Laura Horváth is a Hungarian professional CrossFit athlete. She won the 2023 CrossFit Games, earning the title "the fittest woman on earth". She has also won two silver medals in 2018 and 2021, and a bronze in 2022.
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | March 21, 1997[1] Budapest, Hungary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | CrossFit Athlete | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5.6 ft)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 70 kg (150 lb)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | Laura Horvath | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | CrossFit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Horvath has a background in the sport of climbing, but later switched to CrossFit. She qualified for her first CrossFit Games in 2018, coming second at the Games and was named Rookie of the Year.[3] After two years outside the top 10, she again came second in 2021 and then third in 2022, before winning the title in 2023. She also competes in weightlifting, has the national record for clean and jerk,[4] and has won the national championship.[5]
Early life
editHorvath was born to Ernő Horváth and Emese Szöllősi from Budapest, Hungary, both physical education teachers. She is the middle of three children, and has an elder brother Kristof, and a younger brother Botond.[6] She played many sports when young but eventually settled on the sport of wall climbing.[1] She was introduced to CrossFit by her brother Kristof in 2014, and initially used it to complement her training, but later became more involved in the sport.[7]
Career
editHorvath was initially involved in the sport of climbing, and has won national titles. She also competed in European youth competitions.[8] She was introduced to CrossFit in 2014 by her brother Kristof, and competed in her first CrossFit competition in 2015 at the Central European Throwdown where she managed to finish fourth.[7] She competed in her first Open in 2015 a month later but finished only 25th in Hungary.[2] The following year, she made the regional after placing 23rd in Europe at the Open.[1] In 2017, she achieved her breakthrough in the sport after coming second in the Dubai Fitness Championship behind Annie Thorisdottir.[9]
In 2018, Horvath became the first Hungarian woman to reach the CrossFit Games. She started well on the first day of the Games, and finished top of the leaderboard at the end of the first day.[10] She also won her first ever event, The Battleground, in the second day.[11] Defending champion Tia-Clair Toomey, however, came back strongly to win by 64 points,[12] while Horvath came in comfortably at second place beating off Katrin Davidsdottir for the position.[13][14] She was named Rookie of the Year.[3]
At the Dubai Crossfit Championship held in December 2018, Horvath had to withdraw due to a back injury despite being the favorite to win.[15] She nevertheless qualified for the 2019 Games as national champion, however, she was eliminated on the 3rd day after failing to make the cut for the top 10, and ending up in 14th place.[16]
In the 2020 season disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Horvath failed to reach the final stage of the revamped Games after finishing only 24th in the online stage of the Games.
After two disappointing seasons, Horvath moved to train with former champion Ben Smith. At the 2021 CrossFit Games, Horvath returned to the podium, again coming second behind Tia-Clair Toomey.[17]
At the 2022 CrossFit Games, Horvath started poorly, but managed to climb back up the leaderboard with wins and good placements in the final two days, eventually finishing third behind Tia-Clair Toomey and Mal O'Brien.[18] Two months later she won the 2022 Rogue Invitational.[19] In January 2023, she took part in the team competition at Wodapalooza with Jamie Simmonds and Gabriela Migala and won.[20]
In March 2023, Horvath competed in the Savaria Cup weightlifting competition and won the 76 kg category with a lift of 117 kg in clean and jerk, improving the national record by 1 kg (total 206 kg).[21]
At the 2023 CrossFit Games, Horvath trailed Emma Lawson for large part of the Games, but managed three consecutive wins in the last four events to capture her first title at the Games.[22] At the 2023 Rogue Invitational, she beat Tia-Clair Toomey who did not compete at the Games to claim first place at the competition.[23]
In November 2023, Horvath competed in the Hungary National Championship in weightlifting and won in her weight class with a total of 215kg.[5]
CrossFit Games results
edit| Year | Games[24] | Regionals[24] | Open[24] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | — | — | 25th (Hungary) | ||
| 2016 | — | 7th (Meridian) | 190th (Worldwide) 23rd (Europe) | ||
| 2017 | — | 11th (Meridian) | 44th (Worldwide) 10th (Europe) | ||
| 2018 | 2nd | 2nd (Europe) | 18th (Worldwide) 4th (Europe North) | ||
| Year | Games | Sanctional | Open | ||
| 2019 | 14th | 234th | |||
| 2020 | 24th | 1st (Strength in Depth)[25] | 10th | ||
| Year | Games | Semifinal | Quarterfinal[24] | Open | |
| 2021 | 2nd | 2nd (Lowlands Throwdown) | 1st (Europe) | 52nd (Worldwide) 14th (Europe) | |
| 2022 | 3rd | 1st (Lowlands Throwdown) | 21st (Worldwide) 9th (Europe) |
103rd (Worldwide) 34th (Europe) | |
| 2023 | 1st | 3rd (Europe) | 2nd (Worldwide) 1st (Europe) |
185th (Worldwide) 59th (Europe) | |
| "—" denotes stages of the competition Horvath did not participate in | |||||
References
edit- ^ a b c "Laura Horvath". Progenex Fit.
