American CrossFit athlete
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.
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
Horvath 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
Horvath 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]
