Kristin Holte Announces Her Retirement From the CrossFit Games

On August 4, 2021, Kristin Holte of Norway announced that the 2021 CrossFit Games, where she ranked just off the podium in fourth place overall, was her final CrossFit Games. She made the announcement in the caption of an Instagram post:


It’s not all over yet, but this was Holte’s Last Dance in the Coliseum.

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The Coliseum is a venue in the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, WI where the 2021 Games took place. Holte entered the final event of that competition in a dead heat with Two-Time Fittest Woman on Earth® Annie Thorisdottir for third place. A 10th-place finish in Event 15 meant Holte’s last show on CrossFit’s biggest stage was the second-best performance of her Games career.




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Holte made her CrossFit Games debut in 2014 and has been a dominant force ever since. Although she has only ever finished on the podium a single time — runner-up in 2019 — she has been a mainstay at the top of the field in every Games she’s qualified for.


Kristin Holte’s CrossFit Games Results
Here are the results from Holte’s notably consistent career at the Games:

• 2014 — 16th
• 2015 — 17th
• 2016 — 12th
• 2017 — 7th
• 2018 — 7th
• 2019 — 2nd
• 2020 — 6th
• 2021 — 4th

Holte has never failed to finish outside the top 20 — which was notably the final cut at the 2021 Games. In 2020, she finished on the bubble in sixth place and was not invited to compete in the Finals at the ranch in Aromas, CA.




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The 35-year-old Holte’s debut in the CrossFit Open came in 2013 when she finished in 235th place worldwide. She improved by 204 ranks the following year and only ever got better. She finished 21st overall in 2015 and never finished outside the top 20 for the rest of her career. Her best finishes were in 2019 and 2020, where she finished third overall. Other notable highlights from her CrossFit career include a win at the 2019 Asia CrossFit Championship and the 2018 CrossFit Games Meridian Regional,


In her caption, Holte explained that the rationale for retiring from the CrossFit Games now is due to “coming close to reaching [her] potential as an athlete.”


What’s Next?
Holte is not the only elite CrossFitter of the last decade to call it a career in 2021. Scott Panchik also announced his retirement from the CrossFit Games prior to the start of the 2021 Games. Although Holte’s Instagram post made clear that she will not return for the 2022 CrossFit Games season, she may still compete at the 2021 Rogue Invitational currently scheduled for the end of October.


Whether she does have one last hurrah at the elite level or not, Holte will be remembered as a CrossFit Games great.


Featured image courtesy of CrossFit.




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