Morningside athlete claims silver at London fitness world championship

Morningside resident Christen Karam (23) claimed a silver medal at the Deadly Dozen World Championships in London, finishing second in the 19–29 age category after competing against some of the world’s top hybrid fitness athletes.

Deadly Dozen is a hybrid fitness competition that combines endurance running with functional strength exercises.

Athletes complete 12 rounds of 400m runs, each followed by a different fitness station, testing their speed, strength and endurance.

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The championship, held at Crystal Palace, marked a major milestone for Karam, who initially took up the demanding sport as a personal challenge before discovering her potential to compete internationally.

“Simply qualifying and receiving an invitation to compete at the World Championships was already an incredible achievement in my eyes,” Karam said. “To then finish second in the world was beyond anything I had imagined when I first started competing.”

Sporting roots and community spirit

Karam’s sporting journey began long before she discovered the discipline. Sport has been a significant part of her life since childhood, when she participated in netball, tennis, softball and girls’ soccer.

During her matric year in 2021, she captained her school’s first teams in tennis, netball and girls’ soccer, experiences that helped develop her competitive spirit and commitment to teamwork.

She also enjoyed encouraging others to become active, helping her teacher, Lauren Friedman, establish a social running club that brought fellow learners together for 5km runs before the school day began.

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“For me, sport has always been about more than winning,” she said. “It’s about challenging yourself, building friendships and enjoying the process along the way.”

Her introduction to Deadly Dozen came through her gym environment at Virgin Active and Gold’s Gym. A personal trainer at Virgin Active Morningside, who regularly led her high-intensity interval training (HIIT) classes, encouraged her to enter after competing in the event himself.

From local debut to world stage

The combination of running and weight training immediately appealed to Karam, who saw the competition as an opportunity to challenge herself in a new sporting environment.

She then trained independently, unsure of what to expect from her first race in Potchefstroom in the North West. To her surprise, she won the overall women’s category and went on to rank third in the world in her age group.

That performance changed her approach to the sport, convincing her that she could compete at a higher level with more focused preparation.

Karam began working with another trainer at Virgin Active Sandton CBD, concentrating on improving her technique, building strength for the individual fitness stations, and developing her running speed and endurance.

“As the championships approached, our training became increasingly race-specific, incorporating timed runs, station-focused strength work and full race simulations to prepare me for the intensity of competing on the world stage,” Karam said. “By the time I arrived in London, I knew I had put in the work and wanted to give the competition everything I had.”

Although she hoped to improve on her previous race time, Karam said her main goal was to give her best performance and make her family and country proud.

“To walk away with a silver medal was an incredibly emotional and rewarding moment,” she said.

“It was a reminder of just how much can be achieved when you step outside your comfort zone, commit to something wholeheartedly and believe in your potential.”

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