In 2007, a group of athletes gathered at a ranch in Aromas, California, to compete in something that still had no definitive name. There were no stands, no sponsors, and no one really knew what to expect from the workouts. Twenty years later, the CrossFit Games are the most demanding fitness competition on the planet, with more than 250,000 athletes participating in the initial phase and the world's best competing for the title of Fittest on Earth at the SAP Center in San Jose.
This is the story of those two decades. The champions (men, women and teams), the moments that defined the sport and how the equipment athletes use has evolved at the same pace as the competition.
The CrossFit Games champions, edition by edition
| Year | Venue | Men's champion | Women's champion | Teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | CrossFit Ranch, Aromas, California | 🇨🇦 James FitzGerald | 🇺🇸 Jolie Gentry | CrossFit Santa Cruz |
| 2008 | CrossFit Ranch, Aromas, California | 🇺🇸 Jason Khalipa | 🇺🇸 Caity Matter | CrossFit Oakland |
| 2009 | CrossFit Ranch, Aromas, California | 🇫🇮 Mikko Salo | 🇺🇸 Tanya Wagner | Northwest CrossFit |
| 2010 | Home Depot Center, Carson, California | 🇺🇸 Graham Holmberg | 🇺🇸 Kristan Clever | CrossFit Fort Vancouver |
| 2011 | Home Depot Center, Carson, California | 🇺🇸 Rich Froning Jr. | 🇮🇸 Annie Mist Thorisdottir | CrossFit New England |
| 2012 | Home Depot Center, Carson, California | 🇺🇸 Rich Froning Jr. | 🇮🇸 Annie Mist Thorisdottir | Hack's Pack UTE |
| 2013 | Home Depot Center, Carson, California | 🇺🇸 Rich Froning Jr. | 🇬🇧 Samantha Briggs | Hack's Pack UTE |
| 2014 | Home Depot Center, Carson, California | 🇺🇸 Rich Froning Jr. | 🇨🇦 Camille Leblanc-Bazinet | CrossFit Invictus |
| 2015 | Home Depot Center, Carson, California | 🇺🇸 Ben Smith | 🇮🇸 Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir | CrossFit Mayhem Freedom |
| 2016 | Home Depot Center, Carson, California | 🇺🇸 Mat Fraser | 🇮🇸 Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir | CrossFit Mayhem Freedom |
| 2017 | Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wisconsin | 🇺🇸 Mat Fraser | 🇦🇺 Tia-Clair Toomey | Wasatch CrossFit |
| 2018 | Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wisconsin | 🇺🇸 Mat Fraser | 🇦🇺 Tia-Clair Toomey | CrossFit Mayhem Freedom |
| 2019 | Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wisconsin | 🇺🇸 Mat Fraser | 🇦🇺 Tia-Clair Toomey | CrossFit Mayhem Freedom |
| 2020 | CrossFit Ranch, Aromas, California | 🇺🇸 Mat Fraser | 🇦🇺 Tia-Clair Toomey | No team competition |
| 2021 | Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wisconsin | 🇺🇸 Justin Medeiros | 🇦🇺 Tia-Clair Toomey | CrossFit Mayhem |
| 2022 | Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wisconsin | 🇺🇸 Justin Medeiros | 🇦🇺 Tia-Clair Toomey | CrossFit Mayhem Freedom |
| 2023 | Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, Texas | 🇨🇦 Jeff Adler | 🇭🇺 Laura Horvath | CrossFit Invictus |
| 2024 | Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, Texas | 🇺🇸 James Sprague | 🇦🇺 Tia-Clair Toomey | Raw Iron CrossFit Mayhem Thunder |
| 2025 | MVP Arena, Albany, New York | 🇺🇸 Jayson Hopper | 🇦🇺 Tia-Clair Toomey | CrossFit Oslo Kriger |
| 2026 | SAP Center, San José, California | To be determined - July 24–26 | ||
The great dynasties that defined the sport
Rich Froning: four consecutive titles (2011–2014)
Rich Froning was the first athlete to win four consecutive individual titles. His consistency across each competition weekend was extraordinary: he rarely won an individual event, but he never fell far enough to lose the overall lead.
More than a specialist, Froning was the definition of what CrossFit demanded: an athlete without weaknesses. In 2015, after his fourth title, he decided to compete in teams, where he continued winning for years.
Mat Fraser: five consecutive titles (2016–2020)
If Froning was the first to show that the Games could be dominated in a sustained way, Mat Fraser took that idea to a level the sport had not seen before. Five consecutive titles, including 2020, when the Games returned to the Aromas ranch in a reduced format due to the pandemic. Fraser didn't just win: he won by margins that made the competition feel like another sport.
His retirement in 2021, at just 31 and at the peak of his performance, left a void that no one has been able to fill in the same way. The sport continued to progress, but the Fraser benchmark remains the point of comparison for any athlete who aspires to dominate the Games.
