For over a decade the Dubai Fitness Championship has stood sentinel as one of the most premier offseason earning opportunities for elite athletes in competitive fitness; and this year is no different.
Due to the constantly changing landscape of the sport, including the Rogue Invitational coming to Europe this year, the recent introduction of the FitFest athlete showcase in the UK, and an almost exclusively “qualifier-only” field, the biggest names in the sport aren’t there this year… and I love that.
I love it for two reasons:
- The field is still amazing because there is more depth in this sport than is sometimes recognized.
- It’s likely that at least one, and possibly several, athletes this weekend will earn their biggest ever competition paycheck.
And as impressive as it is to watch the best in the world dominate, it’s also really healthy to have some of the wealth distributed to that next group of athletes who also grind year-in-and-year-out for the very right to be on this stage.
Need to Knows
Where: Dubai, United Arab Emirates; primarily at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium
When: Friday, December 6 through Sunday, December 8
How to Watch: As usual, it will be streamed on the Dubai Fitness Championship YouTube channel
Who’s Competing?
Following the qualifier, every single athlete who earned the chance to compete in the Finals accepted their invitation. Gabriela Migala had to withdraw after the injury she sustained at Rogue, the backfill went to fellow Polish athlete Julia Blazejowska, who promptly accepted it.
You can find the full qualifier results on competition corner.
Besides the qualifiers there were two invites handed out in each divsion:
Karin Frey and Julia Kato got them for the women.
Spencer Panchik and Radouane El Ghadouini (was originally Roman Khrennikov but he withdrew a couple months ago) received them for the men.
The Events
The first event of the 2024 Championships was announced on November 8 via the DFC Instagram page. So far there have been five announcements, typically the DFC consists of 8 or 9 events, so expect a few more to drop this week, and likely the final will be withheld until some time during the competition (another normal pattern there).
First announcement: 20 minute FTP Test on Damper 10
Second announcement: Double Unders and Strength Challenge
100 heavy double unders
20 sandbag cleans (150/100 lbs)
50 toes to bar
20 sandbag cleans
100 heavy double unders
Third announcement: EMOM Challenge
15 Minute EMOM
Minute 1: 10 burpee box jump overs (24/20 inches)
Minute 2: 15 alternating dumbbell snatches (30/22.5 kg)
Minute 3: 20/17 calorie row
Immediately after: 2 full rounds of the same movements for time
Fourth Announcement: Endurance Continuation
5 KM Obstacle Course (Dubai World Obstacle Championship
Fifth Announcement: Heavy Complex
One Clean + One Front Squat + One Jerk
The order of events, or when they will fall during the competition, remain to be seen.
The Female Favorites
There are 11 individual Games athletes, seven team Games athletes, and pretty much everyone else has multiple semifinal appearances…and yet there are some clear standouts amongst them.
Karin Frey
Frey is the two-time defending champ and comes in as the favorite on paper. She’s got a second and fourth to go with those two wins in Dubai. Those two titles put her on par with Sara Sigmundsdottir and Laura Horvath, if she gets a third she’ll match Annie Thorisdottir as the only athlete with three titles at the DFC.
Matilde Garnes
Frey’s biggest threat is probably Garnes. After competing last season on a team, Matilde re-entered the individual competition scene in Belgrade where she finished first or second on all seven events (three firsts, four seconds).
Elisa Fuliano
Fuliano was also at the Belgrade Games, where she finished second to Garnes, but closed with three consecutive event wins. She was fifth last year in her first DFC appearance and will be looking to improve upon it.
Kristin Holte
The last time Holte competed as an individual was in Dubai three years ago where she took second to Horvath and beat out Gabriela Migala and Sam Briggs for that spot. Based on her qualifier finishes and the pairs competition at the Oslo Throwdown, it seems she still has something to give this sport.
Jamie Simmonds
The 2014 DFC champ has a storied pedigree here. In more recent competition history, she was still poised to threaten for a top-10 Games finish in 2023 before an elbow injury. Tough not to think she’ll be in the mix this weekend.
