Glen Maye’s Aimee Cringle has begun her latest challenge on the world stage as she competes against the planet’s best CrossFit athletes at the 2026 CrossFit Games.

The 27-year-old Manx athlete is among the elite field competing at this year’s event in San Jose, California, which got underway on Tuesday and runs until Sunday.

The 20th anniversary edition of the CrossFit Games is being held across several venues in the Californian city, with the main events taking place at the SAP Center, known as ‘The Shark Tank’, alongside additional competitions at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center and Arena Green Park.

This year marks the first time all divisions, including individuals, teams, masters, teenage and adaptive categories, have come together in the same city during the same week.

Cringle enters the competition after producing the best performance of her career last year, finishing eighth in the world at the 2025 event in Albany, New York.

It was a remarkable achievement for the former Queen Elizabeth II High School student, who made her CrossFit Games debut in 2024 and finished 13th in Fort Worth, Texas.

Her rapid rise has seen her become only the third British woman ever to compete in the individual category at the event.

The qualified nurse, who is also an Island Games athletics gold medallist, explained that she enjoys the variety of CrossFit and particularly thrives in longer endurance-based workouts.

Asked whether she preferred heavy barbell movements or high-skill gymnastics, she said: ‘Ideally, a little bit of both, but if it’s either, I’d say high-skill gymnastics.

‘I’m not unreal with a heavy barbell, but we’re getting there. I do like a lot of ring muscle-ups.’

Cringle said she believes her strengths often come in longer workouts requiring endurance and consistency.

‘Definitely a long grinded chipper,’ she said. ‘I feel like the quarter-final workouts were just so short and all under seven minutes and I perform way better when it’s a longer sweat with loads of different movements depending on the event.’

Her route to the Games included a 10th-place finish in the Worldwide Open, 19th in the quarter-finals and an impressive fifth-place finish at the European semi-finals.

Reflecting on her development, Cringle credited the relationship with her coach and the confidence gained from recent performances.

‘My coach and I, we’ve worked together for like three or four years now and yeah, dream team, say so myself,’ she said.

‘He’ll say we need to work on this, we need to work on this, but he’ll also give me reassurance that I am where I need to be.’

Cringle also highlighted a breakthrough moment at the 2025 London semi-finals, where she won the opening event against some of the biggest names in the sport.

She said: ‘I didn’t know I had that in me. That was very good and I proved to myself that I was up there in parts of CrossFit. I just needed to work on everything else.’

While she has enjoyed major success, Cringle admitted the sport’s challenges can be unforgiving.

Recalling one particularly difficult moment, she said: ‘I know I can peg board and to just not physically be able to get up that board was just not okay.’

Looking ahead to the Games, Cringle will be aiming to build on last year’s eighth-place finish and continue her rise among the world’s elite.