2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games: Individual Female Athlete Spotlights

This is a living document. We will start with 5 women, then add 5, then another 5, until all 40 elite female individuals who have qualified* for the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games are here.

*Qualifications are always pending drug tests, and we acknowledge the possibility (although we hope not) that this list can change based on potential drug failures and subsequent backfills.

Sixteen 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games Season Tests Thus Far

So far this season all 40 qualifying athletes have done 16 tests:

• 4 during the Open
• 5 during Quarterfinals
• 7 at Semifinals

What we’ve done is taken only these athletes’ scores on these 16 tests and compared them to each other. In each athlete’s spotlight where it says best test(s) or worst test(s) that means relative to this field of athletes. 

The top ten athletes are so good at so many things that we will shift our focus to what they do not want to see at the CrossFit Games. What we mean by that is that, if by chance, a particular thing doesn’t show up this year, or shows up in a small capacity, that particular athlete would likely move up a place or two relative to where they might finish otherwise. 

Laura Horváth

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 3rd in Europe

Games Appearance: 6th (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 3, Quarterfinals Test 5 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2A (38th)

Average Test Finish: 11.0

What She Does Not Want to See at the Games: Horvath is so good at so many things that her weaknesses pop out pretty clearly, and generally speaking there are only two of them: upper body pressing and running): 

2023 season: 38th, 23.2A (running/burpee pull-up). 32nd, 23.3 (strict handstand push ups). 28th, Quarterfinal Test 1 (strict handstands push ups). 26th, Semifinal Test 5 (running)

CrossFit Games

• 2022: 25th – s2oh A, 19th – s2oh B, 16th – speed skill, 21st – “Elizabeth Elevated”, 12th – “Up and Over”, 39th – “Echo press”
• 2021: 15th – 550 meter run, 19th – thruster/wall walk, 12th – handstand walk, 15th – run/t2b, 10th – free standing hand stand push ups
• 2020: 30th – “Damn Diane”, 25th – “Handstand hold”, 24th – “Naughty Nancy”, 24th – “Friendly Fran”
• 2019: 27th out of 30 – “Mary”, 19th – “Ruck Run”
• 2018: 21st – “Clean and jerk speed ladder”, 17th – “Fibonacci”

Of those 23 listed events:

• 8 of them involve running
• 7 directly involve handstand push ups of some kind
• 3 others a gymnastics support in the overhead position
• 5 others include some kind of upper body pressing that does not involve being upside down

Gabriela Migała

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 1st in Europe

Games Appearance: 5th (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 1 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 1 (30th)

Average Test Finish: 10.6

What She Does Not Want to See at the Games: Eleven top-ten finishes out of 16 opportunities this year bodes very well for Migala, but the three tests she’s done worst on are very much in line with the things she’s struggled most with at the Games the past two year- gymnastics. 

• 2023 season: 23rd – Semifinal Test 2, 30th – Quarterfinal Test 1, 28th – 23.2A
• 2022 Games: 27th – “Speed skill”, 30th – “Elizabeth Elevated”, 35th – “Echo Press”, 26th – Sandbag
• 2021 Games: 22nd – “swim/kayak”, 24th – Pig/rmu, 23rd – handstand walk, 18th – freestand handstand push ups

So in short, she wants to see as few as possible of strict handstand push ups, ring muscle ups, parallel bars, and high demand handstand walking.

Emma Cary

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 1st in North America East

Games Appearance: 2nd (2021)

Best 2023 Season Test: Open 23.1, Open 23.3, Semifinals Test 7 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2 B (27th)

Average Test Finish: 10.5

What She Does Not Want to See at the Games: She’s the only female in the field who has three event wins against the field, and she has no bottom-ten finishes, which are both extremely positive stats to boast. She does have five finishes between 20th and 27th however, and it isn’t abundantly clear what the pattern is. If we had to pin one thing down, it’s her strength, which makes sense considering that she’s coming back from a back injury (27th – 1 rep max thruster, 22nd – Quarterfinal Test 3 (clean and jerks), 22nd – Quarterfinal Test 1 (front squats and strict handstand push ups), 20th – Semifinal Test 1 (sled), 20th Semifinal Test 6 (ohs and strict handstand push ups). Despite the fact that strict handstands push ups show up twice on that list, she also won Open workout 23.3 which included those too.

