BREAKING: Sam Briggs Receives Final Backfill Spot at Strength in Depth, Prepares for Last Run at the CrossFit Games

CrossFit Strength in Depth’s women’s field is now full with one final backfill: 2013 Fittest Woman on Earth, two-time worldwide Open winner, and nine-time individual Games athlete, Samantha Briggs. 

The “Engine from England” is chasing her tenth individual Games appearance (she also appeared once as a Masters athlete in 2018) and the title of “Fittest Forty-Year-Old in History,” having already announced her retirement after this season, earlier in 2022.

When Briggs received the email this morning, she detailed the emotions she went through in an interview with Morning Chalk Up.

“Is this what I want?” She thought to herself. “But when it finally settled in, I was like, this was the whole plan this season, this is my last big shot at individual competition, so I’ve just got to go all in.”

Remind me: Sam Briggs is a legend of CrossFit, qualifying for the Games first in 2010, when she placed 19th overall. She returned in 2011, taking fourth before sitting out in 2012 due to injury and then becoming the Fittest Woman on Earth in 2013 at the age of 30, the oldest woman to do so.

• Briggs has remained a perennial fan favorite and elite competitor. Her accomplishments include five top-five finishes at the Games (including her first-place finish in 2013), she also won the Dubai CrossFit Championship in 2018, the Australian CrossFit Championship in 2019.
• At the CrossFit Games in 2019, Briggs won the Spirit of the Games Award as well.

The story this year: Briggs announced her retirement after the 2022 season in February and has dealt with a nagging knee injury that has affected her performance.

• She finished 90th in the worldwide–her top finish was 38th in 22.2.
• At the Quarterfinals, Briggs ended up tied for 67th in Europe, seven spots out of qualifying for Semifinals.
• Once the leaderboard shook out, Briggs earned the final backfill spot at Strength in Depth, which is scheduled to take place in London, June 10-12, 2022.

When she saw her Quarterfinals placement on the leaderboard, Briggs knew that she stood a decent chance of earning a backfill spot, but once the deadline to accept or decline the invitations passed, she began to mentally prepare for the Age Group Quarterfinals (coming up this weekend). 

The bottom line: No matter what happens at Strength in Depth, Briggs’ hometown fans in London will get the opportunity to see her throwdown as she makes one final run at the CrossFit Games.

“With seven more weeks of training, as long as my knee stays healthy,” Briggs predicted, “you’ll see a much better version of me than was able to perform in Quarterfinals. So definitely, we’re going to be putting everything into full swing so that you get the best version of me on the competition floor in London.”