Danielle Brandon

Danielle is one of the most popular CrossFit athletes that achieved the greatest popularity in the past few years. 2021 Nobull CrossFit Games..

Although Brandon made his CrossFit Games debut in 2019, he had been participating in the Open since 2014.

2025

Leaves Brute and joins Adam Neiffer

With 15 days to go until the Games, Danielle Brandon has announced a major change in her training team: she is no longer working with Coach El Senouvor of Brute Strength.

Instead, he will be supported by Adam Neiffer and Jesse Bifano, known for leading Justin Medeiros to win the CrossFit Games in 2021 and 2022.

The transition has been coordinated with the help of Senouvor himself and Matt Torres, CEO of Brute Strength, who have shared with the new team all the details of Brandon's training so that the competitive focus is not lost.

Danielle has acknowledged that this is not the ideal time for a change, but she is grateful for the work done with El and excited about this new phase with Neiffer and Bifano.

Semifinals Online

She qualified for the CrossFit Games after finishing sixth in the Online Semifinals. This meant that she did not participate in the Syndicate Crown even though her presence was confirmed.

WFP Tour 1

Finished second in the first edition of the World Fitness Project. She came in first place after the first day of competition.

2024

RAD TAPES Danielle Brandon Energy

On March 27, 2024, the documentary on the life of Danielle Brandon is released.

The athlete explains for the first time that she had a difficult childhood, as her parents had problems with drugs.

Here you can watch the documentary, which is very worthwhile although it is in English. If you prefer Spanish, below (childhood section) we have summarized what the athlete shared in this video.

Open

12th worldwide in the Open 2024

2023

ROGUE Invitational 2023

Finished 7th with a prize of 22,000$.

CrossFit Games 2023

Danielle had a bad start to Games with two very poor results (21st) but she came back and finished in 9th position.

It did not meet the goal it had set for itself despite having some great moments such as the victory in event 3 that included its star move, the handstand walk.

Moves to Naples, Florida, to continue training with Brute Strength.

2022

ROGUE Invitational 2022

9th in the ROGUE. This position may seem like a bad result to people's eyes, but the athlete claims to have won, as the general public does not know what she is going through.

At the event Back attackBrandon, knowing that he would not be able to complete the event, takes to the floor. Brandon misses the first lift and it is striking that he takes his time to unload the bar without rushing and bring it back up.

He manages to do 2 squat with 275 lb / 125 kg. He later explains that the most he had ever lifted was 250 lbs / 113 kg a year ago due to a back injury.

Another personal victory was being able to do 80 GHD's in a row without back pain and having a good pace on the Skierg without dying.

"I may not have been where I wanted to be at the end of the weekend, but I know I've had more wins than you think. And I've learned a lot from them."

CrossFit Games 2022

Danielle achieved her best result to date in the Gamess, finishing 4th.

Leaves Underdogs and joins Brute strength

In July, just a few weeks before the CrossFit Games 2022, the American announced on the Brute Strength podcast that she is leaving the Underdogs programming and joining the Underdogs and training alongside other athletes such as Dallin Pepper or James Sprague.

Brandon says, "It wasn't something I had planned, only an idiot would drop their programming a month out from the Gamess.". She states that the decision was not easy and that she felt compelled by circumstances, although she does not specify the cause clearly.

Justin Cotler acknowledges that Brandon is a "complicated person" but the two speak well of their relationship despite Danielle being kicked out of the group.

Kary Pearce retired and Bethany Shadburne moved to Los Angeles. Underdogs was to grow and received a large number of athletes. Brandon didn't seem to adjust well to the new changes and felt she was training alone because she didn't connect with the new faces.

Cotler explains that there were some of Brandon's actions toward other athletes that created tension in the environment. Both acknowledge that neither side handled the situation well.

MACC 2022

He faces his semifinal with great confidence and shows it on the track. He dominates and finishes in first position to qualify for the CrossFit Games 2022.

R.A.D. Athlete

She becomes the first athlete to be sponsored by the new CrossFit shoe brand. For years she had been a Nike athlete.

This agreement is announced at Wodapalooza where the athlete decided not to compete in order to complete her recovery from previous injuries.

Dave Castro

In the RAD-produced documentary, Dave Castro reveals that Danielle is one of the few athletes who took the time to write to him after her dismissal from CrossFit. He stresses that this gesture meant a lot to him.

