The Rogue Invitational is an annual sporting event that includes a CrossFit competition and a Strongman competition. The event, organized by Rogue, started in 2019 as a CrossFit sanctioned competition, but has since become a major competition for CrossFit athletes. A contest for strongmen that featured the largest prize purse in strongman competition was added in 2021, and an additional one for strongwomen in 2024.
History The Rogue Invitational was announced in November 2018 as a sanctioned CrossFit event for the 2019 CrossFit Games. For the first invitational event, the top 10 male and top 10 female athletes from the 2018 CrossFit Games were given an invitation, as well as online qualifiers and other select top athletes making a total of 20 men, 20 women and 10 teams invited. The prize purse was $400,000, with the winners winning a top prize of $50,000 and a place at the CrossFit Games in their respective division, and all participants are guaranteed a cash prize. A Legends division was included for notable past CrossFit male and female athletes. The first Rogue Invitational also hosted the Rogue Record Breakers whereby strongmen and strongwomen can attempt to break 4 Strongman records. The competition was held at the Rogue company headquarters in Columbus, Ohio over two days in May 2019. The inaugural Invitational was contested by 19 men, 20 women and 8 teams, and it won by Mat Fraser for the men's competition, Tia-Clair Toomey for the women's, and CrossFit OC3 for the team's. The competition was live-streamed, and Rogue partnered with CBS to broadcast edited segments of the competition after the event.
In 2020, due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the event was postponed and held online in June, to be competed by 18 men and 18 women, including top Games athletes, qualifiers (from the qualification stage now called "The Q") and invitees. No team competition was held this year or in subsequent years.
The third Rogue Invitational returned to live competition in 2021, which took place over three days in October at Dell Diamond near Austin, Texas. It provided a prize purse of $1.25 million at the minimum, the biggest in CrossFit outside of the CrossFit Games, and it became the only CrossFit competition that pays out to all athletes competing including airfare and accommodation. It also expanded to include a strongman contest this year, instituting the biggest prize purse in the history of strongman competition. 20 men and 20 women in CrossFit (no qualifiers this year) were invited to compete in the CrossFit competition, while the field for the strongman competition had 10 athletes including 4 WSM champions. Martins Licis was the first winner of the strongman competition at Rogue Invitational.
In 2022, 15 top male and 15 top female athletes from the CrossFit Games were invited, and at least 5 men and 5 women from the qualifier which returned this year. The competition was extended to four days this year with an extra offsite event added.
In 2024, the Invitational was moved to Aberdeen Scotland. This year, invitations were issued using a new ranking system based on the performance of athletes over a 5-year period but weighted in favor of more recent competitions including the Open, Quarterfinals, CrossFit Games and Rogue Invitational. It includes an "Exceptions Points Table" to award points for those who missed a competition for any specific reason. The top 10 in this system will be invited, with five from the Q online qualifiers, and five more at the discretion of Rogue. A strongwoman competition with the biggest prize purse in the history of the sport was added this year.
Events The first Rogue Invitational had 8 events for individuals, 7 for teams and 4 for Legends. No team competition was held after the first year. The second featured 6 events, the third 7, the fourth 10. The programming of the events at Rogue has a bias toward strength.
The first strongman competition had five events. They include the "Wheel of Pain" created by Rogue, which is an implement inspired by the film Conan the Barbarian and the largest implement ever created for a strongman competition and first used in the Arnold Strongman Classic. Other events included the Rogue-created Elephant Bar for max deadlift and Inver Stones over hitching post. Six events were scheduled over two days in the second strongman competition, with three events repeated from the first competition: Cyr Dumbbell Ladder, Yoke Carry & Overhead Log Lift Medley, Stone Over Hitching Post. Specially-constructed equipment include "Rogue-a-Coaster Pull" where competitors pulled 600 lbs in a cart up a slope simulating a roller coaster ramp, and "Tower of Power" that featured an elevated 900 lbs deadlift on a platform.
Winners Champions Year VenueCrossFitStrongman Men Women Men Women 2019 Rogue HQ, Columbus, Ohio Mat Fraser Tia-Clair Toomeyrowspan="2" align="center" rowspan="5" align="center" 2020 Online Patrick Vellner Tia-Clair Toomey 2021Dell Diamond, Austin, Texas Justin Medeiros Tia-Clair Toomey Martins Licis 2022Dell Diamond, Austin, Texas Justin Medeiros Laura Horvath Oleksii Novikov 2023Dell Diamond, Austin, Texas Patrick Vellner Laura Horvath Mitchell Hooper 2024 P&J Live, Aberdeen, Scotland Jeffrey Adler Tia-Clair Toomey Mitchell Hooper Inez Carrasquillo 2025 P&J Live, Aberdeen, Scotland Jeffrey Adler Laura Horvath Mitchell Hooper Inez Carrasquillo
Podiums CrossFit - Men YearChampionRunner-up3rd place 2019 Mat Fraser Patrick Vellner Cole Sager2020 Patrick Vellner Björgvin Guðmundsson Noah Ohlsen2021 Justin Medeiros Patrick Vellner Jeffrey Adler2022 Justin Medeiros Chandler Smith Jeffrey Adler2023 Patrick Vellner Jeffrey Adler Roman Khrennikov2024 Jeffrey Adler Brent Fikowski Jayson Hopper2025 Jeffrey Adler Justin Medeiros Roman Khrennikov
CrossFit - Women YearChampionRunner-up3rd place2019 Tia-Clair Toomey Sara Sigmundsdóttir Anníe Mist Þórisdóttir2020 Tia-Clair Toomey Sara Sigmundsdóttir Jamie Simmonds2021 Tia-Clair Toomey Anníe Mist Þórisdóttir Gabriela Migała2022 Laura Horvath Anníe Mist Þórisdóttir Emma Lawson2023 Laura Horvath Tia-Clair Toomey Emma Lawson2024 Tia-Clair Toomey Laura Horvath Arielle Loewen2025 Laura Horvath Alex Gazan Lucy Campbell
Strongman YearChampionRunner-up3rd place2021 Martins Licis Tom Stoltman Oleksii Novikov2022 Oleksii Novikov Trey Mitchell Mitchell Hooper2023 Mitchell Hooper Tom Stoltman Mateusz Kieliszkowski2024 Mitchell Hooper Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson & Tom Stoltman2025 Mitchell Hooper Trey Mitchell Tom Stoltman
Strongwoman YearChampionRunner-up3rd place2024 Inez Carrasquillo Olga Liashchuk Lucy Underdown2025 Inez Carrasquillo Olga Liashchuk Angelica Jardine
References
External links Rogue Invitational