Is 2024 the Year That Gabi Migala Makes the CrossFit Games Podium?

In her fifth straight year at the CrossFit Games in 2023, 24-year-old Gabi Migala from Poland inched one step closer to the ever-elusive podium, finishing in fourth place overall.

Migala, best friend and training partner of 2023 champion Laura Horvath, has finished eighth overall or better at the Games for the past three years and just had the best year of her career so far:

• 2023: 4th
• 2022: 8th
• 2021: 6th

Along with her Games performance, she also won the incredibly stacked European Semifinal, beating both Annie Thorisdottir and Laura Horvath head-to-head.

With all of this momentum, will 2024 be the year that Migala finally earns a spot on the CrossFit Games podium?

Migala 2023 Performance Overview

Migala is extremely well-rounded and usually doesn’t have any specific movement weaknesses in her game, but one thing she is lacking is event wins and top-three finishes, both of which are necessary to finish on the overall podium.

For example, at this year’s Games, Migala had seven top 10 event finishes, but only one finish inside the top three and no event wins.

Migala also had four event finishes in 15th or worse, with two of those being in 22nd or worse.

Meanwhile, the woman Migala was tracking down, third-place overall, Arielle Loewen had four finishes inside the top three and only one finish outside of the top 15.

These minor differences were able to give Loewen a 95-point lead over Migala at the end of the weekend.

Strengths

Migala is known for being one of the strongest athletes in the field as is evident by her top finishes at the 2023 Games in events like “Ski-Bag,” “Olympic Total,” and “Muscle-Up Logs,” but she also has another area where she excels.

Usually, the strongest athletes tend to do poorly in the long steady-state endurance events, but Migala seems to have figured these out.

2023 Endurance Events:

• “Ride”: 7th
• “5K”: 5th

Weaknesses

It appears that Migala still has work to do when it comes to gymnastics events, which may be a by-product of training alongside friend Laura Horvath who favors strongman-style events and heavy weight lifting.

Fun Fact: Gabi Migala and Laura Horvath both had their worst two event finishes in the exact same events at the 2023 Games:

• “Inverted Medley:” Migala (22nd), Horvath (27th)
• “Helena:” Migala (27th), Horvath (15th)

These gymnastics weaknesses were especially devastating at the 2022 Games where Migala finished the two gymnastics events in 30th or worse, likely costing her a top-five overall finish, because she finished only 36 total points behind fifth-place overall finisher Brooke Wells.

• “Elizabeth Elevated:” 30th
• “Echo Press:” 35th

Once again, those two workouts also happened to be Horvath’s worst as well.

Some Final Thoughts

If Gabi Migala can rack up a couple of event wins or a handful of top three event finishes along with no serious mistakes in gymnastics events, she will likely finish on the podium for the first time in her career at the 2024 CrossFit Games.

She has consistently gotten better and better each year, going from 75th overall in 2019 to fourth in just five years.

Although many of the top women in the sport are returning next year, such as Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, Mallory O’Brien, Haley Adams, Brooke Wells, and Kara Saunders, Gabi Migala is just as good as any of these athletes and should never be counted out.

With minor improvements in all areas, we could easily see Migala even become a champion contender within the next three years.