Which CrossFit Games Vets Will Thrive in 2025 Season Structure—and Who Won’t? 

The 2025 season is almost underway, and we finally know what it’s going to take to qualify for the 2025 CrossFit Games. 

Remind Me

Ultimately, there are three paths to earn one of the 30 men’s and women’s invites to this summer’s CrossFit Games in Albany, NY. Here’s how it breaks down.

In light of all of the above — and if historical performances predict future ones — which veteran Games athletes do we expect this qualification process will bode well for? Conversely, which veterans might struggle under this unprecedented season structure?

Two Things to Consider

On paper, at least, it appears that this season favors two types of athletes:

1. Those who tend to be rock stars in online competitions.
2. Those who find a way to win or come second at in-person qualifying events.

On the flip side, the season might be tough for two other types of athletes:

1. Those who perform better at in-person events than online ones.
2. Those who consistently do well at in-person qualifiers but can’t break through and finish in the top two. (In other words, the season doesn’t bode well for the consistently quiet qualifiers of years gone by.)

In light of this, here are four men and four women we expect this season to go well for.

Men

Jonne Koski

The nine-time Games athlete failed to qualify for the first time since 2018 last season. That said, he became the first man to win both the Open and Quarterfinals.

• He also qualified for the Games out of the online Last Chance Qualifier in 2022, adding to his resume of top-notch online competition performances.

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Saxon Panchik

Though he’s a six-time Games veteran, we don’t tend to think of Panchik as a shoo-in to qualify. Still, he’s a bit of a silent assassin and has traditionally placed very high in the online portions of the season: the CrossFit Open and Quarterfinals.

• Panchik won the worldwide Open in 2022, was second last season, and fourth in 2021. Further, he has two top-10 finishes in Quarterfinals: 2021 (sixth) and 2022 (seventh).
• On top of this, Panchik has proven he can win an in-person qualifying event. He has not one, but two Semifinals wins to his resume (2021 and 2022).  

Despite this, Panchik hasn’t had as much success at either Quarterfinals or Semifinals over the last two seasons.

• He was 18th at Quarterfinals in 2023 and 50th last season before going on to qualify mid-pack for the CrossFit Games out of the North America East Semifinals. (He also dropped out of the 2023 Semifinals due to injury.)

Still, he finished 11th at the Games last season, suggesting his fitness is still where it was in previous seasons, and ultimately, he has proven he can be great at online competitions in the past. 

Pat Vellner

Pat Vellner might not be known for his strength in online competitions, but he knows how to place in the top two at in-person qualifying events.

• Vellner has two Semifinals titles to his name, plus a second-place finish. Further, going back to the Regionals days, he has another two top-two finishes. 

Throw in some Rogue Invitational and Wodapalooza wins through the years, and our money is on Vellner to win an In-Person Qualifying Event if he doesn’t pull through during the In-Affiliate Semifinals.

Jeff Adler

If there’s a front-runner for the top athlete we expect to cruise through the qualification process this season, it’s 2023 Games champion Jeff Adler.

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Adler has always been strong in online competitions, and more recently, he has also dominated in-person Semifinals.

• Adler won the Open in both 2021 and 2023 (and was fourth last season) and has never finished outside of the top five in Quarterfinals (second, third, third, and fifth). Further, Adler was one of five athletes to qualify for the CrossFit Games Finals in 2020 through the online Games.
• If that’s not enough, Adler has won Semifinals events for the last three seasons in a row and was second in 2021.

Women

Alex Gazan

If the last two seasons are any indication, our money is on Alex Gazan to look pretty good under this season’s format.

• The three-time Games athlete finished in the top 10 worldwide in the last two Quarterfinals. And to think, her coach, Justin Cotler, says she still has a couple more years until he expects her to hit her peak.
• Further, her last two Semifinals performances were also top-notch: second and first, respectively. 

Danielle Brandon

Veteran Danielle Brandon isn’t necessarily known for her online competition prowess, but she has held her own in the last four years. 

She has never placed outside of the top 14 in the last four years at Quarterfinals, with her best placing being fifth last season.

• Further, Brandon has two top-two Semifinals finishes, as well as a third and a fourth in the last four seasons. 

Emma Tall

Sweden’s Emma Tall is another athlete we think might excel in this year’s qualification format if she chooses to compete. 

• Tall has finished in the top 14 in Quarterfinals the last three seasons (eighth, 11th and 14th, respectively) and also used the online Last Chance Qualifier to punch her invite to the Games in 2021.
• Although she has never been in the top two at an in-person Semifinals, Tall has been knocking on the door, finishing third and fourth, respectively, in the last two seasons at the Europe Semifinals.

Emma Lawson

Other than Toomey-Orr and Horvath, we expect 20-year-old Lawson to be the next-closest thing to a shoo-in this season, as she has proven herself over and over, regardless of the format of the competition.

