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By the Numbers: Seven Seasoned Veterans at the Rogue Invitational
Credit: Seb Vallejo
At the Rogue Invitational this year, we saw several seasoned vets put their fitness on display.
Seven athletes who took the competition field have at least nine individual appearances at the CrossFit Games.
These two women and five men also combine for 30 appearances at the Rogue Invitational in its six-year history.
The longevity is as impressive as the accolades.
All of these beloved athletes are closer to the end of their careers than the beginning, yet they still bring fireworks to any event they enter.
Let’s look at their recent performances at the Rogue Invitational and see what that might tell us about their prospects for the 2025 season and beyond.
Brooke Wells (Age 29)
Nine-time Games competitor and three-time Rogue Invitational competitor.
Wells is the youngest athlete in the group and the only one still in her twenties. After missing qualifying for the Games in 2023, she is back to competing at the high level we’ve been accustomed to seeing.
She finished fifth at Rogue, her career-best result out of three appearances. She thrived in Event 3, “Braveheart,” where she squatted and wall-walked her way to a second-place finish.
All-time Rogue Invitational Results:
2024: Fifth
2020: 10th
2019: Seventh
Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr (Age 31)
Nine-time Games competitor and five-time Rogue Invitational competitor.
As we’ve seen, Toomey-Orr shows zero signs of slowing down.
She and Laura Horvath put on a show in Scotland, each tying the event win-streak record of four in a row, which is absolutely wild within a nine-event competition of 20 women.
She then won the final event to put her Rogue Invitational event win total at 17. Tia will once again be the favorite to rewrite history again and win it all in 2025 as she goes for her eighth title.
All-time Rogue Invitational Results:
2024: First
2023: Second
2021: First
2020: First
2019: First
Noah Ohlsen (Age 33)
10-time Individual Games competitor, Team Games competitor (Team Peak 360), and five-time Rogue Invitational competitor.
Ohlsen finished the Rogue Invitational in 19th place.
It was obvious he was just there to have fun, having completed an Ironman the weekend prior.
His best Rogue Invitational finish, third place, came in the 2020 online version. He is known for interacting with the crowd. After one event, he did a backflip and unnecessarily carried the sandbag to the finish line as the last man to finish “The Excavator.”
When calling the event, Sean Woodland commented, “Noah Ohlsen – creating extra work for the volunteers,” with a laugh. Ohlsen announced his retirement from individual competition last year and is now a team athlete. He guided Team Peak 360 to a third-place finish at the Games in August.
All-time Rogue Invitational Results:
2024: 19th
2023: 10th
2022: Ninth
2020: Third
2019: Eighth
Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson (Age 31)
Eleven-time Games competitor and five-time Rogue Invitational competitor.
BKG has competed at every Rogue Invitational since 2020 and has steadily dropped down the leaderboard each year.
He started with a second in 2020 and collected a 16th this year.
He delivered his best event finish this year in “Hunting Haggis,” where he put on a clinic in log muscle-up efficiency.
While he hasn’t had his best results in the last few competitions, he is only 31 years old and still has time to find his groove.
This makes him two years younger than Brent Fikowski, who found a new gear at the tail end of his career. If BKG still has the drive, we can expect him to continue carrying the torch for the “sons” and “dottirs” of Iceland.
All-time Rogue Invitational Results:
2024: 16th
2023: 12th
2022: Sixth
2021: Fourth
2020: Second
Jonne Koski (Age 30)
Nine-time Games competitor and four-time Rogue Invitational competitor.
Koski proved that missing out on the Games this year was a fluke.
He celebrated his 30th birthday on Sunday at the 2024 Rogue Invitational and earned his career-best finish of 10th place in a stacked men’s field.
We have been accustomed to Koski winning events to start the Games, but he followed a different path this year at Rogue.
He started with a 16th and 19th on the first two events, then battled his way back with two top-five finishes to land in the top 10. His best event was “Gondola,” he won his heat and placed fourth overall.
Koski has finished sixth at the Games twice, as recently as 2023.
As he enters his 30s, it appears there is plenty more in the tank for the superstar from Finland.
All-time Rogue Invitational Results:
2024: 10th
2023: WD (after Event 1)
2022: 11th
2020: 12th
Patrick Vellner (Age 34)
Nine-time Games competitor and six-time Rogue Invitational competitor.
Pat Vellner and Chandler Smith are the only two men who have competed at all six Rogue Invitationals.
It was rumored that the reigning Rogue champ was feeling under the weather during the competition, and the results would indicate that.
Vellner still managed a top-10 finish (ninth – tied in points with Justin Medeiros) but was lower than expected.
The elder statesman of the group, “Uncle Pat” continues to show that he can still hang with the young bucks. Next season, Vellner will turn 35 and qualify as a Masters athlete.
Not-so-bold prediction: He will be the first man to qualify for both the Individual and Masters CrossFit Games in the same season.
Bolder-than-bold prediction: He will be the first athlete to win the Individual and Masters CrossFit Games in the same season. (Sam Briggs is the only person to win both, albeit with a 10-year gap in between).
All-time Rogue Invitational Results:
2024: Ninth
2023: First
2022: Fourth
2021: Second
2020: First
2019: Second
Brent Fikowski (Age 33)
Nine-time Games competitor and two-time Rogue Invitational competitor.
What more can we say about “The Professor”?
While he never won the Games or Rogue, he is arguably one of the top five male CrossFitters of all time. He finished his career with a second-place finish and a $98k paycheck at the 2024 Rogue.
While many of the athletes in this category are probably on the back nine of their careers, Fikowski is competing at the highest level, 12 years in at age 33.
He has been incredibly consistent in the last two years. After a 16th-place finish at the Games in 2022, he dialed in his training to a point that has maximized his performance.
He has placed no lower than fourth in any live event in that time span. That includes:
2024 Rogue Invitational — Second
2024 CrossFit Games — Third
2024 North America West Semifinals — Second
2024 TYR Wodapalooza — Second
2023 Rogue Invitational — Fourth
2023 CrossFit Games — Fourth
2023 North America West Semifinals — Second
2023 TYR Wodapalooza — Fourth
2022 Dubai Fitness Championship — Third
After dominating the horizontal pegboard in Event 7, “The Gondola,” Kiki Dickson asked Fikowski how he was so good at this unique movement with which so many athletes struggled.
“If I had a dollar for every weird thing I’ve been practicing over the years, I’d have…” he paused,” Well, I’d have enough to retire,” Fikowski joked, to a collective laugh from the last crowd to see him compete live.