The CrossFit Games “The Carson Era”: 15-6 Women’s Ranks

Contributions from Brian Friend and John Young

Image Credits: CrossFit LLC

If you’re just finding this and haven’t seen our rankings for women 30-16 you can find those below:

The CrossFit Games “The Carson Era”: 30-16 Women’s Rankings

Otherwise, we will continue counting down the top female CrossFit athletes from the ‘Carson Era’, 2010 through 2016. 

15. Christy (Phillips) Adkins

• 6 appearances
• Best: 6th 2010
• Average finish: 15
• Event wins: none

“Adkins did a lot during the ‘Carson Era’ with six appearances, but her resume from 2013 alone, when she took 7th, shows the wide array of talent she had which kept her coming back year after year: 5th on the Pool, 4th on the Burden Run, 4th on Zigzag Sprint, 2nd on Legless, 4th on Cinco 1. That’s five top-five finishes on five rather different tests. That’s fitness.” – Brian Friend

14. Lindsey Valenzuela

• 4 appearances
• Best: 2nd 2013
• Average finish: 13
• Event wins: none

“Lindsey Valenzuela boasts the best finishing placement on the list so far with a 2nd in 2013. Although she does not have event wins she has been known to get into frequent strength event battles with Elizabeth Akinwale and placing 2nd in multiple strength events. It was not just a one-year fluke for Lindsey as that second place is sandwiched between a 9th in 2012 and a 7th in 2015 beating the likes of Camille Leblanc, Stacie Tovar and Brooke Wells.” – John Young

13. Michele Letendre

• 6 appearances
• Best: 4th 2014
• Average finish: 17
• Event wins (2): The Pool 2013, Push Pull 2014

“Like Adkins, six appearances in seven years is a great accomplishment, and while neither woman made the podium, Letendre came dangerously close in 2014 missing by only 6 points. Proficiency on high level gymnastics and most barbell work generally offset the points she gave away on power output style tests in route to four-straight finishes of 18th or better in the final four years of this era.” – Brian Friend

12. Elisabeth Akinwale

• 5 appearances
• Best: 7th 2012
• Average finish: 14
• Event wins (6): Killer Kage 2011, Clean Ladder and Double Banger 2012, Cinco 1 2013, Clean Speed Ladder 2014, Soccer Chipper 2015

“Twelfth overall, but impressively Akinwale checks in at third place amongst all women during this era with six event wins. Perhaps most notable amongst them was her first ever event win, ‘Killer Kage’, a fan favorite event which many would love to see come back in an upgraded version sometime soon.” – Brian Friend

11. Rebecca Voigt 

• 7 appearances
• Best: 3rd 2011
• Average finish: 17
• Event wins (2): The End 1 2011, Rope Sled 2012

“Rebecca Voigt checks the boxes for both longevity and excellence. She is one of two female athletes on this list who competed at all seven Games during the ‘Carson Era’. During the first four years she was 11th or better each time, and even though her top end performances tailed off towards the end of this time period, she still proved good enough to make it year-after-year while many of her peers were falling off much more dramatically than that.” – Brian Friend

10. Kara Webb

• 5 appearances
• Best: 5th 2015
• Average finish: 15* 
• Event wins (3): Overhead Squat 2014, Pier Paddle 2015, Squat Clean Pyramid 2016

“One of the most difficult cases to evaluate from this era primarily because of a neck injury taking her out of the competition on the final day of the 2014 Games, when she was destined for nothing worse than second. The ’31st’ that year pulls her average down, and also means no podium finishes during this time. It’s never easy to know how to evaluate circumstances like hers, but regardless, she’s more than deserving to kick off the top-ten countdown.” – Brian Friend

9. Sara Sigmundsdottir

• 2 appearances
• Best: 3rd 2015 and 2016
• Average finish: 3
• Event wins (1): Heavy DT 2015

“Sara Sigmundsdottir became CrossFit’s darling during the ‘Carson Era’. She was something we had not seen before. She had this ‘happy-go-lucky’ personality but then would destroy everyone on the competition floor. If it weren’t due to a controversial last event in 2015 (not really the event but how it was scored) she very well might have been the first person ever to win in their rookie year in the modern era. Think about that, Sara arguably was the fittest person in the world in her rookie year. Quickly becoming a fan favorite it could be argued for her to be higher on this list due to the impact she had on the sport. She has the second highest average placement at 3 only being topped by Tia-Clair Toomey. The only issue with this is that she only had two years at Carson. With two third place finishes in the hardest years to do so Brian and I agreed that this was the best spot for Sara to be on this list.” – John Young

8. Valerie Voboril

• 4 appearances
• Best: 3rd 2010 and 2013
• Average finish: 4
• Event wins (2): Toes to Bar/Ground to Overhead 2011, “2007” in 2013

“As steady as they come, four appearances and an average of a fourth place finish (two fifths and two thirds), that’s pretty damn good. Voboril was one of the first in the sport to make a career out of not doing anything excessively flashy, and yet still showing up and stringing together a great season year after year.” – Brian Friend

7. Tia-Clair Toomey

• 2 appearances
• Best: 2nd (2015 and 2016)
• Average: 2
• Event wins (2): Ocean Swim and Suicide Sprint 2016

“It is important to note that this list is only representative of what Tia did in Carson, her two first years, nothing else. In saying that, Tia still has an impressive Carson career. It is probably the most impressive 2-year stretch in the ‘Carson Era’ not belonging to Katrin Davidsdottir. Tia showed her versatility in her two wins; one being a long swim and the other being a short sprint. Not only versatile but wildly consistent with six top-5 event finishes in 2016. She also has the best average finish in the entire list with 2. Tia is without a doubt one of the fittest women to grace Carson but only being there for two out of the seven years keeps her from being higher on this list.” – John Young 

6. Julie Foucher

• 4 appearances
• Best: 2nd 2012
• Average finish: 3.75
• Event wins (4): Beach 2011, Pendleton 2, Track Triplet, and Chipper 2012

“Similar, only slightly better than Voboril in terms of both best finish and average finish across a short but elite four-year span. This sport is all about small margins, and Foucher found the slight edges she needed to boost her way up the leaderboard, and now up these rankings. When she took 2nd in 2012, it was by only 4 points. When she took 3rd in 2014, it was by 6 points.” – Brian Friend

The top-5 women from the “Carson Era” will be coming next. 

**If you like the contributions of John Young during this article please consider buying him a cup of coffee, all proceeds will go to him**