Interview: 2024 CrossFit Open Winner Mirjam von Rohr Sets Her Sights on Fort Worth
Mirjam von Rohr is the 2024 CrossFit Open women’s champion — seemingly out of nowhere.
She is also one of the top-ranked women on the HYROX world leaderboard as of this article’s publication, but her list of accomplishments extends beyond that.
Have you ever thought of doing 1000 wall balls for time? Von Rohr did it in 39:05.
How about a two-hour wall sit? Or 100 unbroken thrusters in 3:04? Maybe 1000 burpees in 55:51?
How long would it take you to bike across Switzerland from north to south, over two mountains? She did it in three days.
Relatively new to the sport, von Rohr balances CrossFit with HYROX, although for the time being, CrossFit has become priority number one.
[Related: Morning Chalk Up’s Guide to the 2024 CrossFit Quarterfinals]
Some Background
Von Rohr grew up training in multiple sports and challenging herself across diverse disciplines. Through running, gymnastics, and martial arts, she fueled her passion for sport and competition.
In late 2020, after training in martial arts for several years, she needed something new.
“I got bored and felt under-challenged. I was looking for something new and discovered Crossfit,” von Rohr tells Morning Chalk Up.
She first competed in the Open in 2021, then took 54th place overall in 2022, and did not compete in 2023.
Von Rohr also trains for HYROX races, becoming one of the best in the world. One of her career highlights came in 2022, when she won the HYROX European Championships.
She eventually stepped away from gymnastics as well to pursue only CrossFit and HYROX.
Mirjam von Rohr’s Training Style
Currently, von Rohr lives and trains in Switzerland at CrossFit Öuf in Zuchwil and Functional Fitness Milory in Subingen. She says both gyms offer CrossFit, but each has different equipment, so she switches between both to cover as much as possible.
As an exception to many elite CrossFit athletes, von Rohr does not train under a specific program. While she has been working with a coach for the last few weeks, she writes much of her own programming.
[Related: 10 Best Exercise Bikes, Tested by Our Team]
“I’m used to doing everything on my own,” von Rohr says.
She has found the most success training this way, following her own path while attending in-house WODs and sweating alongside fellow gym and community members. She simply adapts the programmed workouts to her needs, scaling up or down.
She values the coaches at the gyms greatly, especially the weightlifting coaches, as this is an area where she is the most unfamiliar.
“About three years ago, I held a barbell for the first time, and just yesterday, I did a 110kg (242.5-pound) clean and jerk, and there is still a lot of room for improvement,” von Rohr says.
She recognizes that this method of training is unorthodox, but it works for her.
“I may not train like the typical CrossFitter, but the important thing is that you make progress and get towards your goal; it doesn’t matter how,” von Rohr says.
HYROX Takes a Backseat
Leading up to the 2023 HYROX World Championships, von Rohr exclusively trained for HYROX. She didn’t participate in gymnastics, short workouts, weightlifting, or strength training. This year, however, is different — von Rohr is focusing primarily on CrossFit.
“Up to a certain point, both sports are very supportive of each other, and you can get better at both. However, if you want to be top of the top in the world, it’s almost impossible without specializing in one sport,” von Rohr says.
The Bottom Line
Von Rohr says that her focus for now is Semifinals, with the overarching goal being a spot at the 2024 CrossFit Games in Fort Worth, TX.
She still has HYROX goals in mind, like winning the World Championship title in the Double Pro division. In the HYROX Pro, she would like to compete in the Elite 15 race and win a World Championship in that division as well. But that’s not the main focus right now.
Von Rohr says she wants to have a long career, so she is shifting gears to pursue a different challenge while reducing her running workload to avoid injuries and burnout.
“Sometimes you have to take a step back in one sport to make the next biggest step forward in another,” she says.
Featured image: @navoka_photography / Instagram