Two Games vets (and past winners) came out on top.
Last updated on August 1st, 2025
The 2025 CrossFit Games got off to a blistering start on Friday as top individual athletes took on a four-mile run, a 3,000-meter row, and a two-mile run, all along the Hudson River at Jennings Landing in Albany, NY.
- Event winners, Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr and Jeffrey Adler, had a (literal) run for their money as fellow competitors Roman Khrennikov and Aimee Cringle tried to track them down every step of the way.
2025 CrossFit Games Event 1 Recap
“IE01: Run/Row/Run” began with a mass start as the field of 30 men and 30 women lined up according to their CrossFit Open results.
This put Toomey-Orr towards the back of the pack due to her 144th worldwide placement.
- “At the start, because I had such a horrible Open finish, I was at the very, very back. So I shot out of the gate,” Toomey-Orr said in a post-event interview.
Toomey-Orr opened up an early lead on her first run. It wasn’t until she reached the row section that Cringle caught up to the seven-time champ.
Cringle closed about 300 meters, and both women got off the rower nearly at the same time.
But Tia did Tia things and pulled ahead on the final two-mile run to finish first with a time of 49:49, beating 20 men and the entire women’s field.
- “I can’t control how fast or slow they go, so it was just a matter of staying in my own lane,” Toomey-Orr said after the event.
Cringle still finished with a speedy time of 50:16, not far behind Toomey-Orr.
- Other impressive finishes on the women’s side include Lucy Campbell, Haley Adams, and Arielle Loewen, who placed third, fourth, and fifth, respectively, in the event.
A battle in the men’s division started right out of the gate with the 2023 Fittest Man on Earth, Adler, going stride for stride against 2023 third-place finisher Khrennikov. The two paced off each other for the first four miles and reached the rowers almost simultaneously.
- “On the first four miles, my goal was to lead the pack and see what the pace was, and then if I could slow down, I would. If I couldn’t, then I would just keep the pace, and the boys held up more than I thought,” Adler said in a post-event interview.
Khrennikov, known for his power output on the rower, pulled ahead and finished the row 20 seconds before Adler. It gave him a chance to gain a lead over the Canadian athlete known for his endurance, which Adler said he knew would happen.
In the final two-mile run, Adler gained on Khrennikov little by little, and by the final stretch, Adler pulled ahead, taking the event win with a time of 46:16.
- “I almost threw in the towel on the turn of the second mile, but I mean I gotta go for the 100 points and get as much as I can now because I’m going to lose some in the weekend somewhere,” said Adler.
Khrennikov finished second with a time of 46:26, and Ricky Garard, just 19 seconds behind, took third. Not far behind them were Austin Hatfield, Jay Crouch, and Kaylan Souza.
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The Bottom Line
The cool, sunny New York weather was perfect for an outdoor endurance event. Athletes pushed the pace from the start, and for some, it paid off.
The predicted front-runners ultimately claimed the top spots, but the long weekend provides plenty of chances to shake up the leaderboard.
2025 CrossFit Games Event 1 — Men’s Top 5
| Place | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeffrey Adler | 46:16.00 |
| 2 | Roman Khrennikov | 46:26.00 |
| 3 | Ricky Garard | 46:45.00 |
| 4 | Austin Hatfield | 47:41.00 |
| 5 | Jay Crouch | 47:50.00 |
2025 CrossFit Games Event 1 — Women’s Top 5
| Place | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tia-Clair Toomey | 49:49.00 |
| 2 | Aimee Cringle | 50:16.00 |
| 3 | Lucy Campbell | 51:36.00 |
| 4 | Haley Adams | 52:02.00 |
| 5 | Arielle Loewen | 52:16.00 |
Featured image: Scott Freymond