She’s one of the most difficult athletes to assess in terms of top-end potential because we aren’t sure just how strong she is. Regardless, less heavy weightlifting test would be preferable. In 2021 she was 29th on the pig flip workout, 28th and 25th on the running/clean workouts, and 17th out of 20 on the heavy yoke test. 

Paige Powers

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 6th in North America East

Games Appearance: 2nd (2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Open 23.3 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 2 (37th)

Average Test Finish: 11.2

What She Does Not Want to See at the Games: Powers has seemed to improve across the board since the 2022 Games (9 of the 16 events we’ve had this year have yielded overall finishes of 6th place or better), but the areas she still needs to show improvement in are odd object and long tests. Last season her three worst finishes at the Games were on “Bike to Work” (32nd, long), the “Sandbag” (35th, odd object), and “The Capitol” (37th, long and odd object). 

Her worst events this season have been 37th on Quarterfinal Test 2 (which is likely just an inability to do the crossover singles efficiently) and 30th on Semifinal Test 1 (long and odd object). 

Emma Lawson

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 4th in North America East

Games Appearance: 2nd (2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 2 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 3 (32nd)

Average Test Finish: 12.4

What She Does Not Want to See at the Games: Machine-heavy workouts, upper body pressing, and exclusively heavy tests. During the 2023 season she’s had two bad performances on machine dense workouts (28th Quarterfinal Test 4 and 22nd Semifinal Test 1) and two bad performances on upper body pressing tests (19th on the 1 RM Thruster and 32nd on Semifinal Linda). At the Games last year her worst tests were on the heavy ones towards the end of the weekend (33rd – “Sandbag Ladder”, 24th – “Alpaca”, and 21st – “Back Nine”), and at Rogue it was similar with two of her three finishes in the bottom half coming on “Heavy Grace” (13th) and “Back Attack” (11th). 

Emma Tall

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 4th in Europe

Games Appearance: 3rd (2019, 2021)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 2 (4th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 1 (31st)

Average Test Finish: 14.7

What She Does Not Want to See at the Games: Based on her showing at the 2021 Games and so far throughout the 2023 season there are two clear things that Tall would prefer to see as little as possible to ensure her best possible finish at the Games: short, fast running events (20th on Semifinal Test 5, but 30th on 550 meter run in 2021), and even moreso, upper body gymnastics pressing. Her two worst finishes this season have come on 23.3 (29th) and Quarterfinal Test 1 (31st) both of which involved the strict wall facing handstand pushup, and her third worst was 28th on the one rep max thruster (heavily reliant on the final press out capacity). At the 2021 Games her worst event finishes came on the free standing handstand push up test (she was 19th out of 19), the wall walk/thruster work out (29th), and the handstand walk obstacle course (28th). 

Alexis Raptis

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 5th in North America East

Games Appearance: 2nd (2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 1 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2B (37th)

Average Test Finish: 14.7

What She Does Not Want to See at the Games: Basically, she’s just not that strong yet compared to the top women in the sport. She only had two finishes of 20th or worst last year at the Games which came on “Back Nine” (20th out of 30), and the “Sandbag Ladder” (29th out of 39). This year her three worst finishes have come on the 1 rep max thruster (37th at 184 lbs), Semifinal Test 1 (28th), and Quarterfinal Test 3 (26th). Additionally, two of her worst finishes at Rogue last offseason were on “Back Attack” (16th) and “Heavy Grace” (15th).

When you’re talking about a young athlete who is already as good as Raptis is at so many other things, not being that strong isn’t the worst thing. Especially since relative to other young athletes she has a little bigger frame. If she’s able to improve five to ten spots on the strength tests she could make a move up the leaderboard this season. Fifty five more points last year takes her from 10th to 5th (and three of those five women she would have jumped aren’t even in the field this season).

