Elena Carratala Sanahuja

Elena Carratalá is a Spanish CrossFit athlete with the longest track record and highlights its qualification to the CrossFit Games in 2022.

Biography

From the age of 5 years old, and before learning about CrossFit, Elena competed in track & field. At the age of 9, he changed sports to dedicate himself to the equestrian At the age of 21, Elena set foot in a box for the first time.

2024

Injury in the European Semifinals

After the first event of the second day, Elena began to feel a lot of stiffness in her lower back. It got worse and worse and at night she could hardly walk.

Despite this, she performed the first event of the next day but was forced to do so with a belt. In the next event of SnatchElena did not go out on the track because she could not even lift the bar, when she abandoned and her competition was over.

2023

Rogue Invitational

Elena went from better to worse and finished in last position (20th). Despite this, ROGUE pays all athletes and got $6000.

She achieved a place to participate in the ROGUE Invitational 2023 through the Online qualifier in which she was 3rd. She became the first Spanish athlete to participate in one of the most important competitions in the world.

French Throwdown 2023

He returns to the competition he won in the previous year but this time finishes in 7th place.

Semifinals Berlin

Elena finished the semifinals in 26th position (only 11 qualified to Games), as the second Spanish player behind Oihana Moyawhich meant being second fittest in Spain. However, the Moya tested positive for doping made it the Fittest in Spain 2023.

2022

CrossFit Games 22

Elena became the first Spanish athlete to participate in a CrossFit Games with the OPEN - QUARTERS - SEMIFINALS - GAMES method.

Elena, in 36th position, missed the cut-off of 30 athletes for the last day.

2 anti-doping tests in less than 2 months

According to Javi Peris, Smart Program coach, anti-doping controls were performed on the first 7 places of the European semifinals: 5 classified + 2 reserves. Let's remember that Elena was 7th.

In addition, in the case of Elena Carratalá, as she had just won the pass to the CrossFit Games through the LCQ, the anti-doping team was present in the box for a second control in less than 2 months.

Last Chance Qualifier 2022

A few days after winning the French, Carratalá surprises the entire community, finishing second in the the play-off and becomes the first Spanish athlete to qualify for the Games under the new system.

French Throwdown 2022

He makes history by becoming the first Spanish athlete to win this event.

He was very consistent throughout the weekend and did not relinquish the lead after the first day.

The prize is €12,000, more than double that of the Semifinals (5,000$).

Wodapalooza 2022

His coach told us that he was coming into the competition at 60 - 70% of his capabilities due to a long-standing injury.

An ischial edema that causes various problems in adductors, tensor, vastus internus and externus.

He went 3 months without doing squats and lost a lot of muscle mass.

It was constant throughout the competition, with the exception of one wod with thrusters in which he suffered from his injury lay-off, even so, he managed to finishing in 20th position.

2021

8th in the Open 2021

Wins Open 2021 in Spain and ranks 8th worldwide. It is the first time that a Spanish athlete has placed TOP 10 in an Open.

She advanced to the Quarterfinals but came in 7th in the Semifinal Lowlands Throwdown. The pass is played in the Last Chance Qualifier.

In 2019, she becomes the first Spanish athlete to stand on a podium in an official competition after finishing second in the Pandaland CrossFit Championship. There were hopes that the winner would decline the invitation because she is an athlete who used to go in a team, but for the moment it seems that she has accepted and will not pass to Elena.

Over the past 2019 season, we have seen Elena qualify and compete as an individual and team in a multitude of sanctioned events. Both in Europe: Strength in Depth (London), Reykjavik CrossFit Championship, Lowlands Throwdown  (The Netherlands) and French Throwdown... as in the Wodapalooza Festival in Miami.

Personal stats

Open 2020

In October 2019 we traveled to Vilareal to record Elena doing the CrossFit Open 20.1 at CrossFit 4 Friends. We were able to interview and see how he lives the hours before one of the most important events of the annual calendar.

Training

Elena says she likes to have a daily schedule of classes, training and rest. She follows this guideline to the letter and it helps her to rest knowing that all areas of her performance are studied to maximize her performance.

Your training program is Smart Programof Javier Peris.

Diet

Carratalá works with EAT MOVE who are responsible for drawing up nutrition guidelines.

Physiotherapy

We also know his physiotherapist Víctor Iborra who often accompanies them to competitions in order to offer them the support they need.

Sports psychology

Since the beginning of 2019, Elena has been supported by Mighty Minds. Guillermo Higuero is the sports psychologist behind this method that helps athletes maximize their concentration in the wods.

Family Curiosities

Elena says that her first CrossFit fundamentals class was with Javier Peris. From that moment on, they got to know each other better and currently Javier is her husband and coach.

Javier is the creator of the Smart Program training platform, which is also followed by other top athletes in Spain such as Damian Martinez, or previously, Fabian Beneito.

It has a twin sister of which she says they are night and day. Elena is the more reserved of the two, while Ana is the more extroverted.