standing at 6 ft 3 in, and weighing in at , she was a formidable competitor. She was also participating in grip competitions, winning 2017 European Grip Championships in Norway, WHEA World Championships from 2017 to 2018 in Finland and 2019 British Grip Championships in Stafford. Since then, Roberts has competed in numerous strongwoman competitions and also holds several world records. Between 2019 and 2021, Rebecca lost around of bodyweight to improve her stamina and athleticism.
She has also won the World's Strongest Natural Woman contest twice, World Grip Championships twice and European Grip Championships.
Personal life In 2022, Roberts' partner and coach Paul Savage suddenly passed away. She continues to compete in his honour. She is an advocate for body positivity and mental health, partially due to her own experience of bullying due to her weight and size earlier in her career. Roberts works full time but still trains roughly 20 hours a week to be able to compete at an international level. She is very active on social media, posting about her training, competitions and her weight loss journey, as well as the challenges of training while grieving.
Personal records Deadlift – equipped Rogue Elephant Bar Deadlift – raw with straps Log press – x 2 reps Axle press – Dumbbell press – Behind-the-neck jerk – Atlas stones – 5 stones from in 28.04 seconds Natural stones – 4 stones from in 23.91 seconds
+World Records YearRecordSportFederationPerformance2023Conan's Wheel of PainStrongwomanArnold Classic 92 ft 9 in2022Thor's HammerStrongwomanRogue39 seconds2018Handshake Lift (one hand)GripDavid Horne World of Grip84.68 kg2018Axle Deadlift (20" from the floor) double overhand gripGripDavid Horne World of Grip137.05 kg201876mm Silarukov Rolling Handle (thumbless) holdGripDavid Horne World of Grip47.5 kg2018IronMind Little Big HornGripIronMind70.96 kg2018Log Lift MaxStrongwomanWHEA90 kg2018Deadlift MaxStrongwomanWHEA227.5 kg20172.5" CrusherGripFBBC67 kg20173" TrilobiteGripMammoth Grip Tools43.1 seconds2017IronMind BlockGripIronMind31.55 kg
References