Only two players have attended every IEM Katowice - the story of one of the most prestigious CS:GO tournaments

The tournament operator ESL announced ahead of IEM Katowice 2023 that only two players have participated in all IEM Katowice tournaments.

Freddy KRiMZ Johansson and Peter dupreeh Rasmussen. These players not only participated in all the events but also won them multiple times. KRiMZ has won the tournament three times, while dupreeh has won two trophies.

What results did KRiMZ and dupreeh show in Katowice?

EMS One Katowice 2014

IEM Katowice in CS:GO started in 2014 and although it changed its name, the essence remained the same - the best teams in the world would come to Poland and compete for a large prize pool in one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world. At that time, the prize pool was $250,000.

From that moment, KRiMZ and dupreeh started performing in these events. EMS One Katowice was so long ago that a club like Astralis did not even exist yet, and dupreeh played for the Dignitas club, which also included Nicolai dev1ce Reedtz and Andreas Xyp9x Højsleth. It's worth mentioning that this event was a major.

KRiMZ had not yet switched to fnatic and was performing for the LGB Esports team. The most interesting thing is that dupreeh and KRiMZ performed at EMS One Katowice 2014 absolutely identically, the players were eliminated in the semi-finals stage and entered the top-4. The champions of the first tournament in Katowice were Virtus.pro with a Polish lineup.

ESL One Katowice 2015

In 2015, the tournament was called ESL One Katowice 2015 and the prize pool remained the same, but the teams that dupreeh and KRiMZ came to the tournament with changed. Before Katowice, KRiMZ moved to Fnatic, where he still plays today, and dupreeh along with the team moved to TSM.

This tournament ended with KRiMZ's first championship at Katowice, Fnatic won the event, and TSM remained in the top 8.

IEM Katowice 2016

In 2016 the tournament was renamed again, now it was called IEM Katowice 2016.

This event was one of the first for the newly formed Astralis club, with the lineup including dupreeh, dev1ce, and Xyp9x, as well as Finn karrigan Andersen and René cajunb Borg. Fnatic again became champions, and this was already KRiMZ's second victory at the tournament in Katowice. Astralis stopped at top-4.

IEM Katowice 2017

In the next year, at IEM Katowice 2017, Astralis took another step towards their golden roster - Lukas gla1ve Rossander replaced karrigan, and cajunb was replaced by Markus Kjaerbye Kjærbye. These changes had a positive