Hatfield, Milligan discuss dominant Quarterfinals wins on CrossFit podcast

Austin Hatfield and Kyra Milligan turned their Quarterfinals victories into more than a pair of leaderboard finishes. On The Sport of Fitness Podcast, CrossFit’s April 15 episode put the two overall winners at the center of the season conversation after Hatfield topped the men’s field by 20 points and Milligan won the women’s field by 30.

Those margins matter in a format built on placement points. With four workouts completed over one week, Quarterfinals did not reward a single breakout performance as much as sustained fitness across the full test set. Hatfield’s and Milligan’s gaps over the field suggest both athletes were efficient across multiple events, not merely fast in one piece and vulnerable in another. That is the kind of profile that usually travels well into Semifinals.

The broader context makes the results even sharper. More than 250,000 members of the CrossFit community entered the 2026 Open in February, and the top 25% of Individual and age-group athletes advanced to Quarterfinals. CrossFit then named the top three in each Individual division on April 9, with Hatfield joined on the men’s podium by Jeffrey Adler and Saxon Panchik, and Milligan joined on the women’s side by Arielle Loewen and Danielle Brandon.

Hatfield’s win adds another strong marker to a rapid climb. CrossFit describes him as a former CrossFit Games Teenage Champion, notes that he finished 10th in his rookie Games appearance in 2024, and says he backed that up by placing fourth in the 2025 Open and fifth at the 2025 Games. A 20-point victory in Quarterfinals fits that trajectory: he is not just hanging around elite fields, he is closing the gap on the very top of them.

Milligan’s result carries its own weight. CrossFit describes her as a two-time CrossFit Games athlete, and she trains at CrossFit PRVN in Nashville, Tennessee. Her 30-point win adds another public marker to a profile that has included team and individual competition, including a 2024 team Quarterfinal appearance with Rhino CrossFit Service Dogs. For an athlete already known inside the sport, the latest result shows she is carrying that experience into a stronger individual push.

CrossFit has kept the season narrative moving, with a Quarterfinal Wrap Up and Semis Preview episode posted April 1 and the winners-focused podcast following two weeks later. For athletes tracking the next cutline, the message from Hatfield and Milligan is simple: dominant Quarterfinal form can travel, and both winners arrive at Semifinals looking like real threats to stay in the mix.