Twenty years on from a ranch in Aromas, the CrossFit Games returned to California and produced two of the best stories the sport has given us. The 20th edition wrapped at San Jose’s SAP Center on Sunday, closing a season that began with more than 254,000 athletes from over 170 countries and ended with 20 workouts separating the very best on the planet.

Sprague rewrites the record book

James Sprague won the 2024 Games, then finished third in 2025. Historically, that’s where champion stories end. Every other multiple winner in Games history stacked their titles back-to-back — and once the streak broke, none of them ever returned to the top step.

Sprague broke the pattern. With 1,318 points he finished 27 clear of Dallin Pepper to become the first man to win two non-consecutive CrossFit Games titles. In a men’s field where the top five were covered by barely 200 points across 20 events, that’s a serious piece of history.

Cringle ends Britain’s 12-year wait

If Sprague’s win was about resilience, Aimee Cringle’s was about sheer dominance. The 27-year-old from the Isle of Man led from day one and never handed it back, finishing on 1,394 points — a massive 136 clear of Canada’s Emma Lawson.

The numbers behind it are ridiculous: five event wins, six podium finishes, 11 top-fives, and a top-10 result in 18 of the 20 events. She becomes the first British woman crowned Fittest on Earth since Sam Briggs in 2013, ending a 12-year wait.

It caps a rapid climb, too — 13th on debut in 2024, eighth last season, world champion at her third appearance.

The workouts

The programming leaned into the anniversary. It opened with the 2007 Hopper, the very first event from the inaugural Games, before running through the Swim Standard, Handstand Sprint and 500 Run. The Fibonacci Final closed it out: 5, 8 and 13 reps of deficit handstand push-ups and double-kettlebell deadlifts, then an 89-foot kettlebell overhead walking lunge to the line.

Final standings

Men’s Individual

1. James Sprague — 1,318
2. Dallin Pepper — 1,291
3. Jay Crouch — 1,228
4. Justin Medeiros — 1,104
5. Ricky Garard — 1,100

Women’s Individual

1. Aimee Cringle — 1,394
2. Emma Lawson — 1,258
3. Lucy Campbell — 1,229
4. Alex Gazan — 1,041
5. Madeline Sturt — 1,026

Teams

1. CrossFit Whip — 1,055
2. CrossFit Mayhem — 1,030
3. CrossFit Oslo Krieger — 940

A big weekend for the Aussies

Plenty to cheer from our part of the world. Jay Crouch took third in the men’s for his first podium, with Ricky Garard fifth. Madeline Sturt rounded out the women’s top five, and Homefront CrossFit PRVN finished fourth in the team competition.

Twenty years in, the sport looks healthier than it ever has. Roll on 2027.

Sources: Men’s Journal — 2026 CrossFit Games Final Results · BOXROX — UK Athlete Aimee Cringle Wins The 2026 CrossFit Games · Fitness Volt — James Sprague Reclaims His Title