Strongwoman Michelle Morette has been invited to the Arnold Sports Festival, one of the most prestigious competitions for Strongman competitions.

By Tommy Osborne

StrongWoman

Prince George strongwoman invited to prestigious event

Aug 19, 2025 | 3:32 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – She’s only been a strongwoman for two years, but Prince George strongwoman Michelle Morette has already achieved a big dream of hers: competing in the Arnold Sports Festival. When she first learned that she would be attending this prestigious event, it came at a surprisingly mundane time, as she was grocery shopping when she saw her invitation.

“I didn’t even understand what it was at first, I just saw my name, the invite, and the Arnold’s logo, and I didn’t even know what I was looking at. And then I had to follow and go check their tag on their story to actually understand what it was, and I was just overjoyed. I just started, like, bouncing in the grocery store and was almost ready to cry, just smiling like a fool the whole time. It was great,” Morette said.

The Arnold Sport Festival, or the Arnold’s, is one of the biggest events for strongman competitors, as well as one of the world’s biggest athletic festivals in general. As a relative newcomer to the strongwoman scene, Morette has wasted no time stacking up the accolades. A recent win at the Alberta Strongman Provincials caught the eye of the Arnold’s, which led to her surprise invitation, as an invitation to the Arnold’s usually requires a podium finish on the national level.

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“I was in the grocery store and I literally opened my phone and got the notification from Alberta Strongman Corporation that I had received an invite, so it was a complete surprise,” Morette said.

“She did provincials in Alberta and swept all the events. And because of that sweep, the people at the Arnold’s heard about her and sent her the invite, and she she had no idea it was coming. So it was a great surprise,” added Mike Webber, owner of the XConditioning gym where Morette trains.

Even though she’s only been in strongwoman for two years, Morette explains she has always had a strong interest in strength sports. Prior to strongwoman she had a strong background in powerlifting, and she says it all started at a young age when her mother took her to see her first strongwoman event.

“I always was interested in strength sports. I’m from Fergus, Ontario, and initially, my mom had taken me to the Highland Games, it’s very big there, and I had actually watched my first strongwoman ever. She did a caber toss, which my mom explained to me is a big telephone pole, and the women pick it up and throw it. So watching women do that got me interested in strength sports,” Morette said.

Even though the Arnold’s is a dream come true, Morette’s immediate focus is actually on the upcoming Strongman Canadian Nationals, coming up at the start of October. The initial plan was to earn a podium finish at the Nationals to then get the Arnold’s invite, but she fortunately earned that invite through her impressive showing in Alberta.

“I’m roughly eight weeks or so out from Strongman Nationals for Canada. And after that, it’ll give me approximately five months to prep for the Arnold’s,” she said.

The Arnold Sport Festival will take place in March, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio.

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