2021

11th at the CF Games

Brandon arrived at the Games in top physical shape as we saw in the semifinals, the West Coast Classic where she finished 3rd behind training partners Pearce and Shadburne.

The American wore a new look at the Games, blue hair, which made her easy to spot among the other competitors.

That year, the American had a bit of a tough time competing.

Her daily training partners Kari Pearce, and Bethany Shadburne were unable to complete the CrossFit Games check-in because they failed the antigen test.. This placed the American in a situation of heightened vigilance: more testing, isolation, a separate lane....

Danielle was able to work under this added stress and managed to finish just outside the top 10 (11th).

She won event 8, a handstand walk race with several obstacles.

Brandon became the athlete who gained the most followers on Instagram during the CrossFit Games 2021, adding more than 77,000.

2020 - Games demonstration equipment

Danielle moves to Las Vegas to join The Underdogs Athletics group, whose head coach is Justin Cotler. Other notable athletes in the group included Tola Morakinyo, Kary Pearce, Bethany Shadburne and Mat Delugos.

Brandon acknowledges that both Bethany and Kary, beat him on a daily basis. Many times this was a great motivation for the athlete although sometimes it was a great frustration for her. Danielle was very happy to share training sessions with Kary Pearce and Bethany Shadburne, who gave her unconditional support.

Cotler humorously explains that Brandon was unfamiliar with terms such as the rowing dumper or drag factor. He had never used a yoke or straps for weightlifting. But that the athlete had great potential.

In a year severely affected in the field of competition, she achieved a 3rd place at the Mayhem Classic Sanctional. She beat Tia Clair Toomey in a handstand walk and dumbbell snatches event, Danielle explains that Toomey came up to her and said "is this the only thing you're good at?".

She qualified for the Games; however, due to the special situation, only 5 qualified and she could only finish 15th in the first online phase of the Games. CrossFit Games.

She was invited to form part of the CrossFit Games demonstration team. This selected group of athletes test and demonstrate competition training.

2019 - unfairly out of the finals

She qualified for the CrossFit Games by being 16th in the Open worldwide. That year the TOP20 received a direct invitation.

It was his first CrossFit Games and his goal was to finish TOP20. A special Games where 150 athletes participated.

We first met her as the winner of the second event, which included rowing, KB shoulder to overhead and handstand. Dave Castro himself admits he didn't know who she was.

Brandon, ranked 11th, was unable to compete in the Games final day in which only the 10 best athletes participated.

After the Games were over, it was announced that Ana Fragkou who was in the top 10 and in the final, tested positive for doping.

2014-2018

She received a scholarship to Sacramento State for competing in the pole vault. Danielle admits that she hated the sport, but she was very good at it.

With the move, he switched boxes and joined CrossFit Envy where he participated in the competitors class. He was trying to get away from pole vaulting classes, but he was aware that he received money for his results in that discipline so he tried not to get noticed.

Brandon knew that as long as she was good at pole vaulting, she had nothing to worry about.

She qualified several years for the Regionals, however, the coincidence with the pole vault competitions forced her to always decline her participation.

First time in CrossFit

He began practicing CrossFit after joining a gym where the trainer, Eric Gough, was a CrossFit coach.

One of the first WODs he did was 100 burpees for time. Brandon did it better than many men.

Later, Gough opened a box, Brandon was one of the few he invited to sign up, and she soon began to excel. This coach would drive her back and forth because Brandon was not yet able to drive.

Even then it was clear that Brandon had a competitive mentality and always aspired to win.

2011

He grew up in Tri-Cities, Washington.

I would have competitions with the guys to see who could do the most push-ups.

Her gymnastics teacher admits that she didn't need to be hard on her because Brandon demanded so much of herself. She dominated all the gymnastics competitions, and the parents of the other competitors filmed her to show their daughters how they had to do it.

She was called "bash" which comes from the English "bashful", shy. She was a reserved and serious girl.

He excelled in numerous sports and activities, demonstrating an impressive ability to adapt and excel in each of them.

Childhood surrounded by drugs

He was a non-verbal baby until he was 18 months old; however, he started walking at 7 months and at 8 months he was climbing to get on the dining room table.

Julie Brandon was a professional swimmer and came very close to qualifying for the Olympics. She later went into bodybuilding where she met the father of her children. She describes that their relationship was not very serious and that she did not expect to become pregnant, although when she found out, it made her very happy because she had always wanted to be a mother.

