6 Athletes Who Quietly Cruised to a 2024 CrossFit Games Spot
The top of the leaderboard and the bubble.
For the second year in a row, those were the places we focused most of our attention during the seven 2024 CrossFit Games Semifinals.
But in the three most competitive regions in the world — North America West, East, and Europe — eight to 11 spots to the 2024 CrossFit Games were up for grabs.
As a result, it was easy for some qualifiers to get lost in the shuffle:
- Namely, the athletes safely in the middle, between the podium and the bubble.
The “Quiet Qualifiers,” we call them.
These athletes put forth quiet yet consistent performances that went nearly unnoticed, overshadowed by the drama unfolding above and below them on the leaderboard.
A little bit of context: Having so many spots available at three Semifinals is still a new feature in the sport of CrossFit.
- In the earlier Regionals days, and at Semifinals in 2021 and 2022, only five spots were available in each of the North American and European regions.
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Last season, however, the CrossFit Games team reduced the number of Semifinals from 10 to seven, so the number of invites in the most competitive regions has essentially doubled per event.
The new format heightens the competitive level of each event, but it also makes it a little tougher for spectators and fans to keep track of all the athletes who earn their Games spots.
So, in case you missed them, here are six athletes who flew under the radar in their journey to qualify for the 2024 CrossFit Games in Fort Worth, TX.
Brooke Wells, 7th in North America East
Normally a very noticeable competitor, Brooke Wells quietly punched a ticket to what will be her ninth CrossFit Games at the Syndicate Crown.
- What is especially notable is that last year, Wells was considered a shoo-in to qualify for the Games but finished outside of the cutline in 14th (for the first time in eight years) at the North America East Semifinal. Instead, she watched her sister Sydney Wells earn her first ticket to the Games.
This year was a different story. Wells made it look easy.
After day one, she was in sixth place, and although she dropped to 11th for a short time, she never really looked in danger of falling out of a qualifying spot.
On day three, Wells wrapped up her weekend with three not-flashy but solid performances (second, ninth, and 17th), keeping her safely away from the bubble for an eventual seventh-place overall finish.
Karin Freyova, 4th in Europe
While Karin Freyova ended up finishing only 18 points short of the podium, she wasn’t a podium threat until the last day, so her performances went largely unnoticed.
- Freyova started the weekend with a 10th-place finish on Event 1 and sat in fifth after day two, 43 points behind third.
The 29-year-old from Slovakia, whose lowest event placing all weekend was 13th, then wrapped up her weekend with two more fifth-place finishes on Events 4 and 5 and topped it all off with a third-place finish on the final event of the weekend. This easily but quietly earned her fourth invitation to the Games.
Sam Kwant, 5th in North America West
Sam Kwant making this list is almost a foregone conclusion, as it’s sort of his thing to keep a low profile and compete quietly (but steadily) and without much drama.
This year’s North America West Semifinal in Carson, CA, was no exception.
- The six-time Games veteran started his weekend with a sixth-place finish on Event 1 and kind of stayed in that territory all weekend.
Kwant dropped to seventh after day two but then climbed back into fifth on day three, with second-, 11th-, and fifth-place finishes to round out the competition.
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Worth noting: Though it seems Kwant is always safely in the middle of the pack, he has proven that his consistency can break him through closer to the top at the CrossFit Games.
- He finished fourth at the Games in 2022 and even (quietly) made the podium during the pandemic Games at Dave Castro’s Ranch in Aromas, CA in 2020.
All things considered, the unassuming Kwant has to be in the dark horse category for the podium in Fort Worth, TX, this summer.
Chris Ibarra, 6th in North America West
Finishing just one spot ahead of Kwant, 24-year-old Chris Ibarra — competing in only his second Semifinals competition — earned his first-ever Games invite in an equally low-profile fashion.
- Ibarra got some attention when he placed third on Event 1, but then he kind of settled in comfortably like a veteran of the sport.
He finished day two in fifth overall and then put forth three more consistent, but not top-of-the-leaderboard, efforts on day three (15th, eighth, and sixth).
Ibarra is the only male rookie to qualify from North America West.
Danielle Brandon, 4th in North America West
Unlike Kwant, five-time Games athlete Danielle Brandon is ordinarily anything but a quiet and low-key competitor. Her performance at this year’s Semifinals was less noticeable than normal (maybe it was just that her hair wasn’t blue or purple this time around).
This was good for Brandon in the sense that a stress-free path to the Games sets her up well for Fort Worth.
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- “Boring isn’t bad. With no highs or lows made for a pretty smooooove weekend,” Brandon posted on Instagram.
Brandon will head back to the Games this summer for the sixth straight time, and we can expect her not to shy away from flashy performances and competition drama in Fort Worth.
Calum Clements, 9th in Europe
OK, so Calum Clements’ journey in Europe wasn’t so much a smooth and consistent qualification story, but he certainly did fly under the radar.
The truth is, Clements wasn’t even really in the mix until the very end when he came out of nowhere and jumped into ninth, earning his first invite to the Games.
- The 27-year-old Clements was 32nd on Event 1. The following day, he had a 19th- and 17th-place finish and didn’t even enter the final day of competition in the top 20.
But then the Spaniard came to life on day three, finishing seventh and fifth in the first two events.
Suddenly Clements had an outside shot, but only if he crushed the final event, and only if the right people faltered.
Clements did his job.
He placed third on Event 6, and when the numbers shook out, Clements found himself on the right side of the cutline, earning his rookie ticket to the 2024 CrossFit Games.
Featured image: @alextrobough / Instagram