Christine Kolenbrander, 3x CrossFit Games athlete and recent 4th place finisher at the North America West Semifinal, is the most likely woman to win the Olympic weightlifting Total event at the 2023 CrossFit Games.
Oly Total:
- 1RM Snatch
- 1RM Clean and Jerk
- 2 attempts per lift
- Score is max combined weight
Below we outline 2 reasons why Kolenbrander should win.
1) She is the #1 strongest woman in the field
Over the past 2 years Christine Kolenbrander has either won the strength events at Quarterfinals or Semifinals, or has been less than 10lbs away from winning.
These events were:
- 2023 Semifinals 1RM Snatch
- 2023 Open 1RM Thruster
- 2022 Semifinals Clean Complex
- 2022 Quarterfinals Clean/Bench Press/Overhead Squat Total
- 2021 Quarterfinals 4RM Front Squat
Kolenbrander won both the 2022 Semifinals Clean Complex and the 2021 Quarterfinals 4RM Front Squat.
And in the 2023 Semifinals 1RM Snatch she was only 5 pounds away from first (Kolenbrander: 205lbs, Horvath: 210lbs)
Laura Horvath is perhaps the only woman that can possibly steal the event from Kolenbrander, but Kolenbrander has a slightly higher squat clean than Horvath, which should be able to secure the win for her in the event.
2) She has been working with Aimee Anaya-Everette at HWPO
Aimee Anaya-Everett is one of the world’s best olympic weightlifting coaches and was even the first female weightlifting coach for team USA where she coaches Olympian Mattie Rogers.
Since last year Anaya-Everette has been the head weightlifting coach at Mat Fraser’s HWPO training program and she has already been effective at making all of the athletes stronger, including Jayson Hopper, Amanda Barnhart, Katrin Davidsdottir, and Mallory O’brien.
This season Kolenbrander has joined HWPO and is currently training at their HQ in Vermont where she is receiving lifting coaching from Aimee Anaya-Everett.
With a world class coach like Anaya-Everett preparing her for this event along with her already incredible foundation of strength, Kolenbrander will have even more of a chance to win the Olympic Total event.
Of course anything could happen and nothing is ever guaranteed at the CrossFit Games, but Christine Kolenbrander remains the overall favorite to win this event for the 2 reasons listed above.
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