Top-200 Female CrossFitters: 2023 Offseason

Throughout the offseason I’ve been traveling around the world to competitions big and small doing my best to learn as much as I can about the best CrossFitters around the globe. It’s a very difficult task as there are athletes everywhere, constantly competing, improving and popping up on the radar. They don’t all compete against each other, so it’s a tricky balance to assess how an athlete who looks good in one competition in a certain part of the world against a lesser known field compares to an athlete who does average against a strong field in a different part of the world.

We’re about halfway through the offseason though, and it’s a good time to get a pulse on who the best male CrossFitters are based on the information we do have. 

We know some of these athletes won’t compete next year, and others will compete on a team, or possibly even in the Masters divisions. We will account for those as those details become relevant the next time we do this, which will be right before the Open in March. 

Click here to view the top-200 Male CrossFitters

The Top-25

1	Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr	14	Paige Powers
2	Laura Horvath	15	Karin Freyova
3	Emma Lawson	16	Amanda Barnhart
4	Mallory O’Brien	17	Emma Tall
5	Gabriela Migala	18	Jamie Simmonds
6	Alex Gazan	19	Emily Rolfe
7	Emma Cary	20	Bethany Flores
8	Arielle Loewen	21	Olivia Kerstetter
9	Danielle Brandon	22	Emma McQuaid
10	Brooke Wells	23	Paige Semenza
11	Haley Adams	24	Manon Angonese
12	Alexis Raptis	25	Dani Speegle
13	Katrin Davidsdottir

All the names should be familiar, but not all competed last season, nor are all of them guaranteed to compete next year. If they all do though, this is how I’d evaluate them currently. 

Although Horvath won the Games and Rogue this year, it’s hard not to have Toomey first overall considering here history and what she just accomplished only a few months after giving birth.

O’Brien and Adams taking the season off are tough to assess, but essentially I’m considering them to return about as good as they were and accounting for the field getting slightly better. 

It’s not entirely clear what Barnhart is doing, how healthy Simmonds will be, or whether Flores will compete next season, but we’re assuming they all will be good to go for now and believe this is more or less where they’d end up. 

Breakdown by region (Top-25): 

• North America: 17
• Europe: 6*
• Oceania: 2

*Counting Davidsdottir as North America doesn’t feel right, but that’s the most likely scenario.

26-50

26	Christine Kolenbrander	39	Sydney Michalyshen
27	Fee Saghafi	40	Abigail Domit
28	Ellie Turner	41	Jordan Szewc
29	Shelby Neal	42	Kloie Wilson
30	Elisa Fuliano	43	Lauren Fisher
31	Jacqueline Dahlstrom	44	Caroline Stanley
32	Carolyne Prevost	45	Matilde Garnes
33	Thuri Helgadottir	46	Seungyeon Choi
34	Baylee Rayl	47	Seher Kaya
35	Ella Wunger	48	Sara Sigmundsdottir
36	Anikha Greer	49	Rebecka Vitesson
37	Sydney Wells	50	Emily de Rooy
38	Kelly Baker

This range consists of several athletes who had “breakout” seasons (Saghafi, Neal, Wunger, Sydney Wells, Baker, Domit, Vitesson and de Rooy among them), several who came up short of their goals this year (Turner, Dahlstrom, Prevost, Helgadottir, Greer, Michalyshen, Szewc, Wilson, Fisher, Garnes, Choi, Sigmundsdottir), and a few who have been relatively consistent of late (Kolenbrander, Fuliano, Rayl, Kaya). It makes for a fun analysis when trying to project forward to next year. 

I consider it a lot like the NFL actually. What I mean is that in NFL most teams win or lose Games by one score at least 50% of the time. In CrossFit, with so much coming down to the Semifinal performance, it can feel the same, only zoomed in on one weekend. Over a stretch of a couple years, teams (or in this case athletes) who are “on the bubble” can rebound from just being on the wrong side of things, to just being on the right side of things… or not. So while Wilson has been close for three straight years and come up just short, Rayl has found a way to get the job done each of those years, so it’s hard to say that Rayl is not definitely fitter. But, in the case of Dahlstrom and Helgadottir compared to Wunger and Vitesson, I’ll still take the consistency over their careers from the first two until I see that consistency from the second two. 

Breakdown by Region (Top-50):

• North America: 31
• Europe: 13
• Oceania: 4
• Asia: 2

51-100

51	Elena Carratala	64	Solveig Sigurdardottir	76	Noortje Bleeker	89	Keara Napoli
52	Kelsey Kiel	65	Aimee Cringle	77	Emelie Lundberg	90	Amanda Fischer
53	Linda Keesman	66	Tayla Howe	78	Valentina Rangel	91	Madeleine Persson
54	Camilla S.Hellman	67	Larissa Cunha	79	Andreia Pinheiro	92	Alison Scudds
55	Claudia Gluck	68	Victoria Campos	80	Allison Weiss	93	Freya Moosbrugger
56	Katelin Van Zyl	69	Alexia Williams	81	Andrea Solberg	94	Gemma Hauck
57	Madeline Sturt	70	Georgia Pryer	82	Anastasya Dodonova	95	Briony Challis
58	Mia Hesketh	71	Emily White	83	Dawon Jung	96	Silvia Garcia
59	Gracie Walton	72	Jennifer Muir	84	Julia Kato	97	Hattie Kanyo
60	Kyra Milligan	73	Marie Robin	85	Fernanda Dotto	98	Karissa Stapp
61	Brittany Weiss	74	Caroline Spencer	86	Emily Andrade	99	Trista Smith
62	Devyn Kim	75	Lena Richter	87	Luiza Marques	100	Hanna Karlsson
63	Ashleigh Wosny			88	Callista Lang

This is a really fun section on the women’s side with a big percentage of these athletes coming from Europe (17/50) and South America (9/50 after having none in the top-50). 

