GLADIATOR MUM!
NICOLE IS READY TO DEFEND HER TITLE AS AUSTRALIA’S STRONGEST WOMAN
There’s a steely resolve in Nicole Genrich’s eyes as she pulls the loaded bar off the gym floor. With more than 100kg of weight stacked on, it isn’t an easy feat – but Nicole keeps pushing, determined to smash every record possible.
“I’m training towards lifting a 200- kilo concrete stone,” Nicole, 31, tells New Idea. “No female around the world has loaded anything higher than 160 kilos.”
Nicole is preparing for the Strongman and Woman competition in Sydney, where she will defend her title as Australia’s Strongest Woman. The two- day competition involves eight events. There’s powerlifting, weightlifting, Crossfit, and for the first time, a car flip!
Mixing motherhood, training and running her gym business in Caboolture, QLD, is quite the juggle for Nicole.
But she knows having the support of her biggest fans – partner Mitchell and their one- year- old son Hudson – will propel her as she fights for a place at the World Championships.
“I can’t wait for when Hudson is older and he can watch his mum flip a car,” Nicole says with a laugh.
“He comes with me to the gym most days and takes all the little weight plates and loads them on the bars … I just end up finding half- kilo plates everywhere.”
Strongwoman competitions aren’t the only arena where Nicole dominates. She appeared on the latest Gladiator series, where she challenged contestants in a game of tug of war.
“It was so much fun,” Nicole says with a smile. “But it was quite scary up on the platform. It doesn’t look high but when you add my height on top of that … well, my legs were shaking.
“It was also quite entertaining as I’m massive – I’m six- foot tall, 120 kilos – and so when I’m around ‘ normal people’, I really appreciate, yeah, I’m not a small person.”
Since starting the sport in 2018, Nicole says her love of lifting has never dwindled.
“I know people say you shouldn’t say this, but
I’ve got no shame in saying my identity is an athlete,” she says. “It’s empowering.
I can’t ever imagine myself not lifting. If my body allows me,
I’ll be 70 and still competing!”