Southeast Missouri woman takes 5th place in Worlds Strongman Games Competition- 2024

SCOTT CITY, Mo. (KBSI) – One Southeast Missouri Woman is pathing a path for strong women everywhere.

At Kopion Fitness in Scott City we are interviewing Chelsea Held who just took 5th place in the 2024 Worlds Strongman Games Competition.  

 “I was stoked so yeah know this year, my previous two years I finished 9th my first year, 7th my second year, so this year was top 5, so I was very excited to finish in that top 5 range.”  says Held.

The Official Strongman Games Competition was held the first weekend in December for 2024 in Madison Wisconsin. More than 20 women from all around the globe competed in a series of events over three days. The competition consisted of challenges like a car run, giant rock toss, and wrecking ball challenges.

Held shares how she started competing in strongman competitions.  

“I jumped into strongman because I was teaching macro-coaching for some girls that were competing in strongman, so I wanted to better understand what their bodies were going through in a competition, so I jumped in purely for fun and I fell in love with all of it.”  

-I mean this is the world! To say not just Missouri, not just the U.S but the world! That’s a big deal!

“Yes! At worlds you got girls I competed against” shares Held. “There was a girl from Germany and a girl from France in my weight class so it’s cool to meet women who do this sport from all over the world.”

-and so how does this make you feel for other women watching?  

 “I love it! I know my nieces watch all of my live streams so I know that they are watching and sometimes my sister will send me videos of them doing the mock events says Held.”” They’ll pick up their big blocks and walk it back n forth like it’s a sandbag and stuff like that, so I love that older women or just women in general are yeah know getting more into the fitness and not shying away from strength training in general.”  

Held works as a personal trainer at Kopion Fitness where she encourages women of all ages and back grounds to get into fitness.  

 “From young girls in their teenage years all the way up to their 60’s and 70’s and they love strength training. At first everybody’s a little intimated not sure what they’re doing but they really seem to enjoy it once they get started and seeing the changes in their body’s and not getting that big bulky that everyone seems to think if you touch a dumb bell is going to happen. So, their seeing good changes their body is changing so they really enjoy it.”  

when held isn’t competing in competitions and teaching other women the benefits of being strong and healthy she’s busy being a mom. Held has a son who she says wants to be just like his mom.  

 “Yeah, know my boys getting ready to compete with me, this will be his fourth competition were going over to Illinois for a charity event so well be over there competing together.”  

Held says she hopes to empower women from all back grounds to get into fitness.  

Held plans on competing in her next strongman competition in May and for anyone wanting to follow her journey, you can find her on social media or through the Kopion Fitness social media webpage.