CrossFit Oslo Qualifies 109 Athletes to Quarterfinals — Why Are They So Successful?
Norway’s powerhouse affiliate CrossFit Oslo continued to prove just how fit its community is during the 2024 CrossFit Open by qualifying 109 athletes — 101 in the Individual division — to the Quarterfinals, the most of any gym in the world.
Behind CrossFit Oslo was Brazil’s SuperForce CrossFit, with 99 Quarterfinals qualifiers, and CrossFit Krypton in Chesapeake, VA, with 91.
Remind me: CrossFit Oslo has been on the rise for many years now. In 2023, the gym made history when it became the first affiliate to qualify six teams to Semifinals (as well as seven individuals). Three of its teams went on to qualify for the CrossFit Games, and CrossFit Oslo Navy Blue finished third in the world.
[Related: The Best EMOM Workouts for Strength, Endurance, and Mass]
One big thing: With 25 percent of Open participants qualifying for Quarterfinals this season, as opposed to the 10 percent from previous years, you might expect 25 percent of any gym’s Open participants to advance to Quarterfinals. However, in CrossFit Oslo’s case, around 58 percent of its 189 participants qualified.
What Makes CrossFit Oslo so Successful?
CrossFit Oslo coach Joakim Rygh — who is also the founder of Kriger Training, which offers programming and coaching to elite CrossFit athletes — said he thinks there are three keys to CrossFit Oslo’s success.
One: “CrossFit Oslo is a very well-run affiliate. While from the outside, it might look like there is a focus on the elite [athletes], this is far from the case. The focus is on providing members with the best possible experience day by day,” Rygh told the Morning Chalk Up, adding that he believes this has led to incredible client retention and top-tier athletes.
Two: They’re blessed with great role models, including eight-time Games athlete Kristin Holte and other Games athletes like Seher Kaya, Matilde Garnes, and Andrea Solberg.
- “It is very clear for athletes who train at CrossFit Oslo that it is possible to actually get really really good if you are just making good choices and make the quality of your training your biggest goal for each day,” Rygh said. “Athletes get to see what the next level looks like.”
[Related: 15 Exercises for CrossFit Beginners]
Three: The final piece of the puzzle is a positive training environment, Rygh said.
- “Because we are so many, everyone gets to be an expert in something and a student in something else. It is also not as lonely as it can be in other places if you are a top athlete, but rather you have a big community with the same goals as you,” he added.
Looking Ahead
CrossFit Oslo is going to be a busy place during Quarterfinals. Not only will there be 109 athletes competing from the gym, but some of Rygh’s CrossFit Kriger athletes, including Emelie Lundberg, Camilla Salomonsson Hellman, and Hanna Karlsson, will also be traveling to complete the Quarterfinals tests at CrossFit Oslo.
This means organization and planning will be the key.
- “The goal for Quarterfinals is to be as organized as possible to give as little stress to the athletes as possible,” Rygh said, adding that the plan is to offer various time slots each day so athletes can sign up for a heat at their preferred time.
Rygh expects the environment will be conducive to great performances.
- “It really helps during Quarterfinals to have a big group of high-level athletes doing the workouts, since you get a good feel for what is a good enough score on each workout,” he said.
[Related: Every Winner of the CrossFit Games]
Rygh did not want to predict how many CrossFit Oslo and Kriger athletes he thinks can make it to the CrossFit Games this year so as not to put “extra pressure on the athletes,” but he did say he thinks the teams are even stronger than in previous years.
And with so many young, up-and-coming athletes, “the future looks very bright,” he said.
Featured image: @crossfitoslo / Instagram