Rebecca Roberts, from Bangor, in North Wales, is the 2021 World’s Strongest Woman and multiple grip strength World Champion. A former rugby player, she has won numerous domestic titles, as well as the European title in a strength career that has now spanned eight years.
Despite her status as one of the world’s best strongwomen, Rebecca works full time as a quality assurance analyst and must fit her gruelling twenty hours training a week around her work schedule. This is helped by the fact that she can work from home, choosing her own hours.
Rebecca is a strong advocate for body positivity and mental health issues, partly due to the bullying she suffered as a child due to her size, weight and even her curly hair. She hopes to be an inspiration to women and girls, encouraging them to “do and be whoever you want”. She regularly receives messages from girls she has helped: “it’s nice to get trophies, but it’s even better helping other people.”
Some less well-known facts about Rebecca include that she studied forensic psychology at Liverpool University, and when she is not lifting massive weights, she enjoys Disney films and is really into unicorns!
Career
Rebecca was encouraged into the sport by her partner and coach, Paul Savage who sadly passed away in 2023. He agreed to train her and assist her weight loss, as well as rehabilitate a rugby back injury. His encouragement led to her into entering her first strongwoman competition, the 2016 UK’S Strongest Woman, which amazingly, she won.
Throughout 2017 and 2018 Rebecca won two World Grip Championships and set a slew of grip strength World Records. In addition, she also won two World Championships competing in the World Heavy Events Association, as well as a second-place finish at the 2018 Europe’s Strongest Woman event.
In 2019, Rebecca returned to Europe’s Strongest Woman, in Rotherham, and this time was victorious. She also claimed the first of three Wales’ Strongest Woman titles, with victories coming again in 2021 and 2022. She finished off a superb season by winning Britain’s Strongest Woman and making her debut At World’s Strongest Woman, where she placed 7th.
Between 2019 and 2021, Rebecca lost an incredible 9 stone (57kg/126lb) to improve her overall strength and athleticism. The results were an emphatic success, and she was able to improve her 7th place finish in 2019 by taking 1st place in 2021 and the World Strongest Woman title!
In 2022 Rebecca slipped to 8th at World’s but won the first of two UK Strongest Woman titles. In 2023 she placed 2ndat both the Arnold Classic, where she was 2.5 points adrift of America’s Victoria Long, and at the Official Strongman European Championships, where she was narrowly beaten by Lucy Underdown.
Best Title
In November 2021, Rebecca achieved her sports’ highest accolade by winning World’s Strongest Woman, in Daytona Beach, Florida, at the Official Strongman Games. In a hotly contested competition, featuring a field of ten athletes, she was able to defeat Ukraine’s Olga Liashchuk by a single point and was 3.5 points ahead of England’s Annabelle Chapman, who was 3rd.
Roberts is the first woman from Wales to lift the World Title but did so without winning a single event. In a remarkably consistent display, of the six events she took two second-place finishes, three third places and a fourth. Her best results came in the Carry and Drag and Atlas Stones.
Competition Results
Best Lifts
Competition Lifts
Training
Present Day
Rebecca will next be competing at Britain’s Strongest Woman in Doncaster on September 30th. As part of the Weekend of Strength double header, it will be the first time Giants Live has featured a female only contest and Roberts will be one of the main contenders!
Rebecca will be representing Team UK at the Giants Live World Strongest Nation contest, where male and female teams from the UK will be taking on Team USA on 8th November 2023 at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena.
Media
Fans of Rebecca and women’s strongman can find her on YouTube under Rebecca Roberts Strongwoman. Her channel features numerous training videos and vlogs. Aside from her own channel, there are several videos featuring Rebecca’s training and competitions.
On Instagram Rebecca’s handle is @rebeccarobertsstrongwoman. She keeps this channel updated regularly with her everyday life and training/competition events. On Facebook she can be found under: Rebecca Roberts Strongwoman
Along with fellow British World’s Strongest Woman winners Donna Moore and Andrea Thompson, Rebecca featured in a Guardian article detailing their involvement in the sport and the growing profile of the female competitors.
