Team Semifinal Power Rankings

Image Credit - PRVN Fitness

It’s difficult to do a Power Rankings for teams any earlier in the season than this. Given the rules about who can participate and contribute and be listed on a teams roster in the early stages of the season it isn’t really until Semifinals, the qualifying stage to the Games, that we have a mostly clear picture of who are likely the most competitive teams. 

In assessing the team division one of the biggest challenges is how to handle new teams composed of extremely talented individuals and attempting to assess their potential against teams who have been together for years and have the ability to draw upon experience and chemistry.

I’ve decided to whittle down the field of teams competing in Semifinals to what I believe are the top 40 teams heading into Semifinals.

The available Games spots were somewhat arbitrarily distributed and by no means represent the actual competitive distribution with regards to a ‘Strength of Field’ or anything similar. There is an oversaturation of high level teams specifically in North America East, and therefore you will see that they account for nearly half the teams on this list.

Top 10 Teams

Rank	Team	Competitive Regions	Male 1	Male 2	Female 1	Female 2
1	CrossFit East Nashville PRVN	North America East	Tim Paulson	Tola Morakinyo	Taylor Williamson	Andrea Nisler
2	CrossFit Invictus	North America West	Jorge Fernandez	Joshua Al Chamaa	Devyn Kim	Brittany Weiss
3	CrossFit Torian Mayhem	Oceania	Royce Dunne	Brandon Swan	Christee Hollard	Marnie Sykes
4	CrossFit Oslo Navy Blue	Europe	Eivand Ringard	Nicolay Billaudel	Lena Richter	Ingrid Hodnemyr
5	No Shortcuts CrossFit	Europe	Andre Houdet	Julian Kragh-Maschvitsz	Julie Hougard	Nienke Van Overveld
6	CrossFit Franco’s MisFits	North America West	Brandon Luckett	Logan Collins	Alexis Johnson	Shaylin Laure
7	CrossFit Mayhem Independence	North America East	Angelo DiCicco	Sam Demeester	Zoe Jones	Kyra Milligan
8	CrossFit Omnia	North America West	Cooper Wise	Jacob Schmidt	Kelly Stone	MaryKay Driesilker
9	CrossFit OBA	North America East	Nick Hecht	Joey Tortora	Kelsey Kiel	Emelie Lundberg
10	CrossFit Krypton	North America East	Ben Smith	Alec Smith	Caroline Spencer	Erin O’Donnell

The top ten teams feature 4 from NA East, 3 from NA West, 2 from Europe, and 1 from Oceania. 

Oslo Navy Blue is coming off two straight runner up finishes at the Games to CrossFit Mayhem Freedom, but find themselves as the four seed here. 

The women from the aforementioned Mayhem Freedom team have joined up with Tola Morakinyo and Tim Paulson and already appear to be the team to beat. 

The third place team from 2022, CrossFit Invictus, are back and have been vocal about their intent to take home gold this year. With another year of training together it seems likely that they will improve. 

Mayhem has spread their influence globally (as we’ll continue to see throughout this list), but their most threatening team seems to be led by 2-time individual Games competitor Royce Dunne and is competing out of Oceania. 

All four of these teams have a great chance at the podium, and more of the picture will unfold during Semis as we see teamwork demanded in ways an online competition cannot account for.

Teams 11-20

Rank	Team	Competitive Regions	Male 1	Male 2	Female 1	Female 2
11	CrossFit Move Fast Lift Heavy 247	North America East	Christian Harris	Will Carter	Chloe Gauvin-David	Winter Rodriguez
12	CrossFit Portti	Europe	Joosua Eskelinen	Petteri Peuronen	Mirka Henriksson	Laura Isopoussu
13	CrossFit CLT The Grit Haus	North America East	Kevin Steinhaus	Josh Hardin	Caroline Kluttz	Stevie Dellinger
14	CrossFit Walleye Athlete	Europe	Sam Stewart	Joshua Wichtrup	Mia Hesketh	Antonia Falt-Kottulinksy
15	CrossFit Future the Brutes	North America East	Aaron Knisley	Cory Spelman	Ashley Shoemaker	Cece Pieper
16	12 Labours CrossFit Lions	North America East	Robbie Copeland	Mitch Wagner	Danielle Dunlap	Chelsea Espe
17	CrossFit Prestanda	Europe	Victor Langsved	Alexander Elebro	Hannah Karlsson	Maria Langfors
18	CrossFit Invictus Unconquerable	North America West	Eric Carmody	Tyler Soderbach	Jessi Smith	Emily Loogman
19	TTT CrossFit Black	North America East	Tanner Balazs	Mike Needleman	Hannah Hardy	Jordan Adcock
20	8th Day CrossFit	North America East	Michael Pass	Dylan Hamming	Heather Pass	Rachel Clousing

Most of the teams in this range are still very strong bets to make it to the 2023 CrossFit Games, however, this now brings us to 10 of the top 20 teams which are from NA East. As you’ll see in a minute, there are several other threatening teams from the same competitive region occupying spots in the range of 21-40.

Europe shows its strength here relative to North America West, now having five teams in the top 20 as opposed to NA West having four, including a couple newly assembled teams this season in Walleye and Prestanda. Both teams have athletes which make top ten seem possible, but the field of teams is rather deep this season and until I see them in a live competition I’m not ready to jump them up quite that high on the list. 

