Earlier this week we looked at the men who have earned the most competing in the CrossFit Games. As expected, Rich Froning, Mat Fraser and Ben Smith were the top 3.
We’ve done the same analysis for women of the CrossFit Games. CrossFit has prided itself that it awards men and women equally throughout the years and, for the most part, that is evident when comparing the lifetime earnings list of men and women.
In total, 145 women have collected a check by competing as an individual during the CrossFit Games season (144 men). Also, the 2007 CrossFit Games winners, James Fitzgerald and Jolie Gentry, are both at the bottom of the list. The $500 award is the second smallest payout, only ahead of the $250 payout to 3rd place at the 2010 CrossFit Games. Just making it to the CrossFit Games now earns an athlete $1,000.
And similar to the men, only a handful of women (6 to be exact) have earned more than $100,000 in lifetime earnings by competing at the CrossFit Games. Even Rebecca Voigt, who has made it to the CrossFit Games nine times, has only earned $39,000. And she even made the podium in 2011 (3rd place).
There are some differences, however. The biggest difference is that the top 5 men are all from the United States. On the women’s side, the top 6 women are all from outside the U.S. Julie Foucher, 7th overall, is the top American woman on the list. Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir, both from Iceland, are #1 and #2 followed by fellow European, Sam Briggs.
Here is the top 10 list of lifetime earnings among women competing as individuals at the CrossFit Games*:
- Annie Thorisdottir ($599k)
- Katrin Davidsdottir ($582k)
- Sam Briggs ($369k)
- Camille Leblanc-Bazinet ($314k)
- Tia-Clair Toomey ($199k)
- Sara Sigmundsdottir ($135k)
- Julie Foucher ($91k)
- Kristan Clever ($87k)
- Lindsey Valenzuela ($76k)
- Kara Webb ($71k)
*Does not include earnings from team/affiliate competition, endorsements or other functional fitness competitions.
One of the most interesting names on the list is Kristan Clever. The 2010 CrossFit Games champion earned most of her winnings before the prize purse started to explode. Clever took home $26,000 in 2010 ($25,000 in cash and a $1,000 Under Armour gift card) and then another $50,000 in 2011 for finishing 2nd. She also took home over $6,000 after winning THREE Open workouts in 2012! Keep in mind that during Clever’s run, there were not payouts for the top 3 in an event at the CrossFit Games.
With the prize purse growing in 2017, a new champion would likely break into the top 5 on the all-time earnings list. That’s a pretty big jump from ten years ago.