Who is Danielle Sidell?

March 13, 2013

Josh Bunch

“I refuse to quit. Honestly, I love beating people.”


All photos by Christopher Nolan

Thirteen women in the Central East pulled reps at the final bar during 13.1. Danielle Sidell pulled more than all of them and no one knows who she is — until now.

If you crushed seven minutes of burpees in 12.1 last year, and nobody had ever heard of you, you were labeled. Cries of “one hit wonder” filled the airwaves like an overplayed single from a band we will never hear again. But 13.1 is different.

In her first and only attempt, Sidell scored 204 reps. That’s 14 reps at 120 lb. Only eight women in the world can say they matched or beat that. That’s about one rep every five seconds for 17 minutes, and it’s not a single modality, it’s a gymnastic and weightlifting couplet.

“It’s weird seeing my name all the way up there,” she says just hours after the window closed for score entry.

The 24-year-old from Norwalk, Ohio, competed with team SPC CrossFit last year. The former University of Akron track athlete remembers her contribution well.

“I had all the confidence in the world when it came to the sprint-relay workout,” she says. “I remember the cameras being on me. I knew I would crush it and it was awesome.”

With Sidell’s help, team SPC CrossFit took second place in the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games. But school’s out now, and she’s back home going at the 2013 season as an individual.

She says she has been following her boyfriend, Philip Campbell’s, programming as of late. He knows her weaknesses and that’s what he has her do.

“He tells me to jump, and I jump,” she says.

Since Sidell has more time on the weekends, she doubles up choosing to train multiple times on Saturday and Sunday. She rests on Wednesdays.

Usually, her training begins with a variety of barbell work at percentages of her one rep max. After that, she says her workouts are nothing special. Basic CrossFit couplets laced with her weaknesses, which she says is “everything overhead.”

Wait, isn’t 13.1 littered with snatches?

Of course, but for Sidell, “the weight was light enough that I wasn’t worried about it at all,” she says.

Sidell isn’t changing her training for the Open. She’s focused on the Games. But that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t like for to see certain strengths come up in the future. With a 4:56 mile, and 405-lb. deadlift, she’s hoping for simplicity.

“I just want to walk up to a bar and pick it up,” she says.

The CrossFit season is still young, and it’s still anyone's game. But with a 13.1 performance like that, you can bet Sidell came to play.

“I refuse to quit,” she says. “Honestly, I love beating people.”