Tia-Clair Toomey: eight titles (2017–2022, 2024, 2025)
Eight titles. It's the number that defines Tia-Clair Toomey's career at the CrossFit Games, and it could still grow. She began in 2015, won her first title in 2017 and didn't let go of it until 2023, when she took a year to become a mother. She returned in 2024, just 14 months after giving birth, and won.
She returned in 2025 and won again. Her 45 event wins at the Games exceed the combined total of Froning and Fraser.
In 2026, Toomey will not compete as she has decided to become a mother again.
The women's field arrives in San Jose without the reference that has dominated it for almost a decade. That makes this edition even more open. Although if we had to name a single contender it would probably be Aimee Cringle, who comes off a first-place finish in the Semifinals and had previously won WFP.
How equipment has evolved in 20 years
The two decades of the CrossFit Games are not just the history of athletes. They are also the story of how equipment has had to adapt as the sport became more demanding.
Hand grips: from optional accessory to performance tool
In the early editions of the CrossFit Games, bar movements like toes-to-bar were practically non-existent in the program. The limiting factor for athletes was cardiovascular capacity and core strength, not hand durability. Grips, if used, were a minor accessory.
Over time, the Games' workouts evolved.
High-repetition gymnastic movements, toes-to-bar, bar muscle-ups and increasingly demanding bar combinations began to make the hands the point of failure. An athlete who could not protect their hands lost the ability to accumulate repetitions when it mattered most.
That changed the role of grips. They stopped being basic protection and became a performance tool: the right grip, the appropriate material, the thickness that allows feeling the bar without losing hold. The CrossFit rulebook regulations reflect this evolution. In the Games Finals, all VELITES models meet competition requirements, confirming that grips are no longer an accessory but a fundamental part of official equipment.
Jump ropes: from double unders to double crossovers
Ropes followed a similar path. In the early editions, when double unders appeared in the program, a basic rope was enough. The exercise itself was already a challenge for most athletes, and technique was what made the difference.
As athletes improved, double unders stopped being the bottleneck. The program had to scale: more reps, more speed, and eventually more complex movements. There the type of rope did make a difference. Additionally, recently, crossovers and double crossovers which require crossing the cable twice per jump arrived at the Games as a natural progression of that increase in difficulty.
A rope that works for basic double unders does not perform the same for crossovers. Cable diameter, length, handle weight and rotational speed determine whether an athlete can execute the movement with control or loses rhythm under fatigue.
The Fire 2.0 rope for double-under speed, Velites' Earth 2.0 and the Cyclone official ropes of the CrossFit Games 2026 as they were in the 2025 Games, are the result of that evolution: a design that answers both speed movements and the more technical variants the Games program can demand.
Footwear: from running shoes to specific competition footwear
The first Games athletes competed in running shoes or general training shoes. The program did not demand the specificity it does today: the combination of heavy lifting, running, jumps, lateral movements and work on different surfaces that defines a Games day now.
The need for footwear that performs across multiple demands within the same workout created its own category: CrossFit shoes. They are not weightlifting shoes, not running shoes, not trail shoes. They are a compromise between stability for lifting, cushioning for running and versatility for anything the program adds. The Hybrid 1.0 from Velites, developed specifically for those mixed demands, was the shoe most Velites athletes chose at the 2025 Games when the program required doing everything in the same event.
And the evolution toward minimalist training shoes arrived in 2026 with the Minimal, Velites' barefoot training shoe.
The workouts that defined the Games' history
The Games are not only remembered for their champions. They are also remembered for their workouts. The sport has the ability to create moments that remain in the collective memory of the community, and some events have defined generations of athletes.
The ocean swim event in the early editions in Aromas was one of those moments. No one expected it, no one had prepared for it, and that was the point. The Games have always understood that surprise is part of the test.
Murph, the WOD honoring Lieutenant Michael Murphy, became a cultural reference that goes far beyond the Games. One mile running, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats and another mile. With a vest. Murph no longer needs explanation in the CrossFit community: everyone knows what it is and what it represents.
Pegboard climbs, odd-object carries, workouts with accessories no one had seen before. Each edition has added something to the sport's vocabulary, and that capacity to surprise is part of what keeps the competition at the highest level after 20 years.
2026: why this edition is different
The 20th edition of the CrossFit Games is not just a round number. It is the first time the Games return to California since 2020, the first time Masters compete in their own separate competition in the days prior to the individual Games, and the second edition in which Tia-Clair Toomey is not competing because she has returned to motherhood.
The men's field also arrives more open than usual. Jayson Hopper defends the title, but the margin with which he won in Albany in 2025 was only 6 points. There are at least six athletes with a real chance to win.
And Velites will be there, on the SAP Center floor, as official partner for the second year. With more preparation time, clearer insight into what athletes need, and the 2025 experience to refine every detail.
The history of the CrossFit Games is written in every WOD.
On July 24 the 20th chapter begins.
All about the CrossFit Games 2026: dates, venue and qualified athletes
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