PROFESSIONAL strongman Mitchell Hooper isn't mincing his words when it comes to his expectations for 2023.
He wants to win it all.
Hooper burst onto the scene as a relative unknown in his first professional competition at the 2002 World's Strongest Man.
The 27-year-old took everyone by surprise when he won his qualifying group, beating the likes of four-time champion Brian Shaw and 2022 America's Strongest Man Bobby Thompson, before finishing eighth in the final.
This came on the heels of a relatively brief strength sports career, which began when he entered the powerlifting world while working towards his Master's degree in Australia.
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Speaking to The U.S. Sun prior to his season opener in Australia, Hooper said that he "did every sport imaginable growing up."
"Then I played football in college. [I] wanted something a bit more from life after I was a head strength and conditioning coach for a pro basketball team," he said.
"I moved over to Australia for education. Then I was a runner straight before I went into powerlifting, and after powerlifting I went to strongman and, for me, I tell people with unique situations how to exercise every day and I need to be able to experience those things for myself.
"So, whether I get into running or I get into strength sports, there's no real deep passion for any of them, it's just I think I have a professional obligation to be able to feel what they're gonna feel."
Hooper's somewhat meteoric rise in the sport came as a surprise not only to onlookers but even to himself.
When asked if he'd expected his career to take off so quickly, he admitted "No, not at all."
Hooper continued: "I suppose in one sense yes and in one sense no.
"I'm always pretty accurate with what I'm capable of and I knew that looking at what other people can do, that I'd be capable of doing that as well.
"But, to be right has been a surprise."
Part of what made Hooper's immediate success such a surprise was the fact many of the events at last years Final's were new to him.
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But, seemingly a quick learner, he still managed to win three of the four events in his group, and the Giant's Medley during the final.
And this "hugely successful comp" for Hooper has not only helped propel him onto the world stage but also prepared him for what's to come.
Hooper explains: "Just the experience and exposure to different things has been massive.
"And watching World's Strongest Man back, even though all in all it was a hugely successful comp for me, it's so tough looking at how many points I'd left on the board.
"It has nothing to do with being stronger. And that was a great lesson for me, to see that your strength isn't necessarily going to dictate if you win a show or not.
"Sometimes it's your skill, sometimes it's a bit of luck, sometimes it's practicing an implement. All that type of stuff goes so far.
"So, when I look at World's Strongest Man now that we did this past year I don't think I'd be within 20 points of myself.
'"And I think I'm in contention for the title this year."
Now that he's considered among the elite in the sport, having won Arnold U.K. and the Giant's Live World Tour Finals following World's, Hooper admitted that "at this stage, I'd say I don't really worry about other guys" when asked who he expects his toughest competitors to be.
He continued: "In every era of the sport there's different guys who are unbelievable and you can say its a particularly tough era, but in a particularly tough era I had the most successful rookie year of all time.
"So, is it that tough for me? It hasn't proven to be so I don't see why I wouldn't be able to be up there.
"They know that I'm there as well, they know that I'm coming for them."
And a key component to his continuing rise up the ranks and his first titles last year was former Europe's Strongest Man, Laurence Shahlaei.
Hooped admitted that Shahlaei's coaching has helped him "heaps," saying, "even if I look back at my wins, I can't be confident that I would've won either of those shows without Loz.
"In the Arnold U.K., it was just something simple like hook gripping the stones and just reiterating you have to do it.
"And all the guys who didn't were horrendous, and I ended up winning that event, but I probably would've lost seven or eight points if I didn't do that.
"Just the strategy with things at Giants Live World Tour Finals and I was able to sort of cruise through that one.
"But it's amazing how many points can be made up just learning little finer details."
With these new techniques under his belt, Hooper is confident he's improved, noting the Atlas Stones on which he said that now he would put himself "maybe fifth in the world at the moment in Atlas Stones."
Another area he's worked on is deadlifting, saying that "after last season I went through a spreadsheet and looked at where I lost points and I lost more points on deadlifting than anything else."
"So, I've worked really really hard on improving my deadlifting this year, and I think it's going to be a case of being less beatable in certain other events, say monster dumbbell, a deadlift that's unique to me."
Focusing on these sorts of events has been his "bigger focus," rather "than trying to excel at something you're not as strong at."
Having kicked off the 2023 season with a win in Australia, Hooper's goals for the year are crystal clear.
He wants to win, and that includes the biggest of them all in the world championships
So, who does he see as his biggest competitor once April rolls around?
Hooper said: "Most people would say that it's myself, Tom (Stoltman), Oleksii (Novikov), Brian (Shaw), and Trey Mitchell.
"If the winner isn't one of those five then I'd be very surprised."
Stoltman is looking to win his third-consecutive World's title, while Novikov will have his eyes on a second title.
Shaw, meanwhile, will be looking to close his World's career out with a fifth and final win, after announcing in early January that this would be his final appearance at the competition.
And Mitchell will be looking to pair his back-to-back Shaw Classic wins with his first at the world championships after finishing sixth in 2022.
All will battle it out at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina from April 18-23.