Female Dark Horses
There are also a couple women in the field who may just sneak up and take some of the coveted prize money.
Linda Keesman
Keesman finally broke through to the Games this year, but she was on the cusp in Europe for a couple years prior to that. Her skill sets are not too dissimilar to competition favorites Karin Frey and Matilde Garnes. She could be the unexpected name that is in the mix this year.
Brittany Weiss
Weiss was impressive at Crash Crucible and couple months ago, and while the programming there is pretty unique, the specific skill sets Weiss has that allowed for that success seem like they should translate relatively well to Dubai, and in particular the programming that’s been released so far.
Emily de Rooy
Two years ago she made the Games as an individual but basically began the competition injured. This year she won the Games on a team with some very well established veteran athletes. All that to say, outside of Australia, where she is very highly respected, there isn’t a lot of evidence as to how good she can do against a field like this.
Andrea Solberg
Norwegians seem to have a monopoly on runner-up finishes the last three years in Dubai as the aforementioned Holte (2021) and Garnes (2022) has proven. Solberg added her name to the list last year when she put together an impressive final two days to pick up her most impressive off-season finish in her career. Solberg is highly skilled and like most Kriger athletes, a pure CrossFitter who can string together strong finishes just like she did last year.
The Men to Beat
Similarly on the men’s side, there are a few names that are hard to ignore as the favorites. Less than a third of this field has individual Games experience (8 out of 30), meaning there is also a lot of opportunity to a field full of Semifinalists to potentially breakthrough.
Mortiz Fiebig
On paper he’s the fittest man in the field, but that doesn’t guarantee anything. He was exceptional in Belgrade against several of the other top contenders here. The heavy double-unders are a landmine he’ll have to navigate, but his fitness is good enough that he should be battling for the podium throughout, like he normally does.
Luka Dukic
This is the one he’s been targeting. Belgrade was an emotional hurdle he needed to clear. He and his brother both have a lot of history in Dubai and the UAE. The announced events are all very good for Luka, he’s definitely poised for his best ever finish in Dubai, the question is, can he win it?
Tola Morakinyo
Maybe not the most obvious pick on paper as he has primarily been doing team competitions the last few years, but Morakinyo is still very good on his own. He may have a bad event or two, but he will likely offset that with a few top-five finishes and possibly an event win. Look for a late surge to bump Morakinyo up towards the top-five.
Bronislaw Olenkowicz
Took second to Fiebig in Belgrade and looked pretty solid doing so. The long obstacle run will likely be a hit, but he can offset that with his lifting when it shows up. Programming definitely can impact his ceiling this weekend, but he’s good at enough to hang around the top guys.
Don’t Sleep on Them
However, there are a few other men in this field who are likely to pull an upset or two.
Callum Clements
Made his name known by taking ninth at the Europe Semifinal this year, but had respectable finishes in the two years prior as well. He’s a bigger guy, with some power output, good performance on odd object work, and decent grip strength/endurance. Dubai could end up being a good place for him.
Anestis Artemis
Narrowly missed out on the podium at Belgrade Games behind three of the favorites here; making it hard not to think he could easily be in that group. He’s had a few other competitions where ring muscle ups have kept him from reaching his highest potential; if they don’t show up this weekend, maybe he ends up in that top 5.
Toby Buckland
He lives full time in Dubai, so home court advantage is his against a field that has done some big travel to be here. He looked really good against Kalyan Souza and Luka Dukic at Sandclash last March, and he’s completely redefined himself as an athlete since then, dropping nearly 10 kilos and working a lot on his running. He’s less accomplished than the others featured here, but perhaps that changes this weekend.
Niko Maisuradze
Both the FTP test and the 5 km obstacle course are possible event wins for a guy who coasted into a 16:47 5000 meter row last year. He’s not the strongest in the field, and it remains to be seen how much that will affect him, but there’s almost always a big lift or two in Dubai. A name worth knowing for sure, and likely to catch some attention this weekend for those who don’t know him yet.
What do you think?
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