Semoball

Local trainer Chelsea Pullen takes ninth at world strongman games

Chelsea Pullen poses next to her name on the Official Strongman Games banner during the competition at Daytona Beach, Florida.
Photo courtesy of Chelsea Pullen

What began as research turned into a passion for Chelsea Pullen.

Pullen — a 33-year-old Pendleton, Indiana native who currently resides in Cape Girardeau — competed in her first strongman competition in 2020. Most recently, she competed at the Official Strongman Games (OSG) World Championships which ran from Nov. 12-13 in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The two-day competition featured seven events — Viking press, farmers walk, axle deadlift, sandbag to shoulder, car walk, circus dumbbell and Atlas stones — and at the end of the event, Pullen finished ninth in the under-82 kg weight class.

"I was really excited," Pullen said of placing ninth in the world. "It was probably one of my best performances to date. I kind of went into this with nobody really knowing who I was, and so I didn't really have anything to lose and I had everything to gain from it."

Chelsea Pullen competes in the circus dumbbells during the 2022 Official Strongman Games World Championships in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Photo courtesy of Blackjack Images

Pullen entered her first strongman event in October of 2020, taking first place in her weight class at that year's Missouri Strongman/Strong-woman Championship in Columbia, Missouri.

"Strongman started as kind of an accident for me," Pullen said. "I was helping out some clients of mine through my online business with macros and things of that nature, and in order to better understand what they were going through and putting their bodies through I competed back in October of 2020. I just kind of fell in love with it."

Although she's now competed against some of the strongest women in the world, Pullen didn't plan to continue doing competitions after her first one.

"I told everybody it was a one-and-done and was just to figure things out," Pullen said. "But here I am two years later, still competing."

Pullen had previously competed in bodybuilding and powerlifting but fell in love with the camaraderie within the strongman community.

Chelsea Pullen prepares to compete in the circus dumbbells at the 2022 Official Strongman Games World Championships at Daytona Beach, Florida.
Photo courtesy of Blackjack Images

"What's cool about strongman is we're all competing against each other, but we're all still cheering for each other and I've never been part of any kind of strength sport like that before," Pullen said. "It's just wild. If you look at any of the videos from OSG, you'll see people not finish and just call it for themselves, and you'll see them turn to the person beside them in the other lane and start cheering for them. That's their direct competition, so it's just different than most strength sports or sports in general."

Now that she finished in the top 10 at worlds, Pullen will receive an automatic invitation to next year's world championships.

"I am planning to go back in 2023 in the u82 class again," Pullen said. "Until then I've got the Bricktown Showdown in Dubuque, Iowa where I'll be competing

for potentially a pro contract. I'm trying to get that 'pro' label behind my name."

In addition to preparing for major competitions, Pullen is also working on bringing the sport of strongman to the Southeast Missouri region. She hosted her first competition in September and has another scheduled for April 22 in Cape Girardeau at the A.C. Brase Arena.

"As of right now, I think I've got 16 athletes signed up," Pullen said. "It is opened up to 50 altogether and then it'll cut off to where nobody else can sign up. I've got people building implements for this competition, which will be pretty cool. There are no stones in this one, but I do have what's called Fingal's Fingers and those are pretty interesting to see."

Ultimately, Pullen hopes to get other potential strongman competitors interested in the sport.

"It's been a lot of fun," Pullen said. "I didn't start until I was 31 years old. Some people are like, 'Oh, I'm too old,' but there are master's classes, there are novice classes and there are all kinds of different things to get somebody involved."

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