Athletes who gained the most followers on Instagram during the CrossFit Games

Like it or not, when it comes to an athlete's ability to build a brand, collect sponsors, and make a living, social media is important. And there is never a better opportunity for a CrossFit athlete to see an uptick in followers than during the one week of the year when their sport is on the best possible stage: the CrossFit Games.

This year's Instagram followers results:

The three individual Games athletes who gained the most followers were all women, led by Dani Speegle , who gained 37,805 new followers over the course of CrossFit Games week. She was followed by silver medalist Mal O'Brien with 34.713 and Tia-Clair Toomey with 31.385.

• The first three men were champion Justin Medeiros 24.625, followed by Ricky Garard 22.205, and tenth placed Guilherme Malheiros 20.896.

• When it comes to a percentage perspective of followers, Elisa Fuliano, who now has over 12,000 followers, came out on top by adding 34.27 percent.

When it comes to attracting new fans, mastering the max lift, or PR, event is of great importance, which is why both Speegle and Malheiros put on a show when they headlined the sandbag-to-shoulder event on Saturday night.

Additionally, last season Malheiros gained the third-most followers of any athlete after winning the maximum snatch lift event.

When we compare the raw numbers to last year, no one came even close to gaining as many followers as the top six in 2021.

Brandon led last season with 77,702 followers, while sixth-place Brooke Wells added 38,590. Interestingly, Brandon ranked higher overall this year than last, fourth this year compared to eleventh in 2021 , but added significantly fewer followers this year (24,209) than in 2021.

The CrossFit Games Instagram account ranked first over any athlete. They collected 57,009 followers during the week of the Games.