Sunday’s Final is all that is still for 2 likely recent champions.

Written by Robert Zeglinski Last updated on August 5, 2023

After which there was just one. Three days of Individual competition on the 2023 CrossFit Games are within the books, with a transparent race for each respective champions beginning to take shape.

For the Women, sophomore competitor and 2022 Rookie of the Yr Emma Lawson holds the pole position before Sunday’s Finals. Laura Horvath, in second place, doesn’t trail far behind. On the Men’s side, Roman Khrennikov continues to successfully avenge his runner-up finish from 2022 by maintaining his stranglehold of the leaderboard. Current 2023 runner-up Jeffrey Adler could be the one athlete who can stop him.

2023 CrossFit Games Individual Leaderboard

Here is the present top 10 for the Women heading into Sunday’s Finals:

Women

1. Emma Lawson (Canada) — 729 points | Leader
2. Laura Horvath (Hungary) — 681 points
3. Arielle Loewen (United States) — 668 points
4. Alexis Raptis (United States) — 626 points
5. Gabriela Migała (Poland) — 593 points
6. Alex Gazan (United States) — 576 points
7. Annie Thorisdottir (Iceland) — 531 points
8. Emma Cary (United States) — 521 points
9. Emma Tall (Sweden) — 518 points
10. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (United States) — 516 points

Here is the present top 10 for the Men heading into Sunday’s Finals:

Men

1. Roman Khrennikov (United States) — 716 points | Leader
2. Jeffrey Adler (Canada) — 703 points
3. Chandler Smith (United States) — 628 points
4. Patrick Vellner (Canada) — 612 points
5. Brent Fikowski (Canada) — 606 points
6. Jay Crouch (Australia) — 588 points
7. Bayley Martin (Australia) — 559 points
8. Bjornvin Karl Gudmundsson (Iceland) — 545 points
9. Lazar Dukic (Serbia) — 531 points
10. Jelle Hoste (Belgium) — 530 points

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Event 7 Results — Cross-Country 5K

The “Cross-Country 5K” didn’t aim to reinvent the wheel or spark a caveman-style fire. This was an easy and simple 5K run for time, with no window dressing, purely favoring speed and endurance.

Emily Rolfe cruised ahead of the remaining of the Women with a 17:48.62 run. That was over 30 seconds faster than second place. On the Men’s side, Jelle Hoste (16:39.68) just edged out Jeffrey Adler (16:46.48) for the victory. Hoste is a CrossFit Games rookie, with the Cross-Country 5K acting as his first-ever event win. Roman Khrennikov was not far behind in third place (16:57.08) as he continued to cement his strong position as the general Men’s leader.

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Event 8 Results — Intervals

Power and short-term endurance were the secret during “Intervals.” Here was the athletes’ complete docket during this event.

Two intervals for total time with a 12-minute closing date, two rounds:

• 21 box jump-overs (20-inch box for Women, 24-inch box for Men)
• 15-calorie row
• Nine burpee box jump-overs (36-inch box for Women, 48-inch box for Men)

Rest until the six-minute mark before the ultimate two-round push:

• Nine burpee box jump-overs (36-inch box for Women, 48-inch box for Men)
• 15-calorie row
• 21 box jump-overs (20-inch box for Women, 24-inch box for Men)

Emma Lawson separated herself from the pack with a time of seven:48.64 for the Women because the only woman to finish the course in lower than eight minutes. As for the Men, Patrick Vellner (7:21.36) had roughly 24 seconds of separation from nearest contender Jonne Koski (7:45.38).

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Event 9 Results — Olympic Weightlifting Total

The “Olympic Weightlifting Total” was the respective athletes’ final opportunity to earn points before Sunday’s Finals. Because the name suggests, every competitor had two attempts at a one-rep max snatch and two attempts at a one-rep max clean & jerk. The whole between each would act as an athlete’s rating.

To place herself inside striking distance of Lawson on the leaderboard, Horvath recorded a 470-pound total and the Women’s event win. Meanwhile, one other CrossFit Games rookie, Jack Farlow, scored a 701-pound total for the Men’s victory.

Sunday’s Finals Await

With the roster cut now officially made, the stage is about for an epic Individual CrossFit Games Finals in Madison, WI. Just 48 points separate Lawson and current runner-up Horvath in a run on the Women’s ultimate throne. The margin is even thinner for the Men, with Khrennikov holding only a 13-point lead on Adler. Any slip-up or terrific performance in the ultimate slate of events can mean all of the difference.

While the actual champions remain to be decided, there’ll assuredly be two recent Games winners when the dust finally settles.

Featured image: @emma.lawson_5 on Instagram