2025 TYR Wodapalooza Preview: Who Will Be On the Podium?
The 13th annual TYR Wodapalooza is quickly approaching, set to take place at its new location in Miami Beach, Florida, Thursday, January 23 through Sunday, January 26.
- Over the years, the fitness festival has grown in size tremendously, adding athletes, spectators, divisions, and money to the prize purse.
The 2025 TYR Wodapalooza Miami will host over 1,500 athletes, competing in 48 divisions.
- The $567,000 prize purse in 2025 is the largest it’s ever been, coming in at $62,000 more than last year’s event.
Over the last few years, elite athletes have had the opportunity to compete in both the individual and team divisions. This year, in what has become the norm, elite individuals will compete on Thursday and Friday, with elite teams competing on Saturday and Sunday.
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Remind Me
Last year’s Elite Male podium finished with Ricky Garad in first place, Brent Fikowski in second, and Sam Kwant in third. Emma Cary won the Elite Female Division, with Gabi Migała in second and Danielle Brandon in third.
On the team side, Team Go Wod won for the men, made up of Justin Medeiros, Jay Crouch, and Willy Georges. Stronger than a 90s Trend won for the women, with a roster featuring Kelsey Kiel, Emelie Lundberg, and Kelly Baker.
- Like every year, all of the Elite Division rosters are completely stacked.
The weekend will be packed with storylines and it’s tempting to run through each of them.
Instead, we’re just focusing on a few athletes and teams from the multiple divisions that you’ll want to keep your eye on, along with a couple of predictions along the way.
Elite Women
Laura Horvath
The 2023 Fittest Woman on Earth will be competing as an individual at the Miami fitness festival for the first time. She previously won the team division at TYR Wodapalooza in 2023 on Team BPN, alongside Gabi Migała and Jamie Simmonds.
- This season, Horvath competed at the Rogue Invitational, taking second place to Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr and collecting four event wins in the process.
Horvath is at the top of her game, and she’s our pick for the overall winner.
Emma Tall
Tall is coming off a sixth-place finish at the Rogue Invitational this season and a third-place finish at the French Throwdown.
She has proven herself at TYR Wodapalooza over the last two years, having taken fifth and seventh, respectively.
Arielle Loewen
Loewen thrives at TYR Wodapalooza, having competed as both an individual and on a team over the last several years.
- She took fourth place in 2024 and took another fourth at the Rogue Invitational just a few months back.
Loewen seems to be at the top of her game, and we’re banking on her snagging a podium spot.
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Anikha Greer
Greer competed at TYR Wodapalooza as an individual in 2022 and took 12th place. She then came back in 2024 alongside teammates Matilde Garnes and Rebecka Vitesson, taking third place in the Elite Female Team Division.
Fans are excited for Greer’s return to the event as an individual this year – she’s always a favorite to root for.
Other Notable Storylines
Elisa Fuliano, Astrid Tind, and Maria Quintero are also competing as individuals this year after competing on teams in 2024, and we’re anxious to watch them throw down.
This will be Fuliano’s second time competing as an Elite Individual, and it’ll be Tind and Quintero’s first.
Elite Men
Ricky Garard
TYR Wodapalooza’s back-to-back champion is going for the three-peat this year.
- Garard has had an incredibly impressive season, winning Torian Pro, finishing seventh at the CrossFit Games, and then taking fourth at the Rogue Invitational.
It’s a safe bet to say that Garard will be on the podium, most likely on top of it.
Pat Vellner
Pat Vellner’s name has become synonymous with TYR Wodapalooza, as he has competed a total of seven times over five years in both the Elite Individual and the Elite Team divisions.
- He has won as an individual three times and one time on a team.
Vellner is the most likely athlete to give Garard a run for his money for the overall win.
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Luka Ðukić
TYR Wodapalooza newcomer Luka Ðukić has gained major momentum in the last few months, taking third at the Belgrade Games and then first at the Dubai Fitness Championship.
- He recently changed training camps and is working with John Singleton and The Progrm.
This will be the first time Ðukić has competed in the United States since August, and it will be the first opportunity for many fans to cheer him on live.
Other Notable Storylines
Other athletes we’ll be watching are Jeff Adler, 2023 Fittest on Earth and 2024 Rogue Invitational winner, as well as 2024 Fittest on Earth James Sprague, as well as perennial TYR Wodapalooza competitor Guilherme Malheiros.
Elite Female Teams
The Dottirs
The Dottirs — Sara Sigmundsdottir, Annie Thorisdottir, and Katrin Davidsdottir — are teaming up in 2025 in what is perhaps the biggest storyline of the weekend.
- Davidsdottir and Thorisdottir teamed up with Mal O’Brien in 2023 and took second place.
This will be only the second time that the two women have competed at TYR Wodapalooza. Sigmundsdottir, on the other hand, has a long history with the event.
Having competed four times from 2019 to 2023, Sigmundsdottir has experience both on a team and as an individual. Her highest placing was in 2020, when she finished in second place.
Emily Rolfe, Alex Gazan and Arielle Loewen
This is Rolfe’s fifth time on the Elite Female roster at TYR Wodapalooza.
- Although she lacks team experience at TYR WZA, Gazan and Loewen do not. They took third place on the same team in 2023.
Gazan also competed on a team in 2022, where she finished seventh. Loewen, meanwhile, competed as an individual in 2024, finishing fourth, and in 2022, finishing third. With this record of experience, this team will be a safe bet for a podium spot.
Paulina Haro, Mariana Meza, and Ana Castañeda
This stacked team features Meza, the winner of the 2024 LATAM Cup, as well as second-place finisher Haro. Meza will also be competing in the LATAM Cup once again this year.
Elite Male Teams
Jeff Adler, Pat Vellner, and Jayson Hopper
While we’ll never see team PB&J (Adler and Vellner, with Brent Fikowski) compete again, this super team will still give many others a run for their money.
- Collectively, the three men have TYR Wodapalooza individual and team division overall wins, and both Adler and Hopper are coming off Rogue Invitational podium finishes (first and third, respectively).
A disadvantage these three may have is that both Adler and Vellner are competing in the individual division as well, so they may be fatigued by Saturday and Sunday.
Justin Medeiros, Willy Georges, and Dallin Pepper
These three, on the other hand, are only competing in the team division.
- Medeiros and Georges won last year in the Elite Male Team Division alongside Jay Crouch.
The swap for Pepper this year won’t hurt them and, in our opinion, gives us all the more reason to choose this team for the top of the podium.
Moritz Fiebig, Harry Lightfoot and Luka Ðukić
This team, made up of two TYR Wodapalooza newcomers (Fiebig and Ðukić), will be competing with Lightfoot, who has competed twice before – once as an individual and once on a team.
- All three men will also be competing in the individual division.
Before withdrawing at the Dubai Fitness Championship, Moritz had been in the midst of an impressive run, taking first place at the Belgrade Games. Before that, he headed to the 2024 CrossFit Games in what he said was the best shape of his life.
The Bottom Line on the 2025 TYR Wodapalooza
TYR Wodapalooza 2025 will have no shortage of action and competitive drama, as it does every year.
- With this year’s change of location to Miami Beach, spectators will be able to watch the event go down against the backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean.
Will Garard defend his title? Will Horvath dominate the field?
If you’re not able to attend the event live, make sure to tune into Loud and Live’s YouTube channel to watch the live stream.
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Featured image: Enrique Villaseñor
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