Who has already qualified for the 2025 CrossFit Games?
We were closely following the 2025 Mayhem Classic over the weekend and watched as Fee Saghafi, Abigail Domit, Austin Hatfield, and Colton Mertens became the first athletes to secure their places at this year’s CrossFit Games in Albany, New York.
There are 10 in-person qualifying events for the 2025 CrossfIt Games, with the Mayhem Classic being first up.
Hatfield Dominates as Saghafi Edges Out Tiebreak in Thrilling Weekend Showdown
With only five workouts, the weekend was marked by fast-paced action and razor-thin margins. The competition leaderboard saw constant shakeups – with one major exception: Hatfield’s name never budged from the top. He set the tone early with a win in Event 1 and never relinquished his lead, finishing the weekend as the clear champion after all five workouts.
The women’s side was much closer as we saw Saghafi and Domit finishing tied with 400 points each, each claiming a single event win. The tiebreaker came down to their next-best finishes. Saghafi’s second-place finish in event 1 edged out Domit’s third in event 5, earning her the overall victory and a check for $15,000.
Close behind was Rolfe, just five points off the lead. Despite wins in events 1 and 5, which would’ve clinched a tiebreaker, her 16th place in event 2 left her too much ground to make up and she ultimately fell short.
Day one kicked off with a touch of nostalgia, drawing inspiration from ‘the Burden Run’ a classic CrossFit workout from 2013. Hatfield and Rolfe emerged victorious and then athletes tackled ‘Heavy Isabel’ – a brutal sprint of 30 snatches for time at 225/155 pounds.
Given event 2 was an Olympic lifting event it is no surprise it belonged to Gui Malheiros. Known for his explosive strength, Malheiros powered through the 30 snatches to secure the win. Nick Mathew was a close second though, finishing 5 seconds behind Malheiros and with a 50-second personal best. On the women’s side, Domit took the event with a steady, controlled performance, maintaining her pace through all 30 reps to outlast the field.
Hatfield Pulls Ahead, Adams Shines Brightest on Day Two
Day two of competition brought standout performances as athletes tackled Events 3 and 4 – and it was Hatfield who consolidated his lead.
Event 3 featured a grueling combination of dumbbell thrusters and legless rope climbs in a descending rep scheme. Hatfield claimed his second event win of the weekend with a time of 5:42, narrowly beating Colten Mertens by just six seconds in a tightly contested heat.
On the women’s side, Fee Saghafi stepped up. With valuable points on the line, she powered through the workout to take first place, boosting her position on the leaderboard and keeping her in the fight for the overall title.
But the performance of the day – and our pick for performance of the weekend – belonged to Haley Adams in Event 4. She made it look effortless, flying through her GHD sets and clocking the fastest time not just among the women, but across both divisions. Her finishing time of 11:48 was over 90 seconds faster than second-place Emily Rolfe, who came in at 13:33. James Sprague won on the men’s side, finishing three seconds behind Adams in 11:51.
The fifth and final event was incentivised with a $3,000 bonus for the winner and athletes went all out, regardless of their overall chances of winning. Emily Rolfe had to win the event to stand a chance of finishing in the top two, and she did her job, but Saghafi and Domit also finished strongly to keep her off the top of the leaderboard. That means Rolfe is still to qualify for the 2025 CrossFit Games, but at least she has the consolation of a $3,000 bonus.
On the men’s side Roman Khrennikov finished strong, winning event 5 and the $3,000 bonus, and securing third spot overall.
For all the negative publicity around CrossFit recently it’s hard to see Mayhem as anything other than a tremendous success. The live stream peaked at over 16,000 concurrent viewers and day 1 and day 2 are currently well over 300,000 total views. Next up is the Copa Sur in Rio De Janeiro on April 18th to 20th. Who will be next to qualify for the 2025 CrossFit Games?
image sources
- Rich-Froning-CrossFit-Mayhem-Freedom: Photo courtesy of CrossFit Inc
