For CrossFit fans, watching Sara Sigmundsdottir leaving the CrossFit Games too early last year, was as devastating as watching their favorite Survivor contestant get medic’d out of the game. Sara is a beast on the comp floor, and has had a powerful athletic transformation in life before and after CrossFit. All CrossFit fans are eager to see how that transformation will progress at the 2021 CrossFit Open and CrossFit Games.
Last year’s Open started off promising for Sigmundsdottir, as promising as it could for anybody. Sigmundsdottir beat then-3-time reigning title-holder Tia-Clair Toomey, and three other athletes, in the CrossFit Open, and had some tongues wagging on predictions for outcomes. The same happened with Pat Vellner and Mat Fraser, with then four-time Fittest Man on Earth winner Mat Fraser leaving the Open in second place.
A box jump injury knee injury did her in for the season though. A “wide open” shin splint that first resulted in 12 stitches, then resulted in a bacterial infection and took Sara out of the running. Devastating for all who heart her, of which there are many.
She’s been on a mission ever since to make up for it. She could do it too. Her story of transformation is an incredible one.
Related: 2020 CrossFit Open Final Results: Sara Sigmundsdottir, Pat Vellner Win.
Who is Sara Sigmundsdottir?
Sara Sigmundsdottir is a perfect example of what gives CrossFit the name “bad ass” athlete. All of the elites are just like her, and it’s all a matter of performance come Games Day. She is well-rounded, strong, and has technical skill in all major components of CrossFit.
You have to, in order to beat now four-time Fittest Woman on Earth winner Tia-Clair Toomey for even one workout in your life. And Sara did it for the most competitive leg of the Games of all, the CrossFit Open.
Before CrossFit, Sara was an avid athlete. She spent her childhood and in gymnastics as many CrossFitters do. She didn’t have a passion for just one thing though. When she started weightlifting with her family she knew she had a calling in sport. This background almost commanded a CrossFit transition for her.
After her high school graduation, she wanted to take on weight-lifting full time. Before she could do that she began saving her money with a job where she worked the front desk at her local gym. The CrossFit dream was sparked during this time. Sara began the Keto diet and started CrossFit training with her first coach Jami Tikkanen.
Sara began competing in local CrossFit comps, and then the 2015 CrossFit Open arrived. And here we are today.
She’s been competing in the CrossFit Games since 2013, finished 21st in the Games last year, and first in the Open worldwide and Iceland’s Open in 2020.
This is the story of her transformation.
Sara Sigmundsdottir’s Records
Sara’s first CrossFit record came in 2013, when she placed 39 in European Regionals and 427 worldwide for the Open, not quite making it to the Games. In 2015 she competed in the World Weightlifting Championships in the 75kg weight class and ranked 29th.
That would be the same year she would receive the elite invitation to attend the CrossFit Games, and she’s been attending ever since. Her first jump at the CrossFit Games in 2015 she made it to the podium in third place, a record she repeated in 2016. When Tia came to the Games in 2016, Sara’s record began to slip.
Will that happen this year again? Sara beat her in the Open last year, and everybody else, only time will tell.
Sara’s CrossFit Records
- 2013 – Regionals (39th, Europe), Open (169th worldwide)
- 2014 – Regionals (12th, Europe), Open (82nd worldwide)
- 2015 – CrossFit Games (3rd), Regionals (1st, Europe), Open (17th worldwide)
- 2016 – CrossFit Games (3rd), Regionals (1st, Europe), Open (20th worldwide)
- 2017 – CrossFit Games (4th), Regionals (1, Europe), Open (1st worldwide)
- 2018 – CrossFit Games (37th), Regionals (3rd, Europe), Open (20th worldwide)
- 2019 – CrossFit Games (19th), Regionals (1st SiD, Europe), Open (1st worldwide, 1st Iceland)
- 2020 – CrossFit Games (21st), Regionals (1st, Filthy 150; 1st Dubai; 2nd WZA), Open (1st worldwide, 1st Iceland)
After her podium finishes in ’15 and ’16, in 2017, Sara Sigmundsdottir with 13 other elite CrossFitters would be featured in the CrossFit film “Fittest on Earth: A Decade of Fitness.” It was a mark for her CrossFit career that would give her just what she needed to land some golds in the seasons to follow.
Weightlifting Record
2015: Houston World Championships, 29th place
- Snatch: 80kg
- Clean and Jerk: 105kg
Sara’s Diet
Sara eats like a CrossFitter and watches the fuel she puts in her body closely. She eats 3 large and 3 small meals daily. This includes:
- 150 to 200 grams of protein daily
- 130 grams of egg whites as breakfast
- Fruits, nuts, cashew milk
- Red juice smoothies
- Chicken, rice, lentils as lunch
- Chicken, rice, lentils as dinner with turmeric powder to reduce workout inflammations.
A plant-based protein smoothie follows her workouts, and will include the add-in of peanut butter.
CrossFit Workouts Sara Sigmundsdottir Style
Want to work out like a winner? Check out these workouts Sara posts on Instagram for her supporters.
Sara’s 9 min EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute)
- MIN 1-3 / 175 lbs
2 push jerks + 1 split jerk - MIN 4-6 / 180 lbs
3 push jerks + 2 split jerks - MIN 7-9 / 185 lbs
4 push jerks + 3 split jerks
The 90-Second Pull-Ups
Try this one; Death by Pull-ups every 90 seconds with Fat gripz on the bar.
- 15 Minute EMOMs
- 15 MINUTE EMOM
- 1- 10-20 cal assult bike
- 2- 20 GHD SU
- 3- 20 Chest 2 bar
Shoulder Health Rounds
3 rounds:
- 15 reps lat pull down
- 15 reps high pull
- 15 reps bent over row
Sara Sigmundsdottir Invention
4x 2 minutes on and 1 minute off:
- 20 Russian twist v-ups
- 16 lunge jumps
and then max rep burpees over a 10 cm gap until you reach a total of 75 burpees.
3 AMRAP
- 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9..OHS 65/45 kg
- 1 rope climb
Box Jumps – Legs Are Life
8 rounds of :
- 20 KB Squats
- 30 Air squats
- 400m run -rest 1 min
2 Snatch Positioning WOD
- 1 hang snatch – 3 snatches
- every 2 minutes x10
- 65%+ of 1 RM
4 Training Workout Plan
FOR TIME
- 100 Double Unders
- 50 Wall Balls 30/20lbs
- 100 Double Unders
- 50m Handstand Walk
- 100 Double Unders
- 50 GHD Sit Ups
- 100 Double Unders