Danielle Brandon

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 2nd in North America East

Games Appearance: 5th (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 6 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 4 (30th)

Average Test Finish: 14.2

What She Does Not Want to See at the Games: The biggest thing holding Brandon back these past couple of seasons has been her back. Because of that, it’s no surprise that the heavy tests account for her worst finishes at most recent competitions. This season, that trend continues with finishes of 22nd on the 1 rep max thruster and 23rd on the 1 rep max snatch. However, there’s another implement which also shows up in her worst event finishes: rowing. She was 23rd on Open workout 23.1 which began and ended on the rower. She was 30th on Quarterfinal Test 4 this year which had a lot of rowing, and even back during the 2020 online Games she took 20th on the 1000 meter row (her only finish worse than that was 23rd on the 2 rep max front squat). Scraping a 15th on the sandbag ladder was huge for her, so fans of Brandon are probably hoping for more grunt work and odd object strength tests than straight barbell tests if she’s going to improve on her 4th place finish from last year.

Arielle Loewen

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 3rd in North America West

Games Appearance: 3rd (2021, 2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 1 (3rd)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 1 (30th)

Average Test Finish: 13.9

What She Does Not Want to See at the Games: Machines. Her four worst finishes this season have come on the four tests most dependant on the machines: 30th on Semifinal Test 1 (3 machines), 25th on Semifinal Test 7 (echo bike- maybe her worst machine), 22nd on Semifinal Test 5 (air runner), 20th Quarterfinal Test 4 (rower). Some of her worst finishes at the Games over the last two seasons are 34th on the Snatch/Echo Bike test in 2021, and both finales which featured a rowing buy in the last two years. She has had some other low finishes, 30th on swim/kayak, 28th on “Sandbag Ladder”, and 27th on “Hat Trick”, but in terms of a pattern, without a doubt the fewer machines the better the overall finish should be for Loewen. Who knows, maybe she would have won the West Semifinal despite navigating a wrist injury with just one less machine dependent test?

Annie Thorisdottir

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 2nd in Europe

Games Appearance: 12th (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021)

Best 2023 Season Test: Open 23.3, Quarterfinals Test 4, Semifinals Test 3 (3rd)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2 B (31st)

Average Test Finish: 13.3

What She Does Not Want to See at the Games: Thorisdottir does well on most things in the sport of CrossFit. This season, her online performances (Open and Quarterfinals) were a lot worse than her in person (Semifinal) performances, and since there’s nothing online at the Games, that’s a plus for her relative to this “ranking”. 

If there is a pattern amongst her more recent individual competitive endeavors, it seems to be running, especially for short distances. Three of her four worst scores in 2021 (her last individual appearance at the Games) were 23rd on the 550 meter sprint and 14th and 11th on the clean/running tests. Obviously if some of your worst performances are 14th and 11th that’s a good thing though. Her other worst finish was 18th on the swim/kayak, and a middle of the pack finish is very common for her on swimming tests (21st on “Run Swim Run” in 2017, 19th on “Madison Triplus” in 2018). If there perhaps wasn’t a swimming test this year, it might put Thorisdottir into title contention. 

Ellie Turner

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 1st in Oceania

Games Appearance: 3rd (2021, 2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 2, Quarterfinals Test 4 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 1, Semifinals Test 2 (39th)

Average Test Finish: 19.4

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Monostructural elements, squatting/lunging and upper body pressing are clear areas which stand out for Turner. This year her top finishes come on 23.2A (running and burpee pull ups), 23.2B (heavy thruster), Quarterfinal Test 2 (db snatch, lunge, and crossovers), Quarterfinal Test 3 (burpee and clean and jerks), Quarterfinal Test 4 (rowing and core movements), and Semifinal Test 1 (three machines and a sled pull). At the Games the last two years her best finishes have many of the same features (1st on “Hat Trick” – running, wall balls, and db snatch; 4th on “Alpaca” (sled push and kettlebell clean and jerks), 4th on the bike snatch test, and 9th on one of the clean/running tests from 2021. She’s also had respectable finishes (14th or 16th) on “Back Nine” (heavy), “The Capitol” (running and heavy work), “Jackie Pro” (rowing and thrusters), “Rinse N Repeat” (swimming and skiing) and “Shuttle to Overhead B” (heavy upper body pressing following running).