There are several athletes in this range who did not compete individually last year, and it’s unclear what they will do next year. Larissa Cunha will return from a two-year drug sanction (in which she was able to prove tainted supplements) and immediately should be in the conversation for “Fittest in South America”. 

Several team athletes from last year have given indications of potentially going individual this year (Kiel, Milligan, B. Weiss, Kim, Wosny), we’ll keep an eye on them as the season gets closer to find out for sure. 

Oceania is now up to ten women in the top-10, and I’m hopeful that somehow or someway they get a fourth spot to the Games because there seems to be a lot of young talent and potential there.

Breakdown by Region (Top-100):

• North America: 47
• Europe: 30
• Oceania: 10
• South America: 9
• Asia: 4

101-150

101	Elizabeth Wishart	114	Lydia Fish	126	Taylor Reber	139	Sasha Nievas
102	Lexi Neely	115	Emma Harvang	127	Ellie Hiller	140	Madison McElhaney
103	Laura Clifton	116	Jessica Androsik	128	Nicole Heer	141	Lucy McGonigle
104	Veslemoy Kollstad	117	Katelynn Sanders	129	Ellia Miller	142	Logan Filo-Loos
105	Julie Hougard	118	Stacy Lerum	130	Zoe Warren	143	Emily Beroth
106	Gabby McClelland	119	Rebecca Fuselier	131	Adison Balderston	144	Danielle Dunlap
107	Kristine Best	120	Faith Stewart	132	Gabrielle Spenst	145	Arielle Sanders
108	Elena Budz	121	Eik Gylfadottir	133	Caroline Klutz	146	Hannah Black
109	Aline Wirz	122	Breona Wallin	134	Samantha Pugh	147	Sequoia Barrera
110	Julia Hannaford	123	Bailey Rogers	135	Katie Calyore	148	Maria Langfors
111	Danielle Ford	124	Elly Hutchens	136	Allision Nguyen	149	Ashley Cope
112	Madeline Shelling	125	Paulina Haro	137	Ashley Jerue	150	Valentina Magalotti
113	Shahad Budebs			138	Danielle Paran

Most of this group is North American women, and with the reduction from 120 total Semifinal spots in North America to only 80, these are now the group of women who will be vying for those Semifinal spots. The Quarterfinals just got A LOT more serious for them (here’s to hoping for a great implication of scoring review process for that stage of the season this time around). For the athletes from this section who do manage to make it to Semifinals, the chances of making the Games aren’t great, but I wouldn’t put it out of the realm of possibility for one or two of them to have a fighting chance. 

Breakdown by Region (Top-150):

• North America: 82
• Europe: 37
• Oceania: 16
• South America: 10
• Asia: 5

151-200

151	Chloe Carano	164	Stephanie Grange	176	Toya Nelson	189	Ava Georg
152	Sanna Venalainen	165	Molly McGrandy	177	Madie Edwards	190	Faith Ferguson
153	Cece Cronin	166	Danielle Kearns	178	Carson Wolfe	191	Michaela Vancura
154	Lindsey Porter	167	Gabrielle Ocker	179	Calire Truax	192	Megan O’Donnell
155	Alaina Savage	168	Makenna Enslin	180	Hannah Hall	193	Emiko Naets
156	Roran Scott	169	Briana Dunbar	181	Evie Hollis	194	Brooklyn Lander
157	Tori Dyson	170	Marisa Flowers	182	Christina Livaditakis	195	Becca Merritt
158	Jessica Kalagian	171	Or Cohen	183	Aoife Burke	196	Natalie Uljas
159	Delfino Ortuno	172	Kamila Takeyeva	184	Metty Greneron	197	Lindsey Derby
160	Amanda Fusuma	173	Alina Aleksandrova	185	Margaux Masset	198	Rachel Noel
161	Kaela Stephano	174	Michelle Basnett	186	Alazne Egiazabal	199	Katie Brezeale
162	Franziska Hoger	175	Michelle Merand	187	Lynsey Martin	200	Justine Kachaeva
163	Sarah Hogue			188	Holly Tynan

This is the most difficult range of the top 200, and a lot of the selections here have to do with exposure. I am confident there are another 50 women around the world that are just as good as this group and I’m just not as familiar with them. As it is, there is another huge group of women from North American women here, and as mentioned in the previous section, the battle for the final 40 Semifinal spots in North America is going to be incredibly tight. 

We get the first three women from Africa in this range, so far they have not really broken through on the global stage, so we’ll see who ends up representing them this season and if that person can change that script. 

Breakdown by Region (Top-200):

• North America: 114
• Europe: 47
• Oceania: 16
• South America: 12
• Asia: 8
• Africa: 3