Lucy Underdown


Lucy Underdown is an English strongwoman competitor and a police woman from Kent.
One of the best female deadlifters in the world, she is the first woman to deadlift 700 lb and holds both standard bar and elephant bar women's deadlift records in strongwoman with and respectively.

Early life

Being inspired by her twin sister Amy, Underdown was drawn towards athletics at a young age. She competed in sprinting first and then moved to shot put and discus and became one of the best female throwers in the United Kingdom, ranking either first or second from age 12 into her 20's. After 17 years of competition, she quit in 2017.

Strongman career

Underdown began competing in strongwoman in 2018, winning the local Brighton's Strongest Woman show. She later won Britain's Natural Strongest Woman, qualifying her for the 2020 Arnold Amateur Strongwoman World Championships, her first international competition where she placed seventh out of ten competitors.
Underdown entered pro circuit in 2021 at UK's Strongest Woman, placing third. She quickly emerged as one of the best deadlifters and in 2021, deadlifted. In 2023 at Official Strongman Games, Underdown became the first woman to deadlift. Later in 2023, she reached second place in the World's Strongest Woman competition, tying with first-place Rebecca Roberts on points but losing on a tiebreaker.
In 2024, she won 2024 Arnold UK and Britain's Strongest Woman. She also reached the podium at 2024 Rogue Invitational. At 2024 Arnold Strongwoman Classic, she set the world record in the elephant bar deadlift. In The World [Deadlift Championships|2024 World Deadlift Championship], Underdown extended her own standard bar deadlift record with, breaking the strongwoman deadlift record for the third time.
In 2025, she also extended her own elephant bar deadlift record with at 2025 Arnold Strongwoman Classic, after briefly losing it to Andrea Thompson. However she ended up in sixth place in the full show. She also earned her second consecutive Britain's Strongest Woman title.

Personal life

Underdown is married to Jonathan Kelly, a strongman competitor from Ireland. She suffers from anxiety and has expressed frustration at the harassment strongwomen receive on social media.

Personal records