a crossfit athlete performs the middle portion of a single arm dumbbell snatch. Other Crossfitters are doing various movements in the background in front of a blue wall

How Strong Were CrossFit Games Athletes in 2022

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CrossFit is an intriguing sport because any one can walk into a gym and attempt the same workouts that they watched the world’s best athletes perform at the Games. People that regularly weight train can also appreciate the loads that these athletes are repeatedly lifting, at high speed and under immense fatigue. However, I think we all wonder how strong the people at the CrossFit Games actually are.

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How Strong is the Average CrossFit Games Athlete

We went through the CrossFit Games website and did a ton of other searching to try to find the 1 rep maximums (1RMs) of all of the athletes that competed at the CrossFit Games in 2022. These numbers are listed in the tables below for their squat, deadlift, snatch and clean and jerk. You can compare them to yourself, and across your favourite lifters.

The average female CrossFit Games qualifier in 2022 was:

  • 26 years old and 150 lbs
  • Back squatted 308 lbs
  • Deadlifted 360 lbs
  • Snatched 192 lbs
  • Clean and jerked 238 lbs

The average male CrossFit Games qualifier in 2022 was:

  • 27 years old and 200 lbs
  • Back squatted 460 lbs
  • Deadlifted 532 lbs
  • Snatched 286 lbs
  • Clean and jerked 353 lbs

Of course, there are outliers in all of this. For instance, Dani Speegle had the heaviest back squat (370 lbs), snatch (220 lbs) and clean and jerk (270 lbs) out of all the women competing but “only” finished 17th at the Games. So, being the strongest doesn’t necessarily lead to the podium.

If you’re interested in seeing how you stack up against the world’s best CrossFitters then you may want to sign up for the CrossFit Open. The Open is the 3-week international competition that serves as the  starting point to qualify for the CrossFit Games. You can compete in The Open from your garage gym, provided you have all of the necessary equipment. I’ve gone through all of the workouts from the past 5 Opens so that you can ensure you have all of the equipment needed. You can read more about doing The Open at home and the required equipment here.

 

What strength events happened at the CrossFit Games in 2022

The 2022 CrossFit Games didn’t have a traditional 1 rep maximum strength test like we have seen in the past. Previous Games have had a 1RM deadlift, or 1RM snatch, but we didn’t get anything like that this year. There seems to be a bigger move towards aerobic conditioning and gymnastics work as the key components that determine (podium) success at the Games. A breakdown of this year’s events can be found on the CrossFit Games site.

However, we did see the Shuttle to Overhead event where the athletes had to perform a max number of jerks at either 200 lbs (women) or 300 lbs (men) after running between 400 and 800 meters. I can’t imagine having 2 minutes to sprint for 400m then having to do a max number of jerks …let alone with a 300 lbs barbell, but these athletes made it look easy.

The Back Nine workout also asked the women to carry a 485 lbs yoke (108 feet), front squat 215 lbs (4 times) and deadlift 315 lbs (3 times). That deadlift is heavier than a lot of the women’s listed 1 rep max, as you can see in the table below. The men had a 665 lbs yoke, 315 lbs front squat and 475 lbs deadlift. These loads are huge, let alone after a full weekend of competition.

The 2022 Games seemed more focused on moderately-heavy (for the best CrossFitters in the world), multi-rep, repeated efforts rather than a true 1 RM test of strength. However, there definitely is a threshold level of max strength that is needed to be competitive.

Have you ever wondered why CrossFit athletes have the crazy abs that they have? Well, I wrote a full explanation that you can read here.

1 Rep Maxes of the Women Competing at the 2022 CrossFit Games

Athlete 2022 CF Games
Place		 Age Weight Back Squat Deadlift Snatch Clean and Jerk
Tia-Clair Toomey 1 28 127 330 392 191 244
Mallory O’Brien 2 18 135 331 195 245
Laura Horvath 3 25 154 286 367 187 242
Danielle Brandon 4 26 150 210 240
Brooke Wells 5 27 150 345 432 215 255
Emma Lawson 6 17 140 300 320 192 235
Kara Saunders 7 32 162 341 363 220 260
Gabriela Migala 8 23 165 319 363 200 246
Haley Adams 9 21 149 255 300 175 205
Alexis Raptis 10 23 155 250 315 190 235
Arielle Loewen 11 28 145 300 330 190 235
Emma Mcquaid 12 32 143 275 374 189 242
Kristi Eramo O’Connell 13 33 132 300 335 175 225
Amanda Barnhart 14 30 160 325 405 200 257
Jacqueline Dahlstrom 15 30 147 286 330 182 231
Lucy Campbell 16 26 161 286 308 180 204.6
Dani Speegle 17 28 170 370 420 220 270
Ellie Turner 18 24 158
Matilde Garnes 19 26 154 275 363 187 231
Karin Freyova 20 27 158 308 374 209 244
Paige Semenza 21 30 143 350 395 185 245
Thuridur Erla Helgadottir 22 30 130 290 334 191 238
Carolyne Prevost 23 32 145 310 400 190 230
Alex Willis (Gazan) 24 20 150 320 375 185 240
Paige Powers 25 19 155 195 235
Seungyeon Choi 26 23 155 300 345 200 250
Christine Kolenbrander 27 30 157 345 422 215 255
Baylee Rayl 28 26 135 180 220
Seher Kaya 29 24 141 275 354 172 220
Rebecca Fueslier 30 22 127 265 285 170 215
Sydney Michalyshen 31 22 155 315 415 200 245
Freya Moosbrugger 32 20 152 300 365 195 235
Victoria Campos 33 29 140 320 365 180 235
Solveig Sigurdardottir 34 27 154 319 352 191.4 246.4
Elisa Fuliano 35 26 132 330 319 187 242
Caroline Conners 36 29 133 325 370 185 230
Julia Kato 37 22 147
Elena Carratala Sanahuja 38 28 139 308 352 191 231
Michelle Merand 39 33 132 308 348 178 231
Emily Rolfe 40 33 152

1 Rep Maxes of the Men Competing at the 2022 CrossFit Games

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