Women’s Semifinals Power Ranking

Image Credit - Athlete’s Eye

If you did not see our Men’s Power Rankings article, check it out! 

I’ve been creating my own power rankings for the sport of CrossFit for nearly a decade. It began as a means to try to beat my friends in a version of fantasy CrossFit that I created leading into the 2014 CrossFit Games (Mat Fraser was a sleeper pick that year).

More recently it has evolved to be my best effort at a global representation of who are actually the fittest men and women on Earth. This does not mean they are necessarily all the athletes you’ve seen at the Games, because as many of you know, the systems CrossFit has had over the years do not always find the fittest field to take the test that determines the fittest person on earth.

This is my third released version of the Women’s Power Rankings since the 2022 CrossFit Games, if you want to see the previous iterations from August and January: 

• August 2022: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChtZNvpM9ds/ 
• January 2023: https://www.instagram.com/p/ConfoKpvsGK/ 

There were 15 ranked women in August who were removed in January. 

There were another 20 changes from January until now. 

The list below only includes athletes who are still competing as individuals in the 2023 CrossFit Games season. They have registered for Semifinals and can be found on the CrossFit Games leaderboards for their respective competitive region.

The Top 25

Rank	Athlete	Competitive Region	Previous	Change	WWR
1	Mallory O’Brien	North America East	1	0	2
2	Laura Horvath	Europe	2	0	1
3	Annie Thorisdottir	Europe	3	0	25
4	Danielle Brandon	North America East	4	0	3
5	Emma Lawson	North America East	5	0	10
6	Brooke Wells	North America East	7	1	6
7	Gabriela Migala	Europe	8	1	4
8	Alexis Raptis	North America East	9	1	11
9	Amanda Barnhart	North America East	11	2	7
10	Arielle Loewen	North America West	12	2	8
11	Matilde Garnes	Europe	14	3	21
12	Emma Cary	North America East	15	3	59
13	Karin Freyová	Europe	16	3	18
14	Ellie Turner	Oceania	17	3	24
15	Emma McQuaid	Europe	18	3	5
16	Paige Powers	North America East	23	7	30
17	Jacqueline Dahlstrøm	Europe	21	4	9
18	Emily Rolfe	North America West	22	4	18
19	Dani Speegle	North America West	24	5	16
20	Alex Gazan	North America West	26	6	29
21	Emma Tall	Europe	28	7	48
22	Thuri Helgadottir	Europe	25	3	12
23	Sara Sigmundsdottir	Europe	29	6	50
24	Jamie Simmonds	Oceania	30	6	109
25	Katrin Davidsdottir	North America West	19	-6	13

Key names removed from the upper portion of this list since January include Haley Adams, Kara Saunders, Kristi Eramo O’Connell, and Lucy Campbell. There are also a decent number of women in this range who it is quite honestly difficult to assess how good they actually are right now. Women like Emma Cary, Emma Tall, Paige Powers, Sara Sigmundsdottir, and Katrin Davidsdottir are athletes I have a close eye on for a variety of reasons. Some of the shifting up and down in these cases is due to very particular things which will be explored in more detail on audio/video platforms shortly. 

At a much earlier interval than for the men, we see an athlete in my top 25 power rankings who is outside the top 100 worldwide rankings. This means that Jamie Simmonds has no effect on the Strength of Field allocation of Games spots for Oceania this year. 

Spots 26-50

Rank	Athlete	Competitive Region	Previous	Change	WWR
26	Paige Semenza	North America East	31	5	22
27	Baylee Rayl	North America West	32	5	14
28	Sydney Michalyshen	North America West	33	5	17
29	Freya Moosbrugger	North America West	34	4	27
30	Madeline Sturt	Oceania	35	4	56
31	Solveig Sigurdardottir	Europe	36	4	31
32	Manon Angonese	Europe	39	6	91
33	Christine Kolenbrander	North America West	40	6	23
34	Elisa Fuliano	Europe	41	6	45
35	Carolyne Prevost	North America East	38	2	15
36	Rebecca Fuselier	North America West	42	5	32
37	Katelin Van Zyl	Oceania	51	13	1510
38	Anikha Greer	North America East	52	13	60
39	Shelby Neal	North America East	43	3	43
40	Claudia Gluck	Europe	44	3	49
41	Elena Carratala Sanahuja	Europe	45	3	35
42	Fee Saghafi	North America East	46	3	36
43	Kloie Wilson	North America West	48	5	28
44	Kelly Baker	North America West	61	17	1510
45	Olivia Kerstetter	North America West	49	4	181
46	Sydney Wells	North America East	50	4	62
47	Kelly Clark	North America West	62	15	37
48	Laura Clifton	Oceania	54	6	41
49	Bethany Shadburne	North America West	27	-22	71
50	Oihana Moya	Europe	53	3	38

Notable high rankings for Katelin Van Zyl and Kelly Baker, who have not competed as individuals in recent history but have had excellent seasons thus far are great examples of why there needs to be a new system to identify where the strength of the competitive field is. If you did not catch it in the men’s article, we will have an article later this week which provides a potential solution which accounts for athletes like Van Zyl and Baker when assessing strength of field. 

