Opinion | 2020 CrossFit Games: four athletes who finally qualified for the first time
- Close calls and near misses have kept these four out, but now they are finally ready to hit the big stage
With the shift to a much-larger Games field than last season, we get the opportunity to see athletes who have been on the cusp of making it for years, finally breaking through as either national champions or top-20 qualifiers. Here we highlight four athletes for whom it’s been a long time coming, and after years of committed work have finally punched their first ticket to the big dance.
For critics of recent changes to the sport, the new format, which includes myriad paths to make it to the Games, has diminished the title of Games athlete. However, if you spend time around the athletes who have earned that distinction, you quickly realise the amount of dedication and work required to even have a chance to call yourself that.
For athletes who have been making the committed effort for years to finally realise this goal is a significant accomplishment, and regardless of how many ways there are to qualify, those spots are all still earned. Congratulations to these four in particular who have been fighting the battle day-in and day-out for years in their own gyms, and now, this season, get to see it finally pay off.
Kristof Horvath (Hungary National Champion)
It may surprise you to learn that upon becoming the national champion in Hungary this year, it marks the fourth time Horvath has claimed that honour (he also did so for three consecutive years from 2015-2017). In the 2019 Open, the first which sent national champions to the game, he finished second in Hungary and missed out on the top spot and the covet Games qualification. He took part as an individual in three Sanctionals last year with his best finish coming in Shanghai where he took fourth place.