Jamie Simmonds

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 2nd in Oceania

Games Appearance: 5th (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)

Best 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2A (2nd)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 4 (35th)

Average Test Finish: 18.7

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Simmonds has missed out on the Games the last two years. In 2020 she competed online but did not make the top-5. We have to go back to 2019 when she podiumed to have any meaningful insight in terms of Games performances. From her career during 2017 to 2020 we came to expect her to be excellent on anything with muscle ups (2nd the “Standard” – 2019, 12th “30 ring muscle ups” – 2018, 1st “Amanda .45” – 2017). Beyond that, upper-body pulling gymnastics in general were good 2nd “Triple G Chipper” – 2017 (began with 100 pull-ups), 9th and 7th on “Bicouplet 1 and 2” (chest-to-bar pull ups and bar muscle ups respectively) and 4th on “Battleground” (weighted rope climbs plus obstacle course) both in 2018, 3rd – “First Cut” (legless rope climbs), 4th – “Sprint Couplet” (bar muscle ups), 2nd – “Mary” (chest-to-bar pull-ups) all in 2019. And lastly, she’s pretty good at running and swimming (9th – “Madison Triplus” – 2018, 4th “Run-Swim-Run” – 2017, 4th – “Swim Paddle”, 2019). 

This year, she’s shown some similar tendencies. She’s been 12th or better against the 2023 field on seven out of 16 tests. Of those, Open 23.1 (3rd), Open 23.2 (2nd), Quarterfinal Test 5 (12th), Semifinal Test 1 (11th), Semifinal Test 2 (3rd), and Semifinal Test 6 (12th) all involve upper-body pulling (and in two cases, 23.2A and Semifinal Test 1, also running). 

Manon Angonese

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 7th in Europe

Games Appearance: 1st (Rookie)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 3 (8th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 5 (31st)

Average Test Finish: 16.1

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Angonese is one of the most intriguing rookies in the field this season. She got a great opportunity last offseason to compete at the Rogue Invitational. While there she had two outstanding back-to-back finishes of 2nd on “Snatch and Press” and 3rd on the “Goblet”. The critical factors of those two workouts respectively were the strict wall-facing handstand pushups, and ring muscle ups. Her next two best finishes there were a pair of 6ths on “The Duel 2” and “Texas Oak” demonstrating her cycle rate with a barbell, and her general strength overall. Her best finishes so far this year show strengths in similar areas:

• 8th, QF Test 3 – clean and jerks
• 14th, QF Test 5 – upper pull + deadlift
• 9th, SF Test 1c- machines / sled pull
• 11th, SF Test 2 – upper-body pulling
• 13th, SF Test 3 – dumbbell “Linda”
• 9th, SF Test 4 – snatch 195 LBs

Watch for her in specific tests of both upper body pulling and pressing gymnastics, plus power and speed workouts with a barbell or heavy load. 

Alex Gazan

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 1st in North America West

Games Appearance: 2nd (2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 6 (3rd)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 4 (38th)

Average Test Finish: 15.3

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Gazan had two top-10s at the Games last year, 8th on “Echo Press” and 7th on “Back Nine” demonstrating her overall strength in terms of both bodyweight pressing and moving heavy barbells and yokes. This season she has racked up top-15 finishes on half of the season tests (8 out of 16). Those include all three workouts with ring muscle ups (12th on 23.1, 14th on Quarterfinal Test 1, and 4th on Quarterfinal test 2). Additionally, every workout other than her 12th on Semifinal Test 7 include some element of upper-body pressing (ring muscle up – 23.1, burpee pull up – 23,2A, thruster – 23.2B, clean and jerk and burpees – Quarterfinal Test 3, ring muscle up and strict handstand pushups – Quarterfinal Test 1, ring muscle ups and burpee – Semifinal Test 2, dumbbell bench press – Semifinal Test 3, strict handstand push ups – Semifinal Test 6). While she’s strong in general, in particular when an upper-body press or high-skill upper body pull (i.e. the seated legless rope climbs in Semifinal Test 6 which yielded her best performance of the year so far) are involved she is more than likely to come out with a top-ten event finish.