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• Lawson, who was second at the 2023 CrossFit Games, won the worldwide Quarterfinals last year and logged top-10 performances in both 2023 and 2022.
• Further, she has one Semifinals win to her name, along with a third- and fourth-place finish. 

Dark Horse Pick: Manon Angonese

Belgium’s Manon Angonese has only competed at the CrossFit Games once in 2023, so we can’t call her a veteran, but she is another athlete we expect to excel this year.

• Angonese finished in the top eight in Quarterfinals the last two seasons (seventh and eighth, respectively), and she also made history this year when she became the first person to win “The Q” (the online qualifier for the Rogue Invitational) for the second time. Further, she’s the only athlete to qualify all three years out of “The Q.” 

So we expect her to possibly be one of the 12 athletes in the world to qualify out of the In-Affiliate Semifinals this year.

Which Veterans Might Struggle?

The reality is that only 75% of the invites are available this year — 30 rather than 40 — so some very fit athletes we’re accustomed to seeing at the Games are bound to miss out.

In light of this, we think the following veterans we think might not love this season’s format.

Men

James Sprague

He might be the reigning Fittest Man on Earth, but James Sprague has never placed inside the top 30 in past Quarterfinals. He was 44th last season, 31st in 2023, and 174th in 2022.

• Further, Sprague has never placed in the top two in an in-person Semifinals qualification competition. His best finish was third at the North America West Semifinals last year, but he was only 11th in 2023 and seventh in 2022.

Sprague is still young and on the rise, though, and his confidence has likely grown since winning the Games last season and following up with his TYR WZA win last week, so we’re certainly not counting him out.

Sam Kwant

The seven-time Games veteran has never placed inside the top 12 in Quarterfinals: 16th, 51st, 13th, and 19th in the last four years, respectively. Although he always seems to find a way to get it done and qualify, he has never placed inside the top two in his four Semifinals.

• On the other hand, Kwant always seems to find a way to qualify, so he might just prove us wrong like he always does.

Jelle Hoste 

Two-time Games veteran Jelle Hoste has shown he’s much better at the CrossFit Games than he is in an online Quarterfinals format. 

• Hoste finished 15th at the Games in 2024 and an impressive 10th in his rookie season in 2023, while his highest Quarterfinals finish of the last four years was 42nd last year. Meanwhile, he was 124th in 2023.

It seems Hoste’s best hope to qualify this year might be through one of the in-person Qualifying Events, where he’ll need to be top two. 

Women

Karin Frey

The five-time Games athlete from Slovakia is another who struggles with online competitions.

• While she finished 14th in last year’s Quarterfinals, that was her only top-20 Quarertfinals performance in four years.
• As for Semifinals, Frey is always in the mix but is never a frontrunner to win the whole thing. She finished fourth last year, fifth the year before, and sixth in 2021. That year, she went on to compete in the online Last Chance Qualifier and wasn’t able to earn her ticket to the Games.

Despite all that, Frey did crack the top two at Semifinals once in 2022, so maybe she can do it again this year.

Emily Rolfe

The five-time Games athlete has some serious strengths, but online competitions haven’t proven to be one of them.

• Rolfe is always solid in Quarterfinals, but has never broken into the top 12 in the world (13th, 28th, 51st, and 36th in the last four seasons, respectively).
• Further, at Semifinals, Rolfe has been known to dig herself a bit of a hole and work her way out of it throughout the weekend, doing enough to qualify but never enough to finish inside the top three.

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Like Sprague, Rolfe is coming off the high and newfound confidence of a podium finish at last year’s Games, and at 35, she still seems to be closing the gap and improving. Like Kwant, she always seems to find a way, so it might be wise not to bet against her. 

Elisa Fuliano

Italy’s Elisa Fuliano has competed at the Games the last three years, but she has always been a mid-pack qualifier through Semifinals, and only once has she had a top 12 performance in Quarterfinals.

• In the last two seasons, Fuliano qualified through the Europe Semifinal after finishing eighth and ninth respectively. The year before that, she qualified in fifth out of the CrossFit Strength in Depth Semifinals.
• Her best Quarterfinals finish was 11th last season, but in 2023, she was 22nd, and in 2022, 71st.

Dani Speegle

Five-time Games athlete Dani Speegle is another Games veteran who has found a way to qualify five of the last six years but who doesn’t look like (at least on paper) she will excel under this season’s format.

• Speegle has finished 114th, 33rd, and 60th in the last three Quarterfinals, and has never finished in the top two at Semifinals. 

The Big Picture

The 2025 CrossFit Games season is undoubtedly like no other season we have navigated before. 

On the one hand, it’s going to be [arguably] harder than any other year to qualify, as there are only 30 spots available.

On the other hand, with both In-Affiliate Semifinals and 10 In-Person Qualifying Events, plus a Last Chance Qualifier, there are ample opportunities for the best in the world to prove that they belong to compete with the best in Albany. 

But to do that, they either need to crush an online competition or find a way to finish top two at an in-person event against what will most certainly be a highly competitive field.

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Featured Image: Scott Freymond

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