- Morning Chalk Up
- Posts
- 🇱🇹 Mirjam von Rohr Repeats, Tommaso Pieri Stuns at iF3 Championships
🇱🇹 Mirjam von Rohr Repeats, Tommaso Pieri Stuns at iF3 Championships
Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.
In today’s edition:
🥇 Switzerland’s Mirjam von Rohr goes back-to-back, while Italy’s Tommaso Pieri earns his first iF3 world title after nearly missing his flight there.
💰 Your gym will sell, or it will die — there’s no third option. PushPress founder Dan Uyemura breaks down what it really takes to build an asset, not a treadmill you can't step off.
❄️ Fittest on Earth, festive on the couch. From Alexis Raptis to Aimee Cringle, top CrossFit athletes share the holiday movies they return to year after year.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
It brings together people from the same country who share the same passion…it feels more like working together rather than competing against each other.”
COMPETITIONS
Mirjam von Rohr and Tommaso Pieri Take Gold at the iF3 World Championships in Lithuania
Credit: @internationalfunctionalfitness / Instagram
The 2025 International Functional Fitness Federation (iF3) World Championships took place last weekend (December 5-7) in Vilnius, Lithuania, delivering one of the most competitive and well-attended editions in the event’s history.
The annual World Championships are the highlight of the iF3 season, bringing together top athletes from around the world and showcasing all aspects of functional fitness.
This year, nearly 400 athletes from 27 nations took the floor in Vilnius over three packed days of competition, with several divisions coming down to the final test.
In the Senior (Elite) Division, Switzerland’s Mirjam von Rohr cemented her place among the sport’s elite by defending her title and becoming a two-time World Champion, building on her breakthrough victory in 2024. On the men’s side, Italy’s Tommaso Pieri captured his first world championship, marking a major milestone in his career.
Remind me: Like all iF3 events, the championship followed the federation’s six-test format – endurance, strength, bodyweight, skill, mixed modal, and power – providing a complete assessment of athlete capacity and ensuring consistent standards across divisions.
The event was organized in partnership with this year’s host, the Lithuanian Functional Fitness Federation, one of the many national federations supported by the iF3.
SPEED READS
🌍🔥 ATHX Games Goes Global: ATHX Games is scaling up fast — announcing an international expansion plan backed by a new multi-year partnership with Adidas, which will produce co-branded gear and broaden the sport’s footprint worldwide. With major events rolling out worldwide, ATHX is positioning itself as a serious player in the hybrid-fitness race.
🧤 Free Velites Wristbands at World Fitness Project Finals: Velites is giving away limited-edition WFP wristbands that you can claim at the Velites booth during the WFP Finals in Copenhagen.
🔥👟 First Look at PUMA’s New HYROX Super-Shoe: PUMA’s new Deviate Elite HYROX Edition blends marathon-race tech with hybrid-fitness durability — giving athletes a lighter, faster, more responsive option built specifically for compromised running. It’s not available until February, but check it out now.
🏋️♂️⏳ CrossFit for Life: CrossFit’s Stephane Rochet breaks down how squats, deadlifts, presses, and pull-ups remain essential across every decade — and why aging athletes don’t need new movements, just smarter scaling. The message: keep moving, adjust the dose, and let functional training future-proof your strength, mobility, and independence.
ICYMI: 🤓 Key takeaways from the 2026 CrossFit Games rulebook.
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
36 to 60 Months – The Real Timeline for Building a Sellable Gym
Credit: @besthouroftheirday / Instagram
We've discussed why you should buy instead of build, and how to structure a deal without getting burned. Now let's focus on the endgame: building an affiliate that you can actually sell.
Here's the reality no one wants to hear: 100% of gyms will either sell or die.
That's not pessimistic. That's simply math. You're not going to run your gym forever. Eventually, you'll exit – either with a check or by turning off the lights.
The only question is which one.
Most gym owners don't realize this until it's too late. They work hard for 10 or 15 years, invest everything into their business, and then, when burnout finally hits, they find out their gym is worth almost nothing.
In our talk with Dan Uyemura, the founder of PushPress, we broke down what it really takes to build a sellable gym. The timeline is longer than you think. The work is tougher than you expect. But if you start now, you create options you wouldn't have otherwise.
THINGS TO…
…READ
HYROX Forms Science Council as Olympic Ambitions Grow
HYROX just launched a new Science Council to formalize research around training, performance, and injury prevention — a move that signals the sport’s push toward global legitimacy (and maybe one day, the Olympics). If you want to understand where hybrid fitness is heading, this is the piece to dig into.
…LEARN
How to Breathe in Gymnastics
If you’ve ever hit a kipping swing, toes-to-bar, or handstand walk and realized you’re basically holding your breath the whole time, this one’s for you. Rebecca Fuselier breaks down how to breathe so your gymnastics feels smoother, lighter, and way less tense — complete with cues for bar work, pull-ups, and upside-down skills.
…WATCH
When Life Got Hard, CrossFit Showed Up
Aly Hagglund’s world changed the day she lost feeling in half her face — a sudden onset of small fiber neuropathy that brought pain, uncertainty, and a long road ahead. What didn’t change? Her resolve. With movement, nutrition, and the support of her SoLa CrossFit community, she found a path forward — and now coaches others to do the same.
COMMUNITY
A CrossFit Christmas Special: Alexis Raptis, Aimee Cringle, and More Share Their Favorite Holiday Movies
Credit: Shutterstock
Cozy season is here, and with it comes one of our favorite traditions: hunkering down and watching holiday movies.
While many of us have a go-to film that we watch year after year, others take a less conventional approach in their viewing habits.
Last year, we reached out to some of the world's top CrossFit athletes to see what they were watching. One that stood out to us was Dallin Pepper’s recommendation of Die Hard. Andrea Nisler rewatches Mean Girls every season, while Chandler Smith recommended The Holdovers. Last year, he told us:
“We just watched The Holdovers, and it’s our new favorite! Reminds me of a lot of the experiences I had at my all-boys school, at West Point, and coaching at a private school like the one in the movie.”
This winter, we asked around again for new recommendations. Here’s what we found.
HIGHLIGHTS
Celebrating a PR, hosting a fundraiser, this, that, or otherwise? Send us a tip.
😮💨Watch Teenage CrossFit Games athlete Gia Griffith clean and jerk 93 kilos/205 pounds.
Try this one-leg challenge from Arielle Loewen. Can you do it?
See how Luciana Dal Agnol and Gui Malheiros are preparing for baby Sophia - she’s going to be one tough girl!
Well done to Ingrid Jacobsen Tøndel, who clean and jerked 112.5 kilos/248 pounds at the International Functional Fitness World Championships.
🔥Watch Daiane Nóbrega clean and jerk 120 kilos/265 pounds at the Teams Box Games in Brazil.