Gatesville athlete Jade Dickens wins national strongman title

Jade Dickens put Gatesville on the national strongman map when she won first place at the United States Strongman Nationals in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on June 6 in the women’s 50+ light weight division. Anytime Fitness Gatesville spotlighted the victory as a hometown win, and a KXXV crew visited the gym to feature the achievement.

Dickens is a Gatesville resident and retired educator whose strength career has stretched well beyond one meet. Records under the name Jade Elaine Dickens show years of prior powerlifting competition, and her latest title adds a strongman crown to a long competitive résumé built in the weights.

Her training has included work at Underground Performance Gym in Waco alongside Central Texas strongman Ian Bracken, part of a preparation path that reaches outside Coryell County but still reflects a regional training network. Dickens has also said she wants to inspire other women to take up strength training, pushing back against the idea that lifting heavy automatically makes women bulky.

The title came in a sport with a formal qualification process. Strongman Corporation says athlete lists are manually updated and results are generally posted within a week after competition, a reminder that national-level strongman events are organized around precise divisions and verified placements rather than informal exhibitions. Dickens’ division, women’s 50+ light weight, placed her against athletes in her age and weight class at the national meet.

Dickens has described strength training as important for bones, mental health and hormones, and she has said she competes with an eye toward representing her country and her state. For Gatesville, that message now comes attached to a first-place national finish and a competitor whose name is already tied to another local role.

An Iron Podium listing identified Dickens as meet director for the Central Texas Classic USS Competition in Gatesville on June 20, extending her influence beyond the platform and into the local event scene. The result gives Coryell County a visible example of discipline, preparation and steady work paying off at the highest level of the sport.