Which Rookies Stole the Show at the 2025 CrossFit Games?

August 11th, 2025

In partnership with

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • 🆕🔥 Which Games rookies made the biggest splash in Albany?

  • 🧭 Why Cole Sager traded competition for calling.

  • 🌍 HYROX goes global — 100+ races, 47 new cities, one massive season.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
❝

Training is as valid a means of self-discovery as anything else.”

Cole Sager, 11-time Games athlete, on his post-competitive career mindset.
CROSSFIT GAMES

Rookie Report – 5 First-Year Standouts at the 2025 Games

Credit: Scott Freymond

Seventeen rookies competed in the 2025 CrossFit Games, including nine women and eight men. With a condensed field, it represented a substantial percentage of the overall athlete roster. 

Here is a bird's-eye view of some of the great performances and overall takeaways from the freshmen in Albany.

Remind Me

There is always at least one rookie performance that surprises us – remember Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr finishing second in 2015, her first year at the Games? 

Fans almost always expect at least one top-ten performance from a rookie.

Here is the list of rookies who competed at the Games last weekend, in order of finish:

Men

Women

15. Ty Jenkins

7. Mirjam von Rohr 

17. Colin Bosshard

9. Anikha Greer 

23. Jorge Fernandez 

11. Lucy McGonigle 

25. Isaac Newman 

13. Lydia Fish 

26. Bill Leahy 

20. Jennifer Muir 

27. Toby Buckland 

22. Christina Livaditakis 

29. Henrique Moreira

26. Siria Meha 

30. Tiago Luzes

27. Mariana Meza 

30. Luiza Marques

* Morteza Sedaghat qualified, but did not compete as he was unable to obtain a visa.

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SPEED READS

🚨💥 Next Stop, Mesa: The World Fitness Project released the Tour Stop 2 workouts — two tests a day for pros and challengers, each designed to push the athletes as they look to qualify for the season-ending finals in Copenhagen.

🏆🌍 Beyond the Podium: In this 2025 CrossFit Games recap, Denise Thomas, James Hobart, and Adrian Conway break down the biggest moments — and what they mean for CrossFit’s future. Their conversation centered around sport, mission, and the community that powers it all.

🔥💪 Bar Muscle-Up Breakthrough: In this fast, fun tutorial, fan-fav Rebecca Fuselier breaks down how to go from doing bar muscle-up singles to stringing together reps like a pro. The key? Fall into hollow, hit that arch, and dial in your tempo — no castaways, just clean connections.

📈🎯 Grounded in Grit, Aiming for Growth: Back to the Roots, Forward with Reach: Ahead of the 2025 Games, CrossFit CMO Jenna Hauca shares how the brand is leaning into its gritty origins — while doubling down on long-form content, local influencers, and global authenticity to reignite growth and loyalty.

🎓📚 New Hybrid Level 2 Launch: CrossFit now offers a flexible path to your CF-L2 — complete the online coursework at your own pace, then attend a one-day, in-person practical focused on coaching skills. Same content, new convenience.

ICYMI: 📺 The 2025 livestream delivered, mostly. Here's our at-home Games review.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Cole Sager on Character, Calling, and Leaving the Sport on His Terms

Credit: Enrique Villaseñor

Eleven CrossFit Games appearances and a career spanning over a decade at the sport's highest level. Cole Sager has lived the dream that countless CrossFit athletes chase – and then he walked away.

The decision wasn't born from injury, burnout, or declining performance.

  • Instead, it stemmed from something much deeper: the realization that his inner compass pointed toward a different idea of success.

After rupturing his Achilles tendon in 2023, Sager might have pursued the comeback story. His competitive fire remained strong. His body was recovering.

But in that moment of forced pause, he discovered something more valuable than another Games appearance – clarity about what truly mattered.

Here are five lessons from Cole's experience that can help you approach fitness, goals, and life in a different way.

HYROX

HYROX Has 100+ Events on the 2025/26 Calendar for the First Time Ever

Credit: Scott Freymond

HYROX is continuing its meteoric growth. 

The “World Series of Fitness Racing” has announced it’s adding another 47 races to the calendar for the 2025/26 season, making the total number of races this season over 100.

The details: HYROX has rapidly expanded in North America, with some races selling out within days and others in just minutes. The sport predicts that 1.2 million athletes will compete this season, which is a notable jump from the 650 participants at the inaugural 2017 Hamburg, Germany, race.

  • “The demand for HYROX last year was incredible, but we recognise that many athletes missed out on the opportunity to race at their preferred events, so we wanted to help fix that this season,” HYROX co-founder Moritz Furste said in a press release.

He went on: “Last season was monumental for HYROX in terms of growth, and we plan to continue on this trajectory and keep working towards our ambitions for this sport.”

HIGHLIGHTS

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