At the 2022 International Functional Fitness Federation (iF3) World Championships in Hermosillo, Mexico, Norwegian athlete Matilde Garnes put on a dominating performance against an international field en route to the iF3 World title.
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Looking at the bigger picture: The world title by Garnes concludes one of the busiest seasons by a CrossFit athlete in recent history and solidifies her as one of, if not the top European athletes heading into 2023, which means we’ll likely see her at the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games.
Garnes’ iF3 Performance
The 26-year-old placed in the top three in five of the six tests across the three-day (Dec. 16-18) competition, including a win in Test 4, the “Skills” test. In that event, she completed five rope climbs, 100 unbroken double unders, a 90-second L-Sit, and concluded with 100 unbroken double unders two seconds ahead of Germany’s Katharina Isele.
Throughout the competition, her average finishing place across the six tests was 2.5, resulting in the individual world championship staying in Norwegian hands and defeating Switzerland’s Nicole Heer by 32 points. Garnes’ worst finish of the weekend was fifth in the final test, securing her first major individual title.
This is Garnes’ fourth podium at the iF3 World Championships in four appearances. Last year, she placed second to mentor and Norwegian CrossFit great Kristin Holte by just five points. In 2019 she placed third as an individual and in 2018 she was a member of Norway’s first world championship team.
Who is Matilde Garnes?
Garnes’ performance in Mexico concluded a busy year of competition for a woman who also owns her own gym in Norway, CrossFit Trondheim. The iF3 was her ninth in-person competition that she competed in this year and it came less than three weeks after she placed second at the Dubai Fitness Championship.
Prior to that competition, she competed at the prestigious Rogue Invitational in Round Rock, Texas on October 27-30 placing 14th.
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In September, Garnes competed in two major competitions, a year after she had knee surgery that delayed the start of her 2022 season. She recovered fast enough to place 11th in the CrossFit Games Open, matching her career-best finish from 2021. That led to her seventh-place finish in the European Quarterfinals and qualified her for the Lowlands Throwdown Semifinals.
At Lowlands, Garnes completed her comeback, placing fourth and earning her first individual CrossFit Games invitation. At the Games, Garnes placed 19th with five top-10 finishes.
Know a Great CrossFit Athlete?
If you’d like to submit an athlete to be considered for BarBend’s CrossFit Athlete of the Week, please email Patrick Clark at patrick@barbend.com.
For athletes to be considered, it must be for accomplishments for the preceding week (Monday-Sunday) and must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. EST the Monday after. Please include any verifiable results, links, and a brief explanation of why that athlete should be considered.
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Featured Image: @internationalfunctionalfitness on Instagram
