5 CrossFit Games Storylines You Should Pay Attention To
The CrossFit Games is about crowning the Fittest Man and Woman on Earth, and the storylines at the top are always exciting.
This year, we’re all waiting with bated breath to find out if Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr will win by an even bigger margin than she has in the past, or whether Laura Horvath and the rest of the women’s field have closed the gap on the six-time champ.
Toomey-Orr’s largest margin of victory was in 2020 when she won by 360 points. In 2022, she won by 113; in 2021, she won by 256; and in 2019, she won by 195 points.
On the men’s side, we can’t wait to see how many athletes wear the leader’s jersey over the course of the weekend, as we expect an epic battle between Jeff Adler, Roman Khrennikov, Justin Medeiros, and Pat Vellner.
Amid the excitement at the very top, we sometimes forget there are 79 individual athletes competing, all of whom have a story: a rookie debut story, a comeback story, a redemption story, or some other kind of inspiring journey worth following.
Here are five storylines we think are worth following this summer at the 2024 CrossFit Games in Fort Worth, TX.
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Is Haley Adams’ Comeback Complete?
Last year, four-time CrossFit Games athlete and 2018 teen champion Haley Adams publicly announced she was taking a year off to focus on her mental health.
Remind me: In an Instagram post from February 2023, Adams said: “I started CrossFit when I was 14 years old. It has been my everything for a very long time.” Adams admitted that she battled an eating disorder in the past and has struggled with her mental health ever since.
- “It has been a hard few years, when every single day is a battle. But now, it’s time to put me first. I will be stepping away from competing this season, and as sad and difficult as it is to make this decision, I’m equally excited to find out who Haley is again,” she wrote.
With that, Adams’ 2023 season was over, and nobody knew when (or if) she would return to competition, let alone whether she’d ever be as strong competitively as she once was.
Adams returned to competition in 2024 and looked like a new athlete at the recent North America East Semifinals.
- She looked relaxed, happy, all smiles, and legitimately fitter than ever, as she cruised to a sixth-place overall finish, easily earning her fifth invite to the CrossFit Games.
Worth noting: Adams, who has notoriously struggled on heavier barbell and pure strength events, had a top-10 finish on the snatch ladder event at Semifinals, suggesting the year off might have helped her iron out some of her weaknesses.
Our prediction: Some might argue that Adams’ comeback is already complete, regardless of how she finishes at the Games, but we’re still keeping a close eye on her in Fort Worth to see whether the year will pay off on the overall leaderboard compared to her past performances. (Adams placed sixth at the Games as a rookie in 2019 and fourth in 2020.)
- While Adams might be fitter than ever — and we can assume she wasn’t yet peaking at Semifinals — the women’s field is stronger and arguably deeper than it was even two years ago. So in some ways, a top-10 finish this year might be similar to a top-five finish three years ago. In this sense, we predict a top-10 finish for Adams.
Which Rookie Will Finish on Top?
Twenty-two rookies will be competing in Fort Worth next month:
Europe
- Aniol Ekai | Victor Hoffer
- Harry Lightfoot | Calum Clements
- Aimee Cringle | Claudia Gluck
- Linda Keesman
North America West
- Chris Ibarra | Hattie Kanyo
- Kyra Milligan
North America East
- Jack Rozema | Austin Hatfield
- Lexi Neely
Oceania
- Peter Ellis | Grace Walton
- Daisy McDonald | Georgia Pryer
Africa
- Ryan Potgieter | Gemma Radar
South America
- Bruno Marins | Andreia Pinheiro
Asia
- Dawon Jung
Which one of them will place the highest and likely earn Rookie of the Year honors?
Our prediction: Sixth at the Europe Semifinals, France’s Victor Hoffer has been rising quickly in the last few seasons. He’s our prediction to be the top rookie this year.
Can Seher Kaya Become the First Asian Female Athlete to Break into the Top 20?
No Asian woman has ever placed inside the top 20, but Turkey’s Seher Kaya has been knocking on the door for the last two years, placing 29th in 2022 and 23rd in 2023.
- Worth noting: The only male athlete from the region to place inside the top 20 has been Russia’s Roman Khrennikov, who was third in 2023 and second in 2022.
Note: Khrennikov’s Russian flag wasn’t represented on the leaderboard in 2022, and he competed under the U.S. flag in 2023.
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Kaya, who trains at CrossFit Oslo in Norway, is also a Muslim woman looking to break barriers in her quest to be one of the fittest women in the world.
- “Of course, I see more and more women involved in fitness…[but] there aren’t many Muslims in the Games, and especially women. So it’s important for me to represent us. I want to show it’s possible and to (give other women) someone to look up to and relate to,” Kaya told the Morning Chalk Up last year.
Our prediction: We’re going to go out on a limb here and predict that a more experienced Kaya will not only finish in the top 20 but will be top 15 this year.
Can Lazar Ðukić Become Serbia’s First Podium Finisher?
Similar to Kaya, Serbia’s Ðukić has cemented himself as one of the top CrossFit athletes in the world for the last three seasons.
- In fact, he has placed in the top 10 all three years he has competed at the Games — ninth in 2021, eighth in 2022, and ninth again in 2023 — but he has never asserted himself as a real podium threat.
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Most recently, Ðukić won the Europe Semifinals, although only by 12 points over Belgium’s Jelle Hoste, solidifying himself as the top man in arguably the toughest region heading into Fort Worth.
Our prediction: Ðukić always seems to step up at the Games, so we predict another strong showing from him next month. But with the men’s field being as strong and as deep as it is, our prediction is he will have yet another top-10 finish but won’t knock Adler, Vellner, Khrennikov, Garard, or Medeiros off the podium.
Can Emma Lawson Log a Second Straight Podium Finish?
It’s hard to believe Canada’s Emma Lawson is still only a teenager, as the 19-year-old already has a sixth- and second-place finish at the CrossFit Games in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Further, she won the whole thing as a teenager in 2021.
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Most recently, Lawson admitted in an interview with Dave Castro that she’s had more “mental struggles” this year than in previous years.
- “I think I have just, I have been extremely successful at such a young age, that I feel like I have associated a lot of my self-worth to a placing on a leaderboard,” she said, adding that she’s hoping to work through the struggles and ensure she’s still having fun with the sport.
Our prediction: With the six-time champion Toomey-Orr back on the roster this season, and last year’s champion Horvath looking as hungry as ever, Lawson may drop a few notches from 2023. That said, we have seen her rise to the occasion too many times to be counted out completely.
Lawson is as tough as they come and always seems to find another gear at the Games. We predict she will be on the podium again this summer.
More 2024 CrossFit Games Coverage
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- Our 4 Favorite Friday Night Lights Moments at the CrossFit Games
Featured image: @_a.jesusdottir / Instagram