Amanda Barnhart

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 3rd in North America East

Games Appearance: 6th (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 3 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.1 (30th)

Average Test Finish: 14.9

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: If you know anything about Barnhart you probably assume that heavy barbell is going to be her best bet to hit a homerun. But more specifically than that, she’s a phenomenal upper body presser:

2023 season:

• 5th, max thruster in the Open – 216 LBs
• 8th, snatch and strict handstand pushups – 23.2
• 12th, muscle ups and strict handstand push ups – Quarterfinal Test 1
• 3rd, burpees and clean and jerks – Quarterfinal Test 3
• 1st, dumbbell bench press – Semifinal Test 3

2022 Games

• 12th, shoulder to overhead B
• 11th, Hat Trick, wall balls
• 8th, Alpaca, strict wall facing handstand pushups

2021

• 8th, Event 2, 48 muscle ups
• 5th, Event 4, wall walks and thrusters
• 9th, event 14, freestanding handstand pushups

Don’t get us wrong, Olympic lifting is a massive strength as well. Many of those workouts also feature a snatch or clean of some kind, and there are other examples:

• 7th on Semifinal Test 4 with a snatch of 195 LBs
• 4th on both events 6 and 7 involving increasing weight cleans at the 2021 Games
• 1st on event 9 (snatch/echo bike) also in 2021

And she’s just strong in general, notching finishes of 7th on “The Capitol”, 4th on the “Sandbag”, 4th on “Back Nine”, and 6th in 2021 on event 13 with the GHD, sandbag and yoke. 

Certainly look for her on the heavy tests, but don’t sleep on her when upper body pressing of any kind is involved either.

Emily Rolfe

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 6th in North America West

Games Appearance: 4th (2019, 2021, 2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 1, Semifinals Test 7 (5th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 3, Semifinals Test 4 (37th)

Average Test Finish: 20.3

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Most of her top finishes come on monostructural heavy tests; the outlier is her fifth place finish on Quarterfinal Test 1 which was all weightlifting (front squats) and gymnastics, and is suggestive of some other good features of her fitness. However, her other best finishes, 5th Semifinal Test 7 (bike), 6th Quarterfinal Test 2 (crossovers) and 4 (rowing), and 9th Semifinal Test 5 (air runner) track with her best Games finishes from 2020: 1st, running and toes to bar, 4th, swimming and kayaking, 10th, 550 meter sprint. She also has a second Games win to her credit back in 2019 on the “Ruck Run”, only further solidifying her threat in the realm of monostructural tests.

Elisa Fuliano

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 9th in Europe

Games Appearance: 2nd (2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 1 (4th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.1, Quarterfinals Test 5 (33rd)

Average Test Finish: 19.3

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Four top-ten finishes so far this season, on the four most gymnastics dense workouts: ninth on Open workout 23.2, 4th on Quarterfinal Test 1, 8th on Semifinal Test 2, and 10th on Semifinal Test 6. When it comes to high-skill gymnastics, she’s answered all the questions thus far and is a threat to put up top-ten scores at the Games as well; her two best finishes last year were on “Speed Skill Medley” (with strict peg board climbs and sets of unbroken pistols) and 13th on “Elevated Elizabeth” (featuring the parallel bars and dips). 

Feeroozeh Saghafi

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 8th in North America East

Games Appearance: 2nd (2019)

Best 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2A (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2B, Semifinals Test 6 (36th)

Average Test Finish: 19.8

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Saghafi has five top-ten finishes against the Games women this season, all of which came in either the Open or Quarterfinals and really show off her capacity. In any test without a machine or a heavy implement, she’s a serious threat. First on Open 23.2A being the biggest feather in her cap, but 5th places on both 23.1 and Quarterfinal Test 2, plus a 9th on Quarterfinal Test 5 suggest upper body pulling to be one of her stronger features as well. That tracks with her two top finishes at the 2022 Granite Games coming on the running/legless rope climb repeat (2nd) and a running/snatch/chest to bar pull up triplet (5th).

Olivia Kerstetter

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 7th in North America West

Games Appearance: 1st (Rookie)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 4 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 1, Semifinals Test 5 (37th)

Average Test Finish: 19.8

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: When she’s good, she’s very good. This year she’s had five finishes of fourth place or better, and after that her next best finishes are 14th and then three 23d place finishes. Those five top-four finishes include the four clear strength tests so far this season: 3rd place on the max thruster at 217 LBs, 3rd place on the burpee clean and jerk test in Quarters, then a pair of 4th place finishes on “Linda” and the “max snatch” (at 204 LBs) during Semis. However, her best finish was a win on Quarterfinal Test 4, the rowing, GHD, V-Up workout. There’s definitely some power output involved there, but to have the best score on that workout against all the women at the Games is impressive no matter how you slice it. 

