Matilde Garnes: Back from the Brink

Some athletes come back from injury. Others come back from the brink of their career. For Norwegian CrossFit athlete Matilde Garnes, it was the latter. At the 2025 CrossFit Games she finished sixteenth, her best individual result ever, just eighteen months after doctors told her a return to elite sport was far from guaranteed.

Anyone who watched Garnes move across the competition floor this summer saw an athlete who was visibly enjoying herself. That stood in sharp contrast to the period that preceded it.

From breakthrough to survival mode

Garnes broke onto the international scene in 2022. The Norwegian qualified convincingly for the CrossFit Games, finished in the top twenty, and confirmed her potential with strong performances at events including Rogue Invitational and Dubai Fitness Championship.

The logical expectation was that she would take the next step toward the world's elite. Reality turned out differently.

After an exhausting season packed with travel, competitions and time zone changes, Garnes was hit by severe overtraining. For months she could barely train normally. Under the guidance of specialists from the Norwegian sports federation she had to drastically reduce her training intensity. Zone 1 sessions replaced heavy workouts. Sleeping, eating and recovering became more important than performing.

She still managed to qualify for the Games again in 2023, but behind the scenes her body was already protesting.

The injury that changed everything

When Garnes finally felt she was approaching her best form again at the end of 2024, fate struck once more. A serious injury to her neck and upper body made even daily tasks difficult.

She could not wash her own hair. Applying makeup was impossible. Cutting vegetables became too painful after just a few seconds. Where many athletes can still find alternative forms of training during an injury, almost every option fell away for Garnes.

The hardest part may have been the uncertainty.

Doctors could not guarantee she would ever be able to train at her previous level, let alone compete in CrossFit events. What followed was a period in which she shared almost nothing on social media and focused mainly on accepting that her future might look very different.

Teamwork brought the joy back

The road back began unexpectedly through the team format.

Garnes joined a team built around Noah Ohlsen and training partner Lena Richter. Instead of focusing entirely on individual qualification, she could gradually return to competition. The pressure was lower, and the enjoyment of training came back.

That proved to be a crucial step.

She recovered not only physically but also mentally, rediscovering the motivation that had made her so successful before. By the end of 2024 she felt like an athlete again rather than a patient.

Best result ever

That progress translated this season into a new individual qualification for the CrossFit Games.

Ironically, even that Games weekend did not go smoothly. Garnes was dealing with a damaged biceps tendon and also picked up back problems during competition. She kept fighting nonetheless.

Where the Matilde Garnes of a few years ago might have grown frustrated by setbacks, she now chose a different approach. She enjoyed the moment, regrouped time and again, and collected multiple top finishes.

The result was a sixteenth place, her highest individual ranking ever.

More than a ranking

To an outsider, sixteenth place may not look like a breakthrough. For Garnes it meant far more.

It was proof that the months of uncertainty, rehabilitation and mental struggle had not been in vain. What made it even more remarkable was that she achieved it while still not fully injury-free, performing better than ever on the sport's biggest stage.

That is precisely why this sixteenth place feels like the beginning of something greater.

Not because Matilde Garnes is finally back.

But because, after everything she has been through, she may be truly free for the first time to reach her full potential.