Top-200 Male 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. 

The Top-25

1	Jeff Adler	14	Noah Ohlsen
2	Roman Khrennikov	15	Jayson Hopper
3	Ricky Garard	16	Saxon Panchik
4	Patrick Vellner	17	Jay Crouch
5	Justin Medeiros	18	Jelle Hoste
6	Brent Fikowski	19	Bayley Martin
7	Dallin Pepper	20	Guilherme Malheiros
8	Jonne Koski	21	Cole Sager
9	Lazar Dukic	22	Spencer Panchiik
10	Travis Mayer	23	Colten Mertens
11	Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson	24	Nick Mathew
12	Samuel Kwant	25	Samuel Cournoyer
13	Chandler Smith

Should be mostly familiar names here, and perhaps not too surprising to see most of these guys on this list, however, the discussion around the top five names is as compelling as we’ve seen in the men’s field. I think any of those top five men could show up on a given weekend and win. 

Saxon Panchik and Gui Malheiros missed the 2023 CrossFit Games and thus might be off the radar for some. However, I still believe both of these men are amongst the top 20 in the world and will likely have bounce back seasons in 2024. 

Breakdown by region (Top-25): 

• North America: 17
• Europe: 4
• Oceania: 3
• South America: 1

26-50

26	Henrik Haapaalainen	39	Jack Farlow
27	Will Moorad	40	Tyler Christophel
28	Uldis Upenieks	41	Tim Paulson
29	Moritz Fiebig	42	Bronislaw Olenkowicz
30	James Sprague	43	Giorgos Karavis
31	Austin Hatfield	44	Guillaume Briant
32	Fabian Beneito	45	Enrico Zenoni
33	Alex Vigneault	46	Mitchel Stevenson
34	Alexandre Caron	47	Luke Parker
35	Luka Dukic	48	Jack Rozema
36	Cole Greashaber	49	Victor Hoffer
37	Tudor Magda	50	Jorge Fernandez
38	David Shorunke

This group of men carries a ton of intrigue. Some of these athletes had a great 2023 season / early off season, while others definitely came short of their goals. Every man in this range has the potential to make it to, or back to, the CrossFit Games. However, all 25 of them compete in either North America or Europe and the qualifying path through those reasons is getting more and more difficult every year. 

Breakdown by Region (Top-50):

• North America: 31
• Europe: 15
• Oceania: 3
• South America: 1

51-100

51	Royce Dunne	64	Sam Dancer	76	Justin Rhodes	89	Victor Helsinghof
52	Adrian Mundwiler	65	Scott Panchik	77	Max Krieg	90	Jake Douglas
53	Luis Oscar Mora	66	John Wood	78	Garrett Clark	91	Arthur Semenov
54	Bill Leahy IV	67	Connor Duddy	79	Evan Rogers	92	Ant Haynes
55	Alex Kotoulas	68	Luka Vunjak	80	Antoine Dumain	93	Morteza Sedaghat
56	Bayden Brown	69	Anthony Davis	81	Martin Cuervo	94	Will Kearney
57	Colin Bosshard	70	Kalyan Souza	82	Austin Spencer	95	Michael Smith
58	Logan Collins	71	Kaique Cerveny	83	Angelo DiCicco	96	Denis Samsonov
59	Griffin Roelle	72	Agustin Richelme	84	Alec Smith	97	Jacob Pfaff
60	Benoit Boulanger	73	Scott Tetlow	85	Reggie Fasa	98	Phillip Muscarella
61	Tola Morakinyo	74	Daniel Kuc	86	Aniol Ekai	99	Marquan Jones
62	Joshua Al Chamaa	75	Michal Wesolowski	87	Ludvig Hahnsson	100	Nate Ackerman
63	Jake Berman			88	Peter Ellis

There is a big time range of potential amongst these 50 men. We get a second wave of men from Oceania and South America here, and the first athletes from Asia showing up on the list. And of course, another huge contingency of highly competitive men from North America and Europe. It’s likely that several athletes in this range will compete as part of a team this year. But there are also athletes in this range who will make the CrossFit Games as an individual. 

