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Top-200 Female CrossFitters: 2023 Offseason

November 22, 202312 min read

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

1Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr14Paige Powers
2Laura Horvath15Karin Freyova
3Emma Lawson16Amanda Barnhart
4Mallory O’Brien17Emma Tall
5Gabriela Migala18Jamie Simmonds
6Alex Gazan19Emily Rolfe
7Emma Cary20Bethany Flores
8Arielle Loewen21Olivia Kerstetter
9Danielle Brandon22Emma McQuaid
10Brooke Wells23Paige Semenza
11Haley Adams24Manon Angonese
12Alexis Raptis25Dani Speegle
13Katrin 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

26Christine Kolenbrander39Sydney Michalyshen
27Fee Saghafi40Abigail Domit
28Ellie Turner41Jordan Szewc
29Shelby Neal42Kloie Wilson
30Elisa Fuliano43Lauren Fisher
31Jacqueline Dahlstrom44Caroline Stanley
32Carolyne Prevost45Matilde Garnes
33Thuri Helgadottir46Seungyeon Choi
34Baylee Rayl47Seher Kaya
35Ella Wunger48Sara Sigmundsdottir
36Anikha Greer49Rebecka Vitesson
37Sydney Wells50Emily de Rooy
38Kelly 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

51Elena Carratala 64Solveig Sigurdardottir76Noortje Bleeker89Keara Napoli
52Kelsey Kiel65Aimee Cringle77Emelie Lundberg90Amanda Fischer
53Linda Keesman66Tayla Howe78Valentina Rangel91Madeleine Persson
54Camilla S.Hellman67Larissa Cunha79Andreia Pinheiro92Alison Scudds
55Claudia Gluck68Victoria Campos80Allison Weiss93Freya Moosbrugger
56Katelin Van Zyl69Alexia Williams81Andrea Solberg94Gemma Hauck
57Madeline Sturt70Georgia Pryer82Anastasya Dodonova95Briony Challis
58Mia Hesketh71Emily White83Dawon Jung96Silvia Garcia
59Gracie Walton72Jennifer Muir84Julia Kato97Hattie Kanyo
60Kyra Milligan73Marie Robin85Fernanda Dotto98Karissa Stapp
61Brittany Weiss74Caroline Spencer86Emily Andrade99Trista Smith
62Devyn Kim75Lena Richter87Luiza Marques100Hanna Karlsson
63Ashleigh Wosny88Callista 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

101Elizabeth Wishart114Lydia Fish126Taylor Reber139Sasha Nievas
102Lexi Neely115Emma Harvang127Ellie Hiller140Madison McElhaney
103Laura Clifton116Jessica Androsik128Nicole Heer141Lucy McGonigle
104Veslemoy Kollstad117Katelynn Sanders129Ellia Miller142Logan Filo-Loos
105Julie Hougard118Stacy Lerum130Zoe Warren143Emily Beroth
106Gabby McClelland119Rebecca Fuselier131Adison Balderston144Danielle Dunlap
107Kristine Best120Faith Stewart132Gabrielle Spenst145Arielle Sanders
108Elena Budz121Eik Gylfadottir133Caroline Klutz146Hannah Black
109Aline Wirz122Breona Wallin134Samantha Pugh147Sequoia Barrera
110Julia Hannaford123Bailey Rogers135Katie Calyore148Maria Langfors
111Danielle Ford124Elly Hutchens136Allision Nguyen149Ashley Cope
112Madeline Shelling125Paulina Haro137Ashley Jerue150Valentina Magalotti
113Shahad Budebs138Danielle 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

151Chloe Carano164Stephanie Grange176Toya Nelson189Ava Georg
152Sanna Venalainen165Molly McGrandy177Madie Edwards190Faith Ferguson
153Cece Cronin166Danielle Kearns178Carson Wolfe191Michaela Vancura
154Lindsey Porter167Gabrielle Ocker179Calire Truax192Megan O’Donnell
155Alaina Savage168Makenna Enslin180Hannah Hall193Emiko Naets
156Roran Scott169Briana Dunbar181Evie Hollis194Brooklyn Lander
157Tori Dyson170Marisa Flowers182Christina Livaditakis195Becca Merritt
158Jessica Kalagian171Or Cohen183Aoife Burke196Natalie Uljas
159Delfino Ortuno172Kamila Takeyeva184Metty Greneron197Lindsey Derby
160Amanda Fusuma173Alina Aleksandrova185Margaux Masset198Rachel Noel
161Kaela Stephano174Michelle Basnett186Alazne Egiazabal199Katie Brezeale
162Franziska Hoger175Michelle Merand187Lynsey Martin200Justine Kachaeva
163Sarah Hogue188Holly 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

How do you vote?

12 People voted this article. 9 Upvotes - 3 Downvotes.

Brian Friend

Brian stumbled upon CrossFit in the Fall of 2013. He has been a writer, data analyst, content creator, commentator, and broadcast coordinator. He's worked at a majority of the largest CrossFit competitions over the last three seasons, is a regular guest on the Sevan Podcast, and has been amongst the leading sports analysts in the sport in recent years. He has a passion for advancing the sport of CrossFit, and spreading the CrossFit methodology, by living it out in both his personal and professional life.

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