Individual Quarterfinals is in the past, and full of criticism, and only yesterday the leaderboard has been finalized and made official. After unconventional video submissions (or lack of) and a plethora of penalties, there are a few notable CrossFit athletes that didn’t make the cut and will not be participating at Semifinals this year.
CrossFit has announced recently the leaderboard is officially closed and scores have been scrutinized. For some reason, this year has been receiving more criticism from athletes and lovers of the Sport compared to any other in recent memory.
CrossFit doubled down on video submissions for Quarterfinals and their team of judges have distributed penalties to athletes as if it was Santa Claus giving presents to kids in Rovaniemi. According to The Barbell Spin, a total of 348 athletes received a penalty following video review of Workout 1.
With these penalties, ultimate badass Tia-Clair Toomey, who “never lost a Quarterfinal,” went from 1st to 7th in her region, and 28th worldwide. But she still made it to Semifinals, which is something only crazy people would bet against.
However, the story was very different to other notable athletes across the globe. Below you will find the athletes who didn’t make it to Semifinals after qualifying to the Quarterfinals.
List of Notable Athletes that Didn’t Make it To CrossFit Semifinals
Before we get into the list, it is important to remember the rules. According to the rulebook, the top 40 athletes in each of the 7 regions get an invitation to the Semifinals.
The regions are:
- Asia
- Africa
- Europe
- North America East
- North America West
- South America
- Oceania
Okay, now let’s get into the list of notable athletes that didn’t make it to the CrossFit Semifinals.
Women
- Paige Powers (USA) – 4x Games athlete, 10th in 2023.
- Sydney Wells (USA) – 1x Games athlete, 28th in 2023.
- Matilde Garnes (Norway) – 3x Games athlete, 33rd in 2023.
- Camilla Salomonsson (Sweden) – 4x Games athlete, 23rd in 2020.
- Katrin Davidsdottir (USA) – 2x Fittest Woman on Earth, 10x Games athlete, 7th in 2023.
Of the names on the list, the most shocking is Katrin Davidsdottir. However, unlike the other athletes, Davidsdottir did not even compete at Quarterfinals due to a back injury.
The other surprising athlete not making is Paige Powers, who finished 10th Fittest Woman on Earth last year. At only 21 years-old, she made it to the Games 4 times already (twice as a teen always finishing with a bronze medal). She began her stride in 2022 going to the Finals as an individual for the first time and ending on 25th place. After finishing 10th last year, this was the year to keep the momentum. Although she started strong at the open with a 66th placement worldwide, she finished 100th in North America East, 60 spots short of the cut line.
Men
- Sam Stewart (Ireland) – 2x Games athlete, 6th in 2023 (team).
- David Shorunke (UK) – 3x Games athlete, 29th in 2023.
- Willy Georges (France) – 3x Games athlete, 17th in 2022
- Nick Matthew (USA) – 2x Games athlete, 19th in 2023
Nick Matthew became famous on his first Games appearance back in 2022 using his crop top and grinding through workouts. After another year going to the Games, it was natural to guess he would make it to Semifinals, at least. However, he was heavily penalized for workout 1 which put him on 531st for that event, crushing his chances to make a comeback and continue his CrossFit season.
Sam Stewart is another athlete people are familiar with. Just like Matthew, Stewart was penalized during workout 1 and his 184 validated reps put him on 1063rd placement for the event. Overall, the Irish athlete finished 207th in the European Quarterfinals, well below the cutline of 40 athletes.
Winners of 2023 CrossFit Quarterfinals
After the dust has settled, at least we know for sure the winners of this year’s CrossFit Quarterfinals: Jonne Koski and
Jonne Koski, from Finland, beat defending Fittest Men on Earth Jeff Adler by 12 points, even though the Canadian athlete grabbed the win on the last workout worldwide.
On the women’s side, it was Canadian Emma Lawson who snatched the symbolic victory from Alexis Raptis by only 2 points.
