The excitement is brought to you by coach Landon
TODAY IS THE DAY! The start of in-person competitions for the 2023 CrossFit Games Season. The live semi finals will be taking place May 18-21, 25-28, and June 1-4. Individual and Team qualifiers from these semifinal events will punch their tickets to the CrossFit Games in August. You can watch each weekend of semifinals live at CrossFit Games Semifinals or on the CrossFit Games Youtube channel. These previews will focus on Team and Individual names you can watch during the semifinals weekends. However, please do not hesitate to reach out if you want more information or just want to nerd out on all things CrossFit Games.
Team Semifinals Preview
Let’s start by taking a look at Teams going to semifinals. This year, team restrictions were lessened compared to what we have seen in previous years. This has allowed more teams made of higher level individual athletes to come together as a M/M/F/F team of four. Below is a list of teams to watch for through semifinals as podium hopefuls looking to punch their ticket to the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games.
CrossFit Torian Mayhem – Royce Dunne, Brandon Swan, Christee Hollard, Marnie Sykes
This team is taking on the Mayhem banner, but waving it from down under in Australia. Led by Royce Dunne, who has a steady individual resume of his own, this team is the favorite to win Oceania’s semifinal and possibly podium at the Games.
CrossFit East Nashville PRVN – Taylor Williamson, Andrea Nisler, Tola Morakinyo, Tim Paulsen
Undoubtedly the favorite to win the North America East semifinal, and possibly the 2023 Games, the PRVN team brings together four powerhouse athletes under one banner this year. Taylor Williamson and Andrea Nisler will go down as the best team female athletes in the history of the CrossFit Games. Tola Morakinyo is incredibly strong and is coming off a year in Iceland training with Annie Thorisdottir. Tim Paulsen has been known to send it as an individual athlete and brings a wheelhouse of fitness that can be lethal at the right time. This team is also partnered with our friends over at ValorFit.
CrossFit Invictus – Jorge Fernandenz, Joshua Al Chamma, Devyn Kim, Brittany Weiss
The Invictus pedigree is well known in the CrossFit space and has waved proudly at the games for many years. This team brings back the same roster we watched place third last year at the CrossFit Games. Though the team is not made of names with large individual Games performances, their consistency and chemistry year after year makes them the team to beat at the North America West semifinal. Do not be surprised if you see this team atop the podium when we get to Madison in August.
CrossFit Oslo Navy Blue – Eivand Ringard, Nicolay Billaundel, Lena Richter, Ingrid Hodnemyr
Similar to Invictus, Oslo Navy Blue is seeing a full return of their roster from the 2022 season in 2023. This team finished second last year, losing only to CrossFit Mayhem Freedom. On top of their Games experience, this team has something most teams going to semifinals will never experience. CrossFit Oslo will have six teams waving their banner at semi finals this year. This also means Oslo Navy Blue has five teams to train against. Iron sharpens iron and you can bet Oslo Navy Blue will be poised to win the European semi final while also looking for the top spot at the Games in August.
Outside of these top contending teams, here is a short least to keep in mind during semifinals. All of these can be contenders in their respective semifinals and top 10 hopefuls at the 2023 CrossFit Games. Absent from both lists are teams that will qualify from the South America, Asia, and Africa semifinals.
CrossFit Mayhem Independence (North America East) – Angelo DicCicco, Sam Demeestar, Zoe Jones, Kyra Milligan
CrossFit Krypton (North America East)- Ben Smith, Alec Smith, Caroline Spencer, Erin O’Donnell
CrossFit Omnia (North America West) – Cooper Wise, Jacob Schmidy, Kelly Stone, MaryKay Driesilker
No Shortcuts CrossFit (Europe) – Andre Houdet, Julian Kragh-Maschvitsz, Julie Hougard, Nienke Van Overveld
For more information on teams, you can look to bfriendlyfitness and 2023 CrossFit Games Seminfials Leaderboard
Individual Semifinals Preview
Individual Semifinals will run parallel to the teams and over the same given dates. Each semifinal is allotted a different number of qualifying spots to the 2023 CrossFit Games based on a world wide ranking system and score given to athletes that have qualified for their respective semifinals.The number of qualifying spots for each are:
North America East (11 Women/ 12 Men)
North America West (10 Women/ 9 Men)
Oceania (3 Women/ 3 Men)
Europe(11 Women/ 11 Men)
South America (2 Women/ 2 Men)
Asia (2 Women/ 2 Men), Africa (1 Woman/ 1 Man).
In general, more spots for each gender means the strength of field is deeper in that semifinal.
Below I will break down the top athletes to watch in each semifinal. This is not an exhaustive list, but should give you recognizable names to look for each week of semifinals.
North America East:
Men
Roman Khrennikov (2nd place, individual, 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games)
Jeffery Adler
Noah Ohlsen
Samuel Cournoyer (1st place, team, 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games)
Jayson Hopper
Saxon Panchik
Women
Danielle Brandon
Emma Lawson
Brooke Wells
Amanda Barnhart
Emma Cary
Paige Powers
Alexis Raptis
North America West
Men
Justin Medeiros (1st place, individual, 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games)
Patrick Vellner
Samuel Kwant
Brent Fikowski
Cole Sager
Chandler Smith (sustained a broken wrist prior to quarterfinals but still qualified for semifinals)
Women
Arielle Loewen
Dani Speegle
Alex Gazan
Katrin Davidsdottir
Emily Rolfe
Europe
Men
Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson
Lazar Dukic
Jonne Koski
Guillaume Briant
Women
Laura Horvath (3rd place, individual, 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games)
Annie Thorisdottir
Gabriela Migala
Jacqueline Dahlstrom
Sara Sigmundsdottir
Matilde Garnes
Oceania
Men
Jay Crouch
Bayley Martin
James Newbury
Women
Ellie Turner
Jamie Simmonds
Katelin Van Zyl
Madeline Sturt
South America
Men
Guilherme Malheiros
Augustin Richelme
Women
Victoria Campos
Sasha Nieves
Asia
Men
Arthur Semenov
Women
Seher Kaya
Africa
Men
Kealan Henry
Women
Michelle Basnett
Gemma Rader
Notably, the 1st and 2nd place individual women, and 3rd place individual male are all out of this season because of injury or personal reasons. This opens the field even at the semifinal level as athletes look to make a statement midway through the competitive season. Again, this list is not complete. These are names that I believe will have a large impact on the weekend competitively or bring interesting storylines to the competition. For more information on the semifinals leaderboards, how to watch, or the latest news on the CrossFit season visit 2023 CrossFit Games Seminfials Leaderboard or https://bfriendlyfitness.com/ .