Breakdown by Region (Top-100):

• North America: 58
• Europe: 27
• Oceania: 8
• South America: 4
• Asia: 3

101-150

101	CJ Gerald	114	Travon Benton	126	Hamzeh Tarefi	139	Dre Strohm
102	Harry Lightfoot	115	Matt Poulin	127	Lee Sharum	140	Simon Paquette
103	Norman Woodring	116	Collin Garnek	128	Brian Huynh	141	Tyler Lee
104	Chris Ibarra	117	Luke Fowler	129	Roldan Goldbaum	142	Luke Fiso
105	Isaiah Vidal	118	Grzegorz Maraszkiewicz	130	Alexander Majors	143	PD Savage
106	Seth Stovall	119	Callum Clements	131	Johnie Charles	144	Khan Porter
107	Rafael Sancen	120	Cam Crockett	132	Andris Sturans	145	Ben Fowler
108	Will Bennett	121	Peter Mason	133	Reilly Smith	146	Tiago Luzes
109	Jacob Marlow	122	Mathias Porter	134	Zac Thomas	147	Kevin Jurs
110	Kristof Horvath	123	Drake Lewis	135	Felix Rehder	148	Rees Machell
111	Leonel Franco	124	Haraldur Holgersson	136	Simon Mantyla	149	Quentin McQueen
112	Elliot Simmonds	125	Jeremy Vigneault	137	Lucas Heuze	150	Mike Needleman
113	Josh Gervais			138	Cedric Lapointe

Outside the top 100 now, but still a host of savages in this group. Not sure on the plans for all of these men this year, but several of these guys will still be pushing towards relevance in terms of contending for portions of the weekend at North America and European semifinals. We also continue to see the growing depth in terms of men in Oceania, most of them don’t compete internationally though, so it is difficult to assess exactly how they’d stack up against this range of athletes from North America and Europe. 

Breakdown by Region (Top-150):

• North America: 88
• Europe: 39
• Oceania: 15
• South America: 4
• Asia: 4

151-200

151	Daniel Sterling	164	Victor Ljungdal	176	Conrad Winnertz	189	Carlos Coloma
152	Sven Geens	165	Alexander Anasagasti	177	Ruan Potgieter	190	Ivan Kukartsev
153	Augustin Vilicnik	166	Tommaso Pieri	178	Anton Foss	191	Marc Carmona
154	Sam Demeester	167	Logan Ewing	179	Matus Kocar	192	Sam Robinson
155	Nikita Yundov	168	Kealan Henry	180	Dylan Hamming	193	Conor Pinnington
156	Sam Stewart	169	Darren Zurnamer	181	Zachary Buntin	194	Isaac Newman
157	Casper Gammelmark	170	Benjamin Gutierrez	182	Hal Fisher	195	Mitchel Case
158	Javier Gonzalez	171	Esteban Ospina	183	Jan Matiaska	196	Riley Martin
159	Bryan Hernandez	172	Daniel Camacho	184	Andrei Fedotov	197	Bruno Marins
160	Justin Dewing	173	Nick Thomas	185	Ruslan Miftakhov	198	Gustavo Errico
161	Matt Brady	174	Matthew Greene	186	Anthonee Yim	199	Lago Guiraldes
162	James Newbury	175	Joel Laney	187	Miko Lilleorg	200	Tobias Fox
163	Iurii Marincenco			188	Anton Hassel

The final 50 spots on the list get a pretty good spread globally, including the first men showing up from Africa, another wave of athletes from South America and Oceania, and a big contingency of European men. 

Breakdown by Region (Top-200):

• North America: 101
• Europe: 60
• Oceania: 19
• South America: 9
• Asia: 7
• Africa: 4

Rounding out the top-200 we have a full picture of what the distribution by Region globally looks like. North American men account for just over half of the list, Europe accounts for exactly 30 percent, and the two regions combine for just over 80% of the top 200. Of the remaining continents Oceania has just about as many men on the list as South America, Asia, and Africa combined. Those four continents account for just under 20% of the list, but will account for 57% of the Semfinal qualifiers in the new season format.  

Be on the lookout for our podcast episode discussing the list with Brian, Patrick Clark, and John Young.