Life
Inez Carrasquillo is a Puerto Rican, former powerlifter and professional strongwoman, who is a highly favoured candidate to become the next World’s Strongest Woman. She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and has a five-year-old son.
At nearly 6 foot, 2 inches tall, Inez has always been a large woman and played volleyball extensively, as well as throwing shot put, before gravitating towards powerlifting and eventually strongwoman.
She works in the tech and fleet industry, which is a nine to five office job. As a single mother, finding the time to train five times a week after work at a gym that is a ninety-minute journey from her house is really challenging but she says that “nothing easy is worth it.”
Inez is autistic and says that Tom Stoltman, whose autism is often spoken of, is one of her biggest heroes and has shown her how to be herself and how to be confident in who she is. Inez says that Strongwoman has challenged her in so many ways; mentally; emotionally and physically. She attributes strongwoman with helping her to lose 100lbs in bodyweight and getting her life back on track.
Career
Inez’s powerlifting career was a brief, but successful one, winning three USA Powerlifting Association meets and establishing a highly impressive total of 657.5kg/1449.5lb. However, she never felt at home in the sport and felt that her height, which seemed a hindrance, was perfect for strongwoman. She was contacted by a coach, Alex Pagan, who had trained some of her friends and began making her way in the sport, placing second in her first meet in Seattle.
Inez’s strongwoman career has been brief, but highly successful, winning Beast of the Bluegrass in 2020 and placing second at the Rainier Pro Am in 2021, before making the podium at the Official Strongman Games and taking a creditable 4th at her first World’s Strongest Woman.
Her most impressive victory came at the Arnold Amateur World Championships where she won every event – a feat of dominance that may explain the nickname “dominator”, given to her by Gabriel Peña and which she shares with 5-time World’s Strongest Man winner, Mariusz Pudzianowski.
If her contest results aren’t impressive enough, it’s her training performances that have instilled such confidence in her ability from her fans. She regularly exceeds established world records in the gym and is very confident in converting this in competition very soon. For example, her training log lift of 142.5kg/315lb is comfortably in excess of Andrea Thompson’s competition world record of 135kg/298lb
Best Title
In 2022 Inez became Arnold Amateur Strongwoman World Champion in Columbus, Ohio. In doing so she managed to win or claim joint first in all six events of the final, on her way to a commanding victory over Canada’s Robyn Koolen, who placed second, and USA’s Jennifer Lyle, who was third.
In the final event, the stone over bar, she exceeded the next best successful lift by an amazing 39kg/86lb, in lifting a 159kg/351lb stone.
Competition Results
Powerlifting
Best Lifts
Competition Lifts
Powerlifting Competition Lifts
Training
Present Day
Inez is training hard in preparation for the Official Strongman Games in Daytona Beach, Florida, in mid-November, where she will be attempting to improve on her =3rd place finish from last year.
On the 26th November, Inez will be making her Giants Live debut at Liverpool’s M&S Arena, for the World’s Strongest Nation, where male and female teams from USA and the UK will be battling for the World’s Strongest Nation trophy.
Apart from these shows, Inez has set her sights high: “I want to be World’s Strongest Woman and be the most decorated strongwoman in history. I also want every overhead world record by the end of 2023.” If her training lifts are a reliable indicator, this seems within her capabilities.
Media
Inez can be found on YouTube under the account name: Inez Carrasquillo. Her channel features some highly impressive training videos, which are a must see for any strength fans.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUjukBwY6–dx3bCFJibQTg?app=desktop
She is also available on Instagram, where she keeps her followers abreast of her training and contest performances. Her handle is @inez_prostrongwoman