Looks like we’re gonna have quite a bit of a shake up to the men’s roster for the 2026 Rogue Invitational. This morning the Rogue Invitational Instagram account announced that Harry Lightfoot was invited.
My first thought was that Justin Medeiros had withdrawn following the accident he was involved in.
But in looking at the Competitors page of the Rogue Invitational website there are two other guys who were previously announced, but no longer there. Can you figure out who’s now missing?
Did you figure it out?
Yeah, Austin Hatfield and Jonne Koski have been removed from the list of competitors.
Hatfield was dealing with a wrist/grip injury earlier this year while Koski injured himself last month at WFP Indianapolis. It appears both have elected to withdraw.
For the first announced backfill, Rogue used the Rogue Points System instead of The Q. Thus, Harry Lightfoot has been called up as he is currently ranked 19th. He’s also a fan favorite in Europe.
The second athlete has not yet been announced. It could be Sam Kwant (18th on RPS), Saxon Panchik (20th on RPS) or if they go the route of the online qualifier, it would be Isaac Newman who finished 5th.
And of course, there’s still a chance Rogue has to issue a third backfill to take Medeiros’ spot. We still don’t have any details on what happened or the extent of Medeiros’ injury.
The 2026 Rogue Invitational is just one month away, October 23-25.