Karin Freyová

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 5th in Europe

Games Appearance: 4th (2019, 2020, 2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 4 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2A, Semifinals Test 6 (34th)

Average Test Finish: 18.6

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Keeping it simple her, Freyova is strong and powerful. She tied for the heaviest snatch of all the Games qualifiers at 210 LBs, she got the win on that because she was also sixth-best on the snatching running workout right afterwards. She had the second-best score on Semifinal Test 1 with all the machines and sled pull, and she had top-15 finishes on both the thruster (13th at 205 LBs) and clean and jerks during Quarterfinals (13th). Her Games record proves much of the same, her best events historically involve rowers (1st, 1000 meter row at the 2020 Games, 9th, “Jackie Pro” at the 2022 Games, 15th, “Second Cut” at the 2019 Games) and odd object strength work (3rd, “Alapac” and 8th, “Sandbag Ladder” in 2022, 14th, “Sprint Couplet” (sled push) in 2019). Rowing is her best implement, but odd object and heavy barbell are strong points too.

Caroline Stanley

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 10th in North America East

Games Appearance: 1st (Rookie)

Best 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2 B (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 6 (40th)

Average Test Finish: 21.9

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Her upper body pressing is phenomenal. All five of her top ten finishes so far contain an upper body press: 1st – 23.2 B (1 RM Thruster of 227 lbs), 5th – Semifinal “Linda” (dumbbell bench press), 6th – Open 23.3 (snatches and handstand push up variations), 10th – Semifinal Test 2 (ring muscle ups and burpees), 10th – Quarterfinal Test 3 (burpees and clean and jerks at 185).

Kelly Baker

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 10th in North America West

Games Appearance: 1st (Rookie)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 3 (7th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 5 (37th)

Average Test Finish: 20.9

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Baker only had one top-ten finish, but also only had 4 bottom ten finishes. 75% of her finishes are in the middle-half of the field. Her best finish was on the burpee box jump over / 185 LB clean and jerks during Quarterfinals, but she also had some of her better finishes on running tests (14th – Semifinal Test 5, 12th- Open Test 23.2A) and strict wall-facing handstand push-up tests (15th – Open 23.3 and 12th – Quarterfinals Test 1).

Christine Kolenbrander

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 4th in North America West

Games Appearance: 2nd (2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 4 (3rd)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2 A (32nd)

Average Test Finish: 20.6

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: She’s strong, but she also has top-end gymnastics skills. Third place amongst the Games athletes on the snatch at Semifinals at 205 LBs and 10th on the thruster during the Open at 207 LBs. Also at Semifinals she was seventh on the very demanding Test 6 which included handstand pirouettes, legless seated rope climbs and strict chest-to-wall handstand pushups. If something heavy and high-skill show up in combination, you’ll want to know where Kolenbrander is during her heat.

Emma McQuaid

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 10th in Europe

Games Appearance: 5th (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2 B (2nd)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 6 (37th)

Average Test Finish: 20.9

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Cleans, front squats, and upper body pressing: 2nd – 1 RM Thruster 223 LBs, 6th – front squats, muscle-ups and handstand push-ups and 13th – clean and jerks and burpee box jump-overs during Quarterfinals, 9th-on dumbbell “Linda” (cleans, bench press, deadlift) in Semis. Those account for four of her five best finishes only leaving Semifinal Test 1 where she was 5th on the machine and sled pull test. Her best finishes at the Games last year came on “Elevated Elizabeth” (5th), “Echo Press” (3rd), and “Alpaca” (7th) featuring mostly the same movement patterns. 

