Hope Kittel, a 19-year-old from Cedarburg, Wisconsin, has been named the fittest seated woman on Earth for the second time, defending her world title at the WheelWOD Adaptive CrossFit Games in San Jose. The title caps a journey that began when Kittel lost her voice after suffering a neurological event during gym class, an ordeal that also left her with amnesia and made her a quadriplegic.
Kittel's repeat championship, first reported by TMJ4 News, came at an event that drew nearly 250 adaptive athletes from more than 25 countries. It's a striking scale for a competition built around a classification system that measures what athletes can do rather than the medical cause behind their disability — WheelWOD places Kittel in the Seated 3 - Quadriplegic division, reserved for athletes with significant functional impairment across all four limbs and trunk control, according to The Barbell Spin.
Kittel has said she has struggled with her health her whole life, per the station's report, but she frames her wheelchair as a starting point rather than a source of limits. She's said she views daily activities as opportunities, because she's alive and capable of more than she — or her doctors — once believed.
A Recovery That Started With Relearning How to Walk
Kittel's neurological event struck in March 2023, described by outlets including CBS 58 only as an unknown neurological event, leaving open questions about its precise clinical cause even as her athletic career has taken off. She underwent nine weeks of intensive rehabilitation at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Michigan, paired with therapy through the neurological unit at Marquette University, according to that report.
One of her earliest milestones came when she walked across the stage at her Cedarburg High School graduation, with trainer Jason Olejniczak physically assisting each step as a surprise for her family, CBS 58 reported. Before her injury, Kittel had been an active high school golfer at Cedarburg High School, and she later returned to the sport using specialized adaptive seated equipment, per the Ozaukee Press.
Cedarburg's Adaptive Fitness Pipeline
Kittel found a new passion through adaptive CrossFit, training at Adapt and Conquer CrossFit in Cedarburg, where gym owner Olejniczak also runs the United Training Foundation, a nonprofit that covers gym membership costs and provides adaptive equipment for athletes with disabilities. Her primary mentor and training partner is fellow Cedarburg resident Tom Miazga, a former U.S. Paralympic swimmer who earned his ninth consecutive title as Fittest Seated Man on Earth in 2025, according to Morning Chalk Up.
That local mentorship pipeline helped fuel a dominant international debut. At the 2025 World Adaptive CrossFit Games in Las Vegas, Kittel won every single event in her division, securing her first world title at age 19, CBS 58 reported. This year's title defense took place at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, where the Adaptive CrossFit Games were co-located with the Individual, Team, Masters, and Teenage CrossFit Games as part of the 20th anniversary CrossFit Games season, according to WheelWOD.
What Comes Next for the Two-Time Champion
WheelWOD, the organization behind the adaptive competitions, was co-founded in 2013 by Chris Stoutenburg and is now owned by Level 3 Certified CrossFit Trainer Kevin Ogar, according to the organization's own account of its mission to standardize movement adaptations for functional fitness athletes. Kittel's rise through that system reflects broader community support that stretches back to her recovery, including a 2024 fundraiser by the local Love 4 Lexi L4L Foundation, which hosted a 0.5k Donut Fun Run in Ozaukee County with 100% matching funds to help her acquire a service dog named Meeko.
Now a two-time world champion, Kittel isn't slowing down. She's working on a memoir intended to inspire others, and she plans to compete in a 2.62-mile adaptive marathon walk. For a young woman who lost her voice, her memory, and her ability to walk in a single moment during gym class, each new goal is another marker of how far she has traveled since.