Spots 51-75

Rank	Athlete	Competitive Region	Previous	Change	WWR
51	Tayla Howe	Europe	56	5	40
52	Emily De Rooy	Oceania	58	6	147
53	Evie Hollis	Europe	59	6	39
54	Marie Robin	Europe	55	1	61
55	Aimee Cringle	Europe	73	18	85
56	Madeline Shelling	Oceania	57	1	218
57	Andrea Solberg	Europe	72	15	94
58	Jordan Szewc	North America East	65	7	96
59	Callista Lang	North America East	66	7	51
60	Seher Kaya	Asia	67	7	63
61	Victoria Campos	South America	68	7	26
62	Gemma Hauck	Oceania	69	7	136
63	Hattie Kanyo	North America West	70	7	70
64	Dana Paran	North America East	74	10	196
65	Alison Scudds	North America West	75	10	44
66	Luiza Marques	South America	76	10	119
67	Julia Kato	South America	83	16	52
68	Sasha Nievas	South America	84	16	150
69	Aoife Burke	Europe	77	8	96
70	Ella Wunger	Europe	78	8	67
71	Lindsey Porter	North America East	80	9	47
72	Meredith Swindle	North America West	81	9	68
73	Lauren Fisher	North America West	88	15	619
74	Camilla Salomonsson Hellman	Europe	Unranked	N/A	2539
75	Linda Keesman	Europe	89	14	81

Sweden’s Salomonsson Hellman is the first previously unranked athlete on our updated rankings. She is a three-time individual Games athlete out of Europe who had taken time away to have a child and is now back in the fray. The women’s field in Europe is going to be extremely competitive, but certainly having someone like that in the mix is notable, especially when distributing Games spots. Remember that in the current system, according to the man who created it, one extra spot in the top 100 could swing the math and earn an extra spot. With so much potentially riding on one spot like that, it seems like a miss to not have any way to account for someone like her. 

In general, this is the section of the list with names you might not know too well yet, but you will likely get to know a few of them much more well throughout Semis, and in some cases even at the Games. 

Spots 76-100

Rank	Athlete	Competitive Region	Previous	Change	WWR
76	Tori Dyson	North America East	85	9	2681
77	Noortje Bleeker	Europe	90	13	103
78	Ashleigh Wosny	North America East	94	16	1538
79	Caroline Stanley	North America East	95	16	42
80	Madison Mcelhaney	North America West	96	16	55
81	Grace Walton	Oceania	100	19	184
82	Briony Challis	Oceania	Unranked	N/A	1486
83	Roran Scott	North America East	Unranked	N/A	126
84	Emily White	North America West	Unranked	N/A	53
85	Molly McGrandy	North America East	Unranked	N/A	83
86	Nicole Heer	Europe	Unranked	N/A	65
87	Lucy McGonigle	Europe	Unranked	N/A	2708
88	Jessica Kalagian	North America East	Unranked	N/A	168
89	Zoe Warren	North America West	Unranked	N/A	187
90	Makenna Enslin	North America East	Unranked	N/A	223
91	Allison Weiss	North America West	Unranked	N/A	1773
92	Ellia Miller	North America West	Unranked	N/A	131
93	Trista Smith	North America West	Unranked	N/A	196
94	Gabrielle Spenst	North America West	Unranked	N/A	117
95	Martyna Krysiak	Europe	Unranked	N/A	73
96	Sanna Venäläinen	Europe	Unranked	N/A	74
97	Dawon Jung	Asia	Unranked	N/A	93
98	Abigail Domit	North America West	Unranked	N/A	105
99	Marisa Flowers	North America West	Unranked	N/A	101
100	Nicole Gibson-Burke	North America East	Unranked	N/A	72

Almost everyone on this last quarter of the list is bumped in due to athletes dropping off who are either injured or competing on a team this year. There is some really young talent here though, and also a few women who will make a splash at their Semifinal, if not on the overall leaderboard, in specific events they are world class at. 

Dawon Jung is a good bet to make the Games in Asia, outside of her you might get one other Games athlete from this group of 25. 

The Next 25 

In no particular order (other than being categorized by competitive region), here are the next 25 women I considered for the top 100 at this point in the 2023 season.

Athlete	Competitive Region
Kamila Takeyeva	Asia
Shahad Budebs	Asia
Amanda Fusuma	South America
Andreia Pinheiro	South America
Christina Livaditakis	Africa
Michelle Basnett	Africa
Gemma Rader	Africa
Leah Støren	Europe
Julie Vernet	Europe
Vanessa Wagner	Europe
Metty Greneron	Europe
Erica Folo	North America East
Lexi Neely	North America East
Samantha Pugh	North America East
Ashley Jerue	North America East
Alaina Savage	North America East
Katelynn Sanders	North America East
Lydia Fish	North America East
Jordan Malm	North America East
Adison Balderston	North America West
Emily Muir	North America West
Madie Edwards	North America West
Karisa Stapp	North America West
Chelsea Nicholas	North America West

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