Matilde Garnes

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 6th in Europe

Games Appearance: 2nd (2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 4 (6th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 1 (38th)

Average Test Finish: 20.4

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Five top ten finishes already this season, and no real pattern to speak of. However, when you also factor in her top Games performances from last year a few things stand out:

• Muscle usps- 10th Open 23.1 / 7th Up and Over 2022 Games
• Monostructural elements- 6th QF Test 4 (row), 10th SF Test 1 (bike/row/ ski), 7th SF Test 5 (air runner) / 7th Bike to Work, 10th Shuttle to Overhead A, 8th Rinse’N’ Repeat (swim/ski)

Emily de Rooy

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 3rd in Oceania

Games Appearance: 1st (Rookie)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 1 (3rd)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 2 (38th)

Average Test Finish: 24.6

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: De Rooy saved her best for the Semifinals. Third on test 1, ninth on Test 6, and 14th on Test 3 showing a good diversity of skills. Probably one of the most difficult athletes to pin down a specific thing she excels at, but overall it seems like workouts of twelve minutes or longer suit her; so look for her to make some moves on the longer tests in Madison. 

Rebecka Vitesson

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 11th in Europe

Games Appearance: 1st (Rookie)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 7 (4th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 2 (38th)

Average Test Finish: 24.6

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Vitesson seems to have a sweet spot of three to six minutes where she excels. Fourth on Semifinal Test 7 (time 4:13), seventh Quarterfinal Test 5 (time 5:16), and eleventh in Semifinal Test 5 (time 3:22) mark her top-three performances against this field so far this year. 

Katrin Davidsdottir

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 2nd in North America West

Games Appearance: 10th (2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 5 (8th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 5 (38th)

Average Test Finish: 24.1

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Katrin has the third most event women at the CrossFit games amongst all females in the history of the sport, many of those involve being in the overhead position in some way. Her last event win however was “Ranch Loop” during the 2020 Games, probably more of a tribute to the toughness of her mindset than her pure running capacity. If we had to point to anything in specific to look for her on it would be overhead positions and running (8th on Semifinal Test 5, 9th on Quarterfinal Test 1, 12th on Open 23.2A, 15th on Semifinal Test 6, 17th on Semifinal Test 4… all of which feature the overhead or running, or both). 

Baylee Rayl

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 9th in North America West

Games Appearance: 3rd (2021, 2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 4 (8th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 4 (36th)

Average Test Finish: 22.6

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Her two top-ten finishes at the Games last year were on “Elevated Elizabeth” and “Up and Over”, both workouts which feature gymnastics pressing capacity (p-bars and ring muscle ups). This year her top finishes track with the gymnastics, but also suggest core stamina and strength to be an area where she excels. The three top-15 finishes during Quarters (8th on Test 4, 12th on Test 1, 15th on Test 5 all track with that), as do her best finishes from Semis (11th on Test 6, 16th on Test 7, 17th on Test 2). 

Ella Wunger

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 8th in Europe

Games Appearance: 1st (Rookie)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 7 (6th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 3 (34th)

Average Test Finish: 21.9

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Most of Wunger’s finishes so far this year are in the middle, only three total come in either the top or bottom ten. Her two top-ten finishes came on the bookends of Semis, sixth on Test 7 and eighth on Test 1. Machines and grunt work are the surprising high-ticket items for the relatively smaller Wunger.

Victoria Campos

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 1st in South America

Games Appearance: 2nd (2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 5 (10th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 1 (40th)

Average Test Finish: 26.0

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Running. Her two best finishes against this field came on Test 5 of Semifinals, the 800 meter run, and Open workout 23.2 A – shuttle runs and burpee pull-ups. Strict handstand push-ups are also a strength, she had a top half finish on Quarterfinal test 1, and her best finish at the Games last year came on Echo Press.

Abigail Domit

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 8th in North America West

Games Appearance: 1st (Rookie)

Best 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2 B, Semifinals Test 4, Semifinals Test 5 (12th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 1 (40th)

Average Test Finish: 25.9

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Back-to-back style tests. Not only were her two best finishes against this field on the back-and-back tests (4 and 5) at Semifinals, she was also 12th and 17th (her next best finish) on Open Tests 23.2 A and B. 

Seher Kaya

Photo Credit: Erin Henderson

Qualified: 1st in Asia

Games Appearance: 2nd (2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 2 (4th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 3, Semifinals Test 4 (39th)

Average Test Finish: 26.4

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Running and crossovers. Her only top-five finish came on Quarterfinal test two, her next three best finishes came on tests with running: Open 23.2, Semifinal Test 5, and Semifinal Test 1. Her only top-ten finish of the Games last year was 5th place on Shuttle-to-Overhead A.