Teams 21-30

Rank	Team	Competitive Regions	Male 1	Male 2	Female 1	Female 2
21	CrossFit Genas	Europe	Lucas Heuze	Elliot Genin	Carole Castellani	Julie Vernet
22	CrossFit Move Fast Lift Heavy 365	North America East	Dex Hopkins	Joe Pierro	Kristine Best	Brooke Haas
23	CrossFit Pro1 Montreal	North America East	Adam Davidson	Frederic Dube	Maude Riopel	Leigha Dean
24	CrossFit Westchase	North America East	Aaron Hanna	Devin O’Neill	Tammy Gyorkos	Kimberlee Dekrey
25	CrossFit Milford Team Conquer	North America East	Tony Facchini	Jay Adams	Sierra Cameron	Nicolette Torreggiani
26	CrossFit Resurrection	North America East	Kyle Cant	Tyler Lee	Jasmine Sheehan	Deanna Posey
27	CrossFit PSC Invasion	North America East	Nicholas Anapolsky	Shawn Clark	Erica Folo	Julie Simon
28	Rhino CrossFit Dawgs	North America West	Raph Durand	Ethan Helbig	Christine Middleton	Brittany Marella
29	AB CrossFit- Mayhem	North America East	Ivan Verdun	Mario Santaella	Laura Sanchez	Maria Camila Quintero
30	Sense Fitness CrossFit Mayhem Soul	South America	Santiago Comba	Piero Gorichon	Melina Rodriguez	Evelin Alvarez

At this point is where the real strength of the NA East team division starts to bear down on the competitive landscape. There are teams in this group of ten which would easily qualify anywhere else in the world, and will not make it to the Games this year. 

Again Europe has three teams in this range, while NA West has one. All four of these teams are also new this year, or at least have new athletes on their rosters, and should be looking to qualify for the Games. 

CrossFit Genas was third place at the Games in 2021, had a few athletes from that team unable to compete last season, and have revamped their lineup. There is a possibility that based on what we see from them at Semis they could make a big jump up the rankings heading into the Games. 

Teams 31-40

Rank	Team	Competitive Regions	Male 1	Male 2	Female 1	Female 2
31	CrossFit Fly High Kolesnikov Team	Asia	Aleksandr Plyushkin	Grigory Gribenyuk	Alexsandra Buzunova	Kseniia Trubetskaia
32	Plus64 CrossFit 64Army Endgame	Oceania	Clint Kohl	Kendall Peterson	Pieta Hansen	Kelly Benfey
33	CrossFit Trondheim	Europe	Tobiaas Opdahl	Jorgen Skevik	Var Thurman Moe	Stine Moen Nilsen
34	CrossFit Merchtem	Europe	Michiel Van Gijzeghem	Sven Geens	Sarah Massoni	Emiko Naets
35	Koda CrossFit Redemption	North America West	Kevin Schuetz	Casey McCallister	Taylor Sanders (Looney)	Randel Derose (Leahy)
36	CrossFit FBDV Mayhem Africa	Africa	Alan Foulis	AJ Visser	Michelle Merand	Angelique Connoway
37	CrossFit Kilo II	North America West	Austin Nedelcoff	Brandon Hornback	Deidre Franzen	Meredith Nedelcoff
38	CrossFit Crash Black	North America East	Sergio Briceno	Jared Shaw	Lindsey Lane	Cristian Shaw
39	CrossFit Invictus Sea of Green	North America West	Sean Early	Lalo Torres	Lauren Stallwood	Kelsey Schulte
40	CrossFit Oslo Blackout	Europe	Henrik Yterrvik	Henrik Negard	Veslemoy Kollstad	Ingrid Tondel

In this final group of ten we do see a couple more teams from each of the bigger three competitive regions. However, we have our second team from Oceania, in Plus64. They have Games experience, and have added American Kelly Benfey this season. They should be a strong contender to qualify second in Oceania. 

The Russian team from last year has relocated to Dubai, but they are bringing back just as strong, if not a stronger roster than last season. Expect them to dominate in Asia and have some strong individual event performances at the Games as well.

In both South America and Africa we see the global reach of the Mayhem Empire. The Sense Fitness team in South America is composed of very talented athletes, including Santiago Comba and Piero Gorichon, who spent some time in Cookeville this year following Wodapalooza honing their skills alongside Rich Froning and company. 

The Mayhem Africa team is stacked and should be run away victors in South Africa. How well they do at the Games relative to the rest of the world remains to be seen. 

All of these teams from the smaller competitive regions will have a chance to place better at the Games than they are ranked here. Don’t forget that even though I have 18 teams from NA East in my own personal top 40, only 10 of those will go to the Games this summer. 

There are ten teams from Europe on this list, and while it’s almost a certainty not all ten will actually make it, they would be my ten picks at this point. 

There are seven teams in NA West which I have ranked in the top 40. There are other teams which will be at that Semifinal like CrossFit Believe, Undefeated CrossFit, CrossFit Verday, CrossFit 417 and CrossFit Overtake Team Density who will all be vying for Games spots as well. 

Once we have the Team Games field solidified following Semis we’ll narrow our focus on the remaining teams for the season and have predictions and assessments for them heading into Madison.

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