Athens Throwdown 2024 Preview

Before the CrossFit Games season Semifinals get underway, we will be in Greece for the Athens Throwdown for one of the biggest competitions in Europe. The competition is set to host over 1200 athletes on two competition floors over three days of action. 

Where: Faliro Olympic Sports Hall

When: May 3-5 2024

Who: Over 1200 athletes in nearly 20 divisions

How to Watch: All elite events will have at least some* heats streamed live on the BFriendly Fitness YouTube channel

*There are 128 men competing in the elite division; we will not stream all four (or eight) heats of them for every event. We will stream the top two heats whenever possible (there is one conflict with the women’s elite division because of two different floors, but we will cover as much as we can). 

Prize Purse:

The elite divisions for both men and women pay out 8000, 3000, and 1500 euros for first, second and third respectively and 6000, 2500, 1250 euros for the elite team division. 

It does appear that there is a cash payout for every division as well.

Leaderboards can be found at the piece of game website for all divisions. A cool feature on that website is that you can already click on every athlete or team and see details for their check in as well as heat and lane assignments for the first day of competition.     

Notable Athletes Competing

In both the men’s and women’s elite division there are athletes competing who will also be at the European or Asia Semifinal the following weekend, in addition to several notable athletes who did not qualify for Semis this year. 

Note: all athletes below are currently listed as being on the roster, but we are unable to get confirmation from the competition about if they are all showing up (relevant because some of them are also set for a Semifinals appearance the following week).

Men

• Luka Dukic (though we believe he will not be competing here to focus on Semis)
• Giorgos Karavis – 2 time CrossFit Games athlete, but missed last year, qualified for European Semifinal
• Miso Papak – 3 time fittest in Bosnia and Herzegovina; was 76th in European QFs
• Isaak Petridis – 6th place Eurasia Throwdown 2024
• Spiros Dragonis – 5th place Fall Series Throwdown 2023
• Marek Vacha – 2023 fittest man in Czech Republic, was 52nd in European QFs, 2nd German Throwdown 2023
• Cemkan Tunga – 9th place Eurasia Throwdown 2024
• Aegir Bjorn Gunnsteinsson – 4th Malta Throwdown 2023
• Dorde Duric – was 4 time fittest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but has taken 2nd to Papak now the last three seasons. 57th in European QFs, 6th place at Fall Series Throwdown 2023; 71st at the Games in 2019

Women

• Karin Frey- 4 time ATD champion in 5 appearances (she’s won the last four she’s been at)
• Hannah Phipson- 51st in European QFs, 19th at Madrid Championship 2023
• Maria Ntasi- 4th at Fall Series Throwdown 2023, did not do QFs
• Matilda Spanou- 5 time ATD competitor, 3rd place last year. 53rd at Euro semis 2023, but 149th in European QFs this year
• Laura Frank- 21 years old, now second fittest in Hungary, 12th at Fall Series Throwdown 2023
• Merve Gokcil- qualified 26th for Asia Semis; has been 11th (2022) and 17th (2023) there the last two years. Placed 4th at Eurasia Throwdown 2024. Was 9th at ATD last year.
• Eva Ioanna Arampatzi- 2023 fittest woman in Greece, did not participate in the 2024 CFG season. Was 2nd at Eurasia Throwdown 2024 and 7th at ATD last year, this will be her 4th ATD appearance.
• Justine Kachaeva- 8th at German Throwdown 2023; 74th in European QFs this year.