A Decade of Open Results: 10 Years of the Top 100

February 23, 2021

Chad Schroeder

Chad Schroeder takes us back through the last decade of Open performances.

The CrossFit community is about to embark on its 11th CrossFit Open. Let’s look back at the top results from the first decade of competition to find out who landed in the top 100 worldwide each season for the individual divisions.  

It is interesting to see the longevity of some of the top CrossFit stars over the years knowing how  difficult it is to make the top 100 year after year for a decade. A whole host of reasons could keep even the sport’s most consistent athletes from making the top 100 year after year, such as  injury, video review penalties, pregnancy, different Games qualification requirements in 2019 and 2020, etc.  

Another aspect to note is that some who did well in the Open year after year never made it to the Games as an individual competitor. 

And finally, recognizing that many of the best current competitors in the sport were not yet participating in the first few years of the Open, we’ll also look at the last five years of competition for comparison.  

Below are breakouts for the different ranking groups showing the number of athletes who finished in the top 100 multiple times.

Open Top 100

Listed below is the total number of different athletes who have ever made it into the top 100 in the Open. The number in the parentheses shows how many of those athletes were also Games individual competitors at one point in their career.

Women: 448 (178)    Men: 458 (174)

Top Open Performers and the Number of Times They Were in the Open Top 100

Annie Thorisdottir - 9 Rich Froning - 10
Rebecca Voigt Miller - 9 Scott Panchik - 9
Kelley Jackson - 9 Ben Smith - 9
Thuridur Helgadottir - 9 Frederik Aegidius - 9
Camille Leblanc-Bazinet - 8 Noah Ohlsen - 8
Emily Benson (Bridgers) - 8

Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson - 8

Katrin Davidsdottir - 8 Travis Mayer - 8
Samantha Briggs - 8 Mathew Fraser - 7
Kara Saunders - 8 Dan Bailey - 7
Kristin Holte - 7 Rogelio Gamboa - 7
Sara Sigmundsdottir - 7 Ben Stoneberg -7
Stacie Tovar - 7 Albert-Dominic Larouche - 7
Cheryl Nasso - 7 Lukas Högberg - 7
Jennifer Smith - 7 Brandon Swan - 7
Chelsey Hughes - 7  
Chyna Cho - 7  
Jessica Coughlan - 7  
Alessandra Pichelli - 7  
Tiffany Hendrickson - 7  
Whitney Heuser - 7  
   

 
Only Rich Froning has made it into the top 100 every year. In fact, even more remarkably, he landed in the top 20 all 10 years. Scott Panchik made the top 50 every year he competed in the Open (He did not participate in 2011). Annie Thorisdottir’s only miss was in 2013 when she was injured. Ben Smith’s only miss was in 2018 when he was still recovering from surgery. Frederik Aegidius’ one miss was in 2020 which was mostly due to a penalty that knocked him out of the top 100. Of the athletes who made the top 100 seven or more times, only Whitney Heuser has never competed at the Games as an individual.  

Open Champions

Six different women and five different men have won the Open. The number following each athlete’s name indicates the number of times they won. 

Sara Sigmundsdottir - 3  Mathew Fraser - 4
Annie Thorisdottir- 2 Rich Froning - 3
Samantha Briggs - 2 Patrick Vellner - 1
Kristan Clever - 1 Noah Ohlsen - 1
Jamie Simmonds - 1 Dan Bailey - 1
Cassidy Lance-McWherter - 1  

Open Top 3

Fourteen different women and 17 different men have been in the Open top three at least once. The number following each name indicates the number of times they were in the top three.