- ^ a b c "Laura Horvath". CrossFit Games. Archived from the original on 22 June 2021.
- ^ a b English, Nick (December 13, 2018). "Laura Horvath Is The 2018 Reebok CrossFit Games' Rookie Of The Year". BarBend.
- ^ Gellért Sóti Gellért, Sóti (12 March 2023). "Országos csúcsot ért el Horváth Laura, a Szegedi LSK emelője a szombati Savaria Kupán". Szeged 365 (in Hungarian).
- ^ a b Spin, Brian (November 19, 2023). "Laura Horvath Wins 2023 Hungary National Championship". The Barbell Spin.
- ^ "A day in the life of Laura Horvath, the rising CrossFit star". Progenex Fit – via YouTube.
- ^ a b "Meet Hungary's Fittest Woman – Laura Horváth". Reebok CrossFit Duna.
- ^ "Laura Horvath". IFSC.
- ^ Hammer, Armen (20 December 2017). "Gudmundsson And Thorisdottir Win 2017 Dubai Fitness Championships". Floelite.
- ^ Spin, Brian (1 August 2018). "CrossFit Games Rookie Laura Horvath Leads After Day 1". The Barbell Spin.
- ^ "Laura Horvath Wins 2018's The Battleground as a Games Rookie". CrossFit Games – via YouTube.
- ^ "2018 CrossFit Games: Mat Fraser takes home third straight championships, Tia-Clair Toomey defends her title". CBS Sports.
- ^ Szél, Dóra (7 August 2018). "Hungarian success at Crossfit Games". Daily Hungary News.
- ^ Spin, Brian (20 August 2018). "2018 CrossFit Games Payouts". The Barbell Spin.
- ^ Marquez, Tommy (15 December 2018). "Laura Horvath Withdraws Due to Back Injury". Morning Chalk Up.
- ^ Magnante, Matthew (5 August 2019). "2019 CrossFit Games Day 3: Thorisdottir, Sigmundsdottir, Wells, Briggs, and Horvath Eliminated". Fitness Volt.
- ^ Newby, John (4 August 2021). "Laura Horvath Partners With Former Games Champ in Triumphant Return to Podium". Morning Chalk Up.
- ^ Beers, Emily (7 August 2022). "Laura Horvath Leaps from Ninth to Third With Two Events on Sunday Morning". Morning Chalk Up.
- ^ Beers, Emily; Newby, John; Blennerhassett, Patrick; Hirsch, Prelie (29 October 2022). "Laura Horvath and Roman Khrennikov Take Over 2022 Rogue Invitational Leaderboard". Morning Chalk Up.
- ^ Beers, Emily (January 15, 2023). "Team BPN Edge out The Dottirs and Mal O'Brien in Tie-Break Win at TYR Wodapalooza". Morning Chalk Up.
- ^ "Súlyemelés: felnőttcsúcs is született a Savaria Kupán". Nemzeti Sport (in Hungarian). 12 March 2023.
- ^ Blechman, Phil (August 7, 2023). "Laura Horvath Wins The 2023 CrossFit Games". BarBend.
This is Horvath's fourth time on the podium and her first overall win.
- ^ Beers, Emily (October 29, 2023). "Laura Horvath Takes Down Six-Time Champ Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, Pat Vellner Tops Rogue Invitational". Morning Chalk Up.
- ^ a b c d "Laura Horvath". CrossFit Games.
- ^ Kyllmann, Caro (27 January 2020). "Mayhem, Fraser and Horvath Win Strength in Depth, Two New Athletes Headed to Madison". BoxRox.
External links
edit- Laura Horvath at CrossFit Games