Sydney Wells

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 7th in North America East

Games Appearance: 1st (Rookie)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 5 (1st)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 2 (40th)

Average Test Finish: 24.9

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Of course running, she confidently won Semifinal Test five in the opening week of Semis and her time held up across the remaining weeks. Her other top finishes came on Quarterfinal Test five and Semifinal Test three, both of which included deadlifting – a strength skill her sister is also quite good at. 

Shelby Neal

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 9th in North America East

Games Appearance: 1st (Rookie)

Best 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2 A (7th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.3, Semifinals Test 3 (38th)

Average Test Finish: 24.8

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: All of her top-ten finishes so far this year have come on tests featuring gymnastics. Open 23.2 with the burpee pull-ups, Quarterfinal Test one with handstand walking, muscle ups, and wall facing handstand push-ups, and Semifinal Test 6 with the pirouettes, legless seated rope climbs, and more strict wall facing handstands push-ups. Last year the legless rope climb test at Semifinals kept her from the Games; this season, so far she’s answered all the body weight gymnastics tests including on the seated legless.

Shahad Budebs

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 2nd in Asia

Games Appearance: 2nd (2019)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinal Test 1 (20th) 

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.3, Semifinal Test 4, Semifinal Test 7 (40th)

Average Test Finish: 35.0

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: High skill gymnastics, not only did Quarterfinal Test 1 have handstand walks, ring muscle ups, and wall facing handstand pushups, her second best performance against this field came on Semifinal Test 2 which included weighted ring muscle ups, pistols, and burpee box jump overs. 

Michelle Basnett

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 1st in Africa

Games Appearance: 2nd (2021)

Best 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 3 (15th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.1, Quarterfinals Test 2, Quarterfinals Test 4, Quarterfinals Test 5, Semifinals Test 3, Semifinals Test 5 (40th)

Average Test Finish: 34.9

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Her two best finishes came in Quarterfinals. Test 3 featured the clean and jerks at 185 lbs, while test 1, which she would have been 23rd on, had front squat and high skill gymnastics. Those areas, moderately heavy barbell and high skill gymnastics, are known strengths for her and should be the tests she looks to put up competitive scores in.

Alexia Williams

Photo Credit: CrossFit LLC

Qualified: 2nd in South America

Games Appearance: 1st (Rookie)

Best 2023 Season Test: Open 23.1 (21th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Quarterfinals Test 4, Semifinals Test 1, Semifinals Test 5 (39th)

Average Test Finish: 33.2

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Williams’ top-four finishes this year have come on the heavy tests (thruster, 190 lbs, and snatch, 185 lbs) and two tests which included ring muscle ups (open 23.1 and Semifinals test 2).

Bethany Flores

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 5th in North America West

Games Appearance: 5th (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 7 (11th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Open 23.2 B, Quarterfinals Test 3 (40th)

Average Test Finish: 27.1

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: In addition to her 11th on Semifinal Test 7, she was 13th on Semifinal Test 2, 16th on Quarterfinal test 1, and 17th on Semifinal Test 6; pretty much any time gymnastics is the driver of the workout she’s having her best finishes. A lot of this hinges on the health of her back, and if that’s feeling good there are certainly other areas she can excel as well.

Paige Semenza

Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography

Qualified: 11th in North America East

Games Appearance: 4th (2018, 2019, 2022)

Best 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 3 (10th)

Worst 2023 Season Test: Semifinals Test 2 (37th)

Average Test Finish: 26.4

What She’s Hoping to See at the Games: Weight Lifting. Her two best finishes so far this year came on Dumbbell Linda (10th) and the heavy snatch (13th place with 190 lbs) in the subsequent test at Semifinals. She also had most of her best finishes at the Games last year on weightlifting events: 11th on Shuttle to Overhead B, 10th on Sandbag Ladder, 8th on Hat Trick. As long as there is weight to move, Semenza seems to have her best performances.

We will continue adding athletes and athlete information in groups of five until all 40 athletes are here.