Hooper’s 2023 had a roaring start Down Under.
Mitchell Hooper has already been steadily plugging away in what may be a monumental yr in his young skilled strongman profession. The athlete who burst onto the scene with an early blitz on the 2022 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) and subsequently became a dominant force on the key circuit seems prepared to proceed his climb to the highest of the strongman summit. Nevertheless, before he began his ascent up the mountain again, the superstar recently traveled to “the land of the long weekend” for a necessary first stop in his 2023 journey to develop into one of the best. He was joined by someone who may be the following elite strongwoman.
On Jan. 21, 2023, Hooper won the 2023 Australia’s Strongest International (ASI) competition in Yapeen, Australia. In a contest featuring various other elite strongmen and strongwomen like Master’s deadlift World Record holder Rauno Heinla and 2018 World’s Strongest Woman (WSW) champion Andrea Thompson, respectively, Hooper arguably stood tall because the headliner. Recent Zealand’s Shayna Wirihana won the strongwoman half of the 2023 ASI. Heinla (second place) and Fadi El Masri (third place) joined the Canadian Hooper on the strongman podium. In contrast, Thompson (second place) and Megan Clark (third place) flanked Wirihana for the strongwomen.
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Listed here are the ultimate standings for the strongmen who competed on the 2023 ASI:
2023 Australia’s Strongest International | Strongman Final Standings
- Mitchell Hooper (Canada) — 31 points
- Rauno Heinla (Estonia) — 28 points
- Fadi El Masri (Australia) — 20 points
- Jean-Stephen Coraboeuf (Australia) — 18.5 points
- Tiano Faapoi (Recent Zealand) — 13 points
- Tyler Helm (Australia) — 13 points
- Sean Gillen (Australia) — 11.5 points
Listed here are the ultimate standings for the strongwomen who competed on the 2023 ASI:
2023 Australia’s Strongest International | Strongwoman Final Standings
- Shayna Wirihana (Recent Zealand) — 28.5 points
- Andrea Thompson (Great Britain) — 26 points
- Megan Clark (Australia) — 24.5 points
- Donna Moore (Great Britain) — 24.5 points
- Nicole Genrich (Australia) — 13.5 points
- Joe Kimitaunga (Australia) — 11.5 points
- Camilla Fogagnolo (Australia) — 10.5 points
Hooper won 4 of 5 events to seal his first profession ASI title. With this decisive victory, the strongman kind of picked up where he left off in 2022, as Hooper has now won three of his last 4 contests in a hot streak that also features wins on the 2022 Giants Live World Tour Finals and the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic UK. To this point, per Strongman Archives, the one competition Hooper has fallen wanting reaching the rostrum was when he notched an eighth-place result in the course of the 2022 WSM Final.
Meanwhile, Wirihana didn’t win any events outright on the 2023 ASI but attained a solid top-three end in each of them. Such consistency allowed the Recent Zealand competitor to eventually topple Thompson by a 2.5-point margin. This was Wirihana’s first victory since capturing the 2022 Recent Zealand’s Strongest Woman championship.
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Hooper has already successfully morphed into one of the distinguished names in strongman. All that’s likely left for him to really accomplish is overcoming his elite peers on the 2023 WSM on Apr. 18-23, 2023, in Myrtle Beach, SC. For Wirihana, the strongwoman might only just be getting began. After overcoming a perennial WSW contender and garnering recognition amongst among the world’s most elite strongpeople, the 2023 ASI may be a incredible next step on a path to her own greatness.
Featured image: @mitchellhooper on Instagram