Annie Thorisdottir - 5 Rich Froning - 6
Sara Sigmundsdottir- 4 Mathew Fraser - 5
Samantha Briggs - 4 Alex Vigneault - 2
Camille Leblanc-Bazinet - 3 Josh Bridges - 2
Kara Saunders - 3 Noah Ohlsen - 2
Kristan Clever - 2 Ben Smith - 2
Kristin Holte - 2 Mikko Salo - 1
Jamie Simmonds - 1 Jason Khalipa - 1
Julie Foucher - 1 Patrick Vellner -1
Kari Pearce - 1 Jacob Heppner -1
Cassidy Lance-McWherter - 1 Willy Georges - 1
Carolyne Prevost - 1  Kenneth Leverich - 1
Kaleena Ladeairous - 1 Dan Bailey -1 
Lindsay Bourdon* - 1

Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson – 1

  Travis Mayer - 1
  Lefteris Theofanidis** - 1
  Sean Thomson* - 1

*Did not compete in the Games as an individual during their career

**Had PED violation and penalty from the 2019 Dubai CrossFit Championship

 

Patrick Vellner completing an Open workout
Patrick Vellner during the live announcement of Open Workout 17.1

 

The Complete Results

The table below gives a full breakdown of the cumulative results of the athletes who have made the top 100 in the Open. The numbers in the table represent the number of athletes who met the criteria. The columns indicate the Open place range, and the rows indicate the number of times an athlete made the respective ranking. For example, with the men, the “A” superscript is Mathew Fraser, who was the only athlete to win the Open four times. The “B” superscript is Rich Froning. He was the only athlete to be in the top 20, 25, 50, 75, and 100 in the Open 10 times. The “C” superscript represents the three men who won the Open once (Vellner, Ohlsen, and Bailey). The “Total Men/Women” lists the number of athletes who made the respective ranking — i.e., there have been five men’s winners and 458 different men who have made the Open top 100 over the last 10 years. The “Games Ind.” line lists the total number of men/women who were also Games individual competitors at one point in their careers. 

 

Open Performances From 2016 to 2020

To see more recent top performances, check out this breakout for just the results from the last five years of the Open. 

Listed below is the number of different athletes who made the Open top 100 in the last five years. The number in the parentheses lists how many of those athletes were also Games individual competitors at one point in their career.

Women: 244 (106)    Men: 255 (112)

Open Champions in the Last Five Years

Three different women and three different men have won the Open in the last five years. The number  indicates the number of times they won.

Sara Sigmundsdottir - 3 Mathew Fraser - 3
Jamie Simmonds - 1 Noah Ohlsen - 1
Cassidy Lance-McWherter - 1 Patrick Vellner - 1

Open Top Three for the Last Five Years

Ten different women and 10 different men have been in the Open top three at least once in the last five years. The number indicates the number of times they were in the top three.

Sara Sigmundsdottir - 3 Mathew Fraser - 4
Annie Thorisdottir - 2 Alex Vigneault - 2
Kara Saunders - 2 Noah Ohlsen - 2
Kristin Holte - 2 Rich Froning - 1
Jamie Simmonds - 1

Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson – 1

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet - 1 Patrick Vellner - 1
Kari Pearce - 1 Jacob Heppner - 1
Samantha Briggs - 1 Willy Georges - 1
Cassidy Lance-McWherter - 1 Travis Mayer - 1
Carolyne Prevost - 1 Lefteris Theofanidis* - 1

*Had PED violation and penalty from the 2019 Dubai CrossFit Championship

Complete Results

The tables below give a full breakout of the cumulative results of the athletes who have made the top 100 in the Open in the last five years.


Chad Schroeder has been doing CrossFit since 2009. Schroeder started working for CrossFit Media regularly at the 2012 CrossFit Games. He compiles and tracks all the CrossFit Games season results, athlete bios, and career records. He provides direct stats and research assistance to the media crews during live events and production shows. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, he is a civil engineer during the day and was in the United States Air Force for 10 years. He has his Professional Engineer’s license along with master’s and bachelor’s degrees in engineering. Before finding CrossFit, he came from a triathlon and marathon background. Outside his work and CrossFit, he enjoys hiking and snowshoeing in the Colorado mountains  He also likes following MMA (UFC) and is a huge Star Wars fan and Lego collector.