Minneapolis firefighter Andi Barrickz entered every regional Firefighter Challenge competition held across the country in 2026 and won every single one of them, a run that carried her to a national team title and now to the World Firefighter Challenge Championship in Las Vegas. Barrickz, who joined the Minneapolis Fire Department about four years ago, will compete against the top firefighters from around the globe at the Plaza Hotel & Casino later this month, racing a punishing five-stage obstacle course while wearing full turnout gear and an oxygen tank.
Barrickz was named the Firefighter Challenge League's 2026 Ted Overcash Points Champion, an honor given to the athlete who racks up the highest overall point total during the regular season nationwide, according to the Firefighter Challenge League
. As reported by
KARE 11
, she also set competition-time records this year on her way to that title, cementing her as one of the sport's fastest rising names.
From Rookie Tryout to Elite Club
Barrickz's path into the sport started almost on a whim. She first entered a Firefighter Challenge League regional competition in Saint Paul in 2025, and per KARE 11, she said at the time, “I was like this is a unique opportunity. I decided to try it out.” She won first place in her division at that very first competition, and her colleagues encouraged her to keep going, the station reports.
She didn't just keep going — she kept winning. In June 2025, Minneapolis Fire Department personnel made their official Firefighter Challenge League debut at that same St. Paul regional, where Barrickz won the Under 40 Division 3 individual female category and an MFD team took first in the Under 40 Regional Relay Female event, according to the City of Minneapolis. City officials praised the participants for showcasing both endurance and operational capability. After winning her division in her first competition, Barrickz continued competing in the league.
A National Title in Erie
Barrickz's 2026 season swept through the Midwest Region, where she and teammate Penelope (Poppy) Onsrud won the Under 40 Female Tandem Category while a team of Minneapolis firefighters claimed the FD Showdown Coed Team title, per the league's regional title history. That momentum carried into the 2026 Firefighter Challenge U.S. National Championship, held in Perry Square in Erie, Pennsylvania, from September 23 to 26, according to Snap-tite Hose. There, Barrickz teamed with fellow Minneapolis firefighters Greta Boogren and Poppy Onsrud to win first place in the team competition, KARE 11 reports.
The Toughest Two Minutes in Sports
The Firefighter Challenge course has earned a brutal nickname: ESPN once called it the toughest two minutes in sports, per KARE 11's reporting. Competitors race through five sequential stages meant to mirror real emergency-scene tasks — climbing a five-story tower, hoisting heavy equipment, swinging a weighted hammer for forcible entry, advancing a charged water hose, and dragging a simulated 165-pound victim, according to the City of Deerfield Beach. All of it is done in full turnout gear and a self-contained breathing apparatus. Barrickz has said firefighters need both strength and conditioning and ways to stay motivated, and she has used competition training to add drive to her own strength routine.
Minneapolis Sends Three to Las Vegas
Three Minneapolis Fire Department firefighters competed on the national team. The World Championship in Las Vegas runs from October 19 to 24 at the Plaza Hotel & Casino, according to the Firefighter Challenge League. Barrickz has named Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Norway, and Austria among the countries she expects to face in Las Vegas, per KARE 11. The annual competition is open to active, volunteer, military, veteran, and cadet firefighters alike.
Part of a Broader MFD Story
The success of Barrickz, Boogren, and Onsrud also lands against the backdrop of Minneapolis Fire Department's longer history with women in the field. Women now make up roughly 9 percent of its force — nearly double the national fire service average of 4.6 percent, according to the Houston Chronicle. That comparison makes Minneapolis's roster an outlier worth noting as its athletes head to the world stage.
