10 Up-and-Coming Euro Athletes in 2024

January 29   |   POWERED BY

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• Get to know TYR WZA women’s Rx winner Lydia Fish
• Tips on improving or maintaining your movement quality when training alone
• Check out these 10 up-and-coming European athletes (some who have made the Games and others who have yet to do so)

“Maybe the anticipation is a key part of the event.” - Adrian Higgins

Lydia Fish found CrossFit in a somewhat roundabout way. In her small hometown of Chippewa, WI, Fish got first place in a running race. Her prize was a three-month membership to her local CrossFit gym.

Little did she know, that prize would lead her to find a sport that she’s not only passionate about but also quite good at. Earlier this month, Fish earned first place at the 2024 TYR Wodapalooza in the women’s Rx division and dominated the field with a first-place finish and seven top-five finishes. The results of the competition set the 19-year-old up for a promising 2024 season.

Remind me: The CrossFit Open starts on February 29 and will take place over three weeks. The format for Games qualification will remain relatively the same as last season with some minor changes, according to the 2024 CrossFit Games rulebook. Read the full breakdown.

Fish made use of her race prize and found herself in a CrossFit gym in 2019. She was instantly hooked but had to pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fish got back into it once her gym re-opened and she participated in her first Open in 2020.

• Fish made Quarterfinals in the teen division in 2021 and then in the women’s division in 2022 and 2023. She qualified for Semifinals last year in the North America East region and placed 43rd in a very stout field of 59 women.
• “In 2022, I decided that I wanted to go further with CrossFit and take it seriously so I reached out to Training Think Tank [TTT],” Fish said in an interview with the Morning Chalk Up.
• She took a leap of faith, applied to be an athlete, and was accepted. TTT moved her to their location in Alpharetta, Georgia, where she trained for the 2023 season.

Fish opted not to go to college right away and instead focus on her fitness. When she’s home, she’s hustling at one of her jobs in the food service industry or helping out with her siblings. Fish plans to go back to Georgia soon to begin training for the upcoming season.

• “Sometimes I start feeling guilty that I should have gone to school or you don’t feel like you’re being productive with your life. But I just remember my body’s only young once. If I want to try to be competitive in this sport, I might as well give it a go now,” Fish said.

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R.A.D. Crew ASSEMBLE!: R.A.D., a shoemaker that has been making a big statement in fitness training in the past two years, announced its greatly expanded line-up of athletes. Joining Danielle Brandon and Laura Horvath as brand representatives are Noah Ohlsen, Grace Walton, Jake Douglas, Kelsey Kiel, Josh Bridges, Trista Smith, David Shorunke, Lucy McGonigle, and Victor Hoffer.

⛷️ 🚴 🚣‍♀️ 2024 Concept2 Ambassadors: Erg-maker, Concept2, is looking for brand ambassadors living in the U.S. to represent the Concept2 community. Think this is you? Apply now!

🎟️ 🎟️2024 CrossFit Games Ticket Presale: The Fort Worth, TX, Dickies Arena ticket presale for CrossFit affiliates started yesterday. On Monday, January 29, tickets will go on sale to the general public.

• In addition, special arrangements and discounted rates are available exclusively through CrossFitHotels.com, now through July 14. Fans are encouraged to book hotel rooms while they last.

GoFundMe for CrossFit ATR: Earlier this week, San Diego experienced significant rainstorms and flash flooding. As a result, CrossFit ATR-Mission Valley was destroyed with over three feet of water filling the facility. A GoFundMe has been established so community members can help the gym.

ICYMI: Despite all the weather-related contingencies, was 2024 TYR WZA able to offer a full test of fitness?

Each week on Chasing Excellence, we answer questions from our listeners across the “Five Factors of Health”–movement, nutrition, connection, recovery, and mindset.

We recently got a question about “self-coaching” common and complex movements to improve quality. We’ve edited the conversation for clarity and brevity.

Patrick: Here’s what we’ve got: For people training on their own, what online or in-person courses would be the best to prepare them to take care of their movement quality by themselves?

Ben: To start, it’s worth saying that the best approach is to find a coach. But I know that’s not always possible for everybody, so my next best answer is to get to a CrossFit Level One Seminar.

With Laura Horvath winning the CrossFit Games in 2023, Europe had its first female CrossFit Games champion since Katrin Davidsdottir won in 2016.

On the men’s side, however, Europe is still waiting for its first-ever champion to emerge.

Last year, six out of the 22 total rookies at the Games came from Europe, and five European athletes finished in the top 10. (Impressive, especially considering none of them were from Iceland.)

This is exciting news because it means the rest of Europe is finally catching up.

In this post, we won’t be focusing on the top of the leaderboard or athletes who have already performed well in the past, but rather we will highlight some up-and-coming European athletes who we believe will see the most improvement in 2024.

Let’s begin with the men’s division.

Men

Moritz Fiebig (Germany)

Moritz Fiebig from Germany has competed at the CrossFit Games for the past two years now but is still relatively unknown in the community.

In his rookie year in 2022, he had an unimpressive finish in 36th overall but came back strong in 2023 with a 21st-place finish, missing the final cut by just five points.

He had three top-10 finishes, including a fourth-place finish in “Olympic Total,” and if he had survived the final cut, he likely would’ve been fighting for a spot in the top 15 overall.

Look for him to continue his momentum into 2024 and potentially get his best CrossFit Games finish of his career.

Fabian Beneito (Spain)

Fabian Beneito Selles from Spain was a rookie at the 2023 Games and also, like Fiebig, was just barely cut in the final round in Madison.

Beneito Selles missed the cut line by just 16 total points.

Besides his performance at the Games, he has also put in some impressive scores around the world, going head-to-head with many of the sport’s best.

At the 2023 Dubai Fitness Championship, he finished fourth overall, behind only Roman Khrennikov, Ricky Garard, and Lazar Djukic. In 2022, Beneito Selles won the Dubai Championship.

Now with plenty of experience competing against the best in the world, he should be ready to improve in 2024.

Victor Hoffer (France)

Although 20-year-old Victor Hoffer from France has not yet competed at the CrossFit Games, you may recognize his name thanks to his participation on the Games Demo Team in 2023.

At the 2023 European Semifinal, Hoffer missed out on qualifying for the Games by just 19 points even though he had three top-five event finishes, including an event win.

Hoffer is already known as the man to beat when it comes to gymnastics events and that is going to come in handy next year.

With an entire offseason of working on weaknesses, there’s a good chance Hoffer makes the Games this year.

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Celebrating a PR, hosting a fundraiser, this, that, or otherwise? Send us a tip.

• 🎂Happy birthday to Caroline Lambray and Jay Crouch.
• Congratulations to Janette from Peak Fitness CrossFit in the UK on her dedication to fitness.
• Congratulations to Kevin, owner of The Grit House in Charlotte, NC, on his first handstand walk post-surgery.
• 👟Congratulations to Games veteran Josh Bridges on becoming the newest member of the R.A.D. team.
• Congratulations to Eduarda of Brazil on her first bar muscle-up.