2025 Rogue Invitational Results: Laura Horvath, Jeff Adler Come Out on Top
After three days and nine tough events at the 2025 Rogue Invitational in Aberdeen, Scotland, two former CrossFit Games champions took the win: Laura Horvath and Jeff Adler.
- The wins earn Horvath her third career Rogue title, while last year’s champion, Adler, secures his second.
2025 Rogue Invitational Final Leaderboard – Top 10
| Men | Women |
| Jeffrey Adler – 715 | Laura Horvath – 760 |
| Justin Medeiros – 685 | Alex Gazan – 675 |
| Roman Khrennikov – 665 | Lucy Campbell – 625 |
| James Sprague – 650 | Emma Lawson – 620 |
| Jay Crouch – 640 | Olivia Kerstetter – 610 |
| Jayson Hopper – 630 | Danielle Brandon – 590 |
| Ricky Garard – 595 | Grace Walton – 530 |
| Patrick Vellner – 560 | Dani Speegle – 515 |
| Colten Mertens – 480 | Brooke Wells – 505 |
| Austin Hatfield – 465 | Arielle Loewen – 495 |
Horvath Is Back on Top
Though she ultimately won by 85 points over second-place finisher Alex Gazan and 135 points ahead of Lucy Campbell in third, Horvath didn’t dominate from the start.
That being said, she was consistent the entire weekend, starting on Friday with a seventh, fifth, and fourth in the first three events. Still, she was only in third place when the day concluded.
- On Saturday, however, Horvath broke through, earning two consecutive event wins and a third-place finish to take a 40-point lead over Gazan with one day left.
She finished her weekend with three more top-eight finishes, earning 760 total points and the title.
Adler Reclaims Victory
Jeff Adler’s path to victory was more challenging than Horvath’s, but the 2023 CrossFit Games champion remained focused in a tightly contested men’s competition.
Adler started his weekend with 11th-, second-, and seventh-place results and was sitting in sixth overall when the dust settled on Friday.
The next day, he strung together three more consistent performances, including an event win, which helped him climb into second place, 20 points behind Pat Vellner at the time.
- Still, the men’s leaderboard was so close that nothing was guaranteed. Only 25 points separated the top four athletes on Sunday morning, with three events remaining.
Ultimately, consistency across the last three events was key, and Adler delivered.
He picked up three top-five finishes on Sunday, en route to earning 715 total points. This was 30 points more than Medeiros in second and 50 points more than Roman Khrennikov in third.
- In a post-event interview, Adler said this about his win: “I’m just happy I can provide this good result to the people closest to me. They suffer a lot through this training, and I’m just happy I could deliver.”
The Battles for Third
Heading into the final event, the most exciting battles on both the men’s and women’s sides were for third place.
The final event, “Pedicab,” was all about how much pain you were willing to endure.
For time:
- 100-meter sandbag carry (150/100L pounds)
- 50 Cal Bike
- 100-meter sandbag carry
The Women
Horvath started the final event with a 105-point lead over Gazan, who also had a solid 40-point cushion over Emma Lawson in third. However, after that, just 20 points separated Lawson in third from Kerstetter in fifth.
- It was Lucy Campbell, in fourth at the time, who seized the opportunity. She and Gazan got off the bike roughly at the same time, but Campbell, who pushed herself deep into the pain cave, beat Gazan in a foot race during the 100-meter bag carry.
Campbell’s heat win was just enough for her to edge out Lawson by just five points and earn the final podium spot.
The Men
Similarly, with one event remaining, only 25 points separate Khrennikov in third from Vellner in seventh.
- At the time, Khrennikov and Jay Crouch were tied in points, while James Sprague sat in fifth, just 10 points out of third, and Jayson Hopper was 10 points behind that.
Khrennikov capitalized, attacking the carries and the bike. He picked up the event win in a time of 3:11 and earned the final podium spot ahead of Sprague, who finished fourth.
Three Other Notables
Colten Mertens on Event 3
Arguably, the most dominant single performance of the weekend belonged to Colten Mertens on “Event 3: Tax Collector.”
4 rounds for time:
- 10 back squat (315/225 pounds)
- 10 dumbbell snatch (100/70 pounds)
- 10 sandbag clean (150/100 pounds)
As the other competitors split up their back squats into two or three sets, Mertens not only completed all five sets unbroken, but he did them with speed.
His time of 10:27 was two minutes faster than the next fastest time (Medeiros: 12:26).
Alex Gazan Is Back
The week after she won the Northern California Classic in June and earned her spot at the 2025 CrossFit Games, Alex Gazan was involved in a car accident that resulted in a fractured fibula, among other injuries.
- She was eventually forced to withdraw from the Games, the World Fitness Project’s (WFP) Tour Stop II in August, and TYR WZA SoCal in September.
Ultimately, we weren’t sure what to expect from Gazan this weekend in Aberdeen, but she proved she’s back to full speed.
- Gazan only had one performance outside the top 10 all weekend, and logged an event win and six top-five finishes en route to a second-place overall finish.
Sam Kwant’s Achilles Ruptures
Seven-time CrossFit Games veteran Sam Kwant tore his Achilles tendon on the explosive “Duel V” event, falling to the floor as he sprinted to the hand-over-hand rope sled pull.
- “On the third log, something snapped. Achilles rupture. And just like that, everything stopped. Next stop: surgery and rehab. I’ll share more when I can,” Kwant posted on Instagram on Saturday.
Worth noting: This is the second consecutive year that “The Duel” event has resulted in Achilles tears at the Rogue Invitational. Last year, both Gabi Migala and Henrik Haapalainen sustained injuries during “The Duel IV.”
The Big Picture
Every year, the 2025 Rogue Invitational provides a weekend of close races and impressive, gritty performances.
Ultimately, though, it was Horvath and Adler who outperformed the rest with steady, consistent efforts to earn prestigious Rogue titles.
Featured image: Sebastian Vallejo