Pregnancy was also the motivator for the couple's decision to marry but this did not improve the relationship. He had a serious alcohol problem and was barely at home with the family.

Danielle has a younger brother (Zach Brandon) with whom she has been dating for 1 year.

They began to argue and Julie asked her husband to leave. However, he objected and in one of the fights, Julie had to ask her neighbors to call the police. Brandon's father was arrested.

Although a restraining order was imposed on her, she did not comply. Julie felt compelled to leave town to protect her children.

It was then that they moved to Jersey, Wisconsin and finally to Tri-Cities in Washington.

While Danielle and her brother were young, Julie was undergoing treatment for cancer. Danielle had to take care of her brother because her mother was very sick every day.

Julie started wanting to go out for a drink at a bar and thought a couple of drinks wouldn't hurt. At the age of 40, she developed an addiction to alcohol and subsequently started using drugs, in particular methamphetamines, with the intention of stopping her drinking.

Danielle and her brother remember knocking on their mother's bedroom door, but her mother would not open it because she was using drugs.

Strangers came in and out of the house at all hours of the day.

Julie started dating a guy with a record. One day the police came to her house looking for him and found drugs in the kitchen cupboards. Julie was arrested. Julie called her sister who took care of the children.

Danielle's aunt had 4 children and they didn't know each other very well. The experience with the uncles was not pleasant and they often spoke badly to them or yelled at them. They also prevented Julie from being able to be in contact with them. The aunt did not know how to take care of them and often blamed them for things their mother had done.

Danielle and her brother explain that they were miserable living at their aunt's house.

They didn't quite know what to do with the children and the grandparents recommended that Danielle be enrolled in gymnastics.

Julie was released from prison and the children were able to visit her home on weekends. They were not allowed to live with her because she was still dealing with addictions, but their aunt decided to move them in permanently.

With her mother, they practiced gymnastic exercises at home such as handstand walk, even opening the door with their feet. The exercises continued in the backyard where they spent hours practicing.

Danielle explains that her mother couldn't take her to gymnastics because her driver's license was suspended, but different people came to pick her up. Danielle was 12 years old and one of them, Larry, asked her if she wanted to learn to drive. She said yes and eventually came to let him drive her home. Danielle discovered that Larry was selling drugs to her mother and her mother was reselling them to make ends meet.

Steven was another of Julie's boyfriends. Danielle explains that he was one of the culprits her mother was hooked on. He abused Julie and even broke her arm. Julie asked Steven to leave because she wanted a different kind of life, but he refused and hung himself in the sink. Danielle recognizes that although it is hard to say, he was glad that the person was gone..

Danielle saw the families of her classmates and was ashamed of her own. She went so far as to say that her mother had passed away so she wouldn't have to explain anything about her and avoid any questions.

Julie confesses that Danielle had to take on the role of motherShe was the one who cooked, took care of her brother and even threw the drugs in the trash for him.

After Steven's death, Julie felt guilty and used drugs. One night the police entered her house again and took Julie away in handcuffs. From that moment on, Danielle and her brother feared the most terrible thing: going back to live with their aunt, who had treated them unpleasantly. Danielle assures us that that was one of the worst days of his life..

Danielle's relationship with her aunt and uncle was in decline and she always wanted to be out of the house as much as possible. Those close to her said that this was probably the reason why she was so good at school and sports, she focused on that task and could forget what was going on at home.

She began to hear rumors that her aunt and uncle wanted to kick her out of the house and decided to prepare to leave. It was then that Danielle moved in with one of her best friends, but she felt very bad about leaving her brother since they had always been together. Soon after, the brother also ran away.

In 2014 her mother was released from prison again and she was reunited with her after 4 years. For Danielle it seemed like an eternity and she felt like she was with a stranger. Julie explains that these were difficult times because Danielle felt resentful about everything that had happened. Over the years the relationship improved.

Agreements with brands

Brandon's boom can only be compared to that of Sara Sigmunsdottir in its day.

The American has become the best known face of the brands that sponsor her. They are counted by:

• Rad Global (sneakers),
• Monster Energy,
• Esc Sounds (headphones),
• Xendurance (supplementation),
• Toe Spacer (feet mobility),
• Wod Proof App (app for recording WODs),
• Airwaav (mouth accessory),
• Tru Grit (sport equipment),
• Paleo Power Meals (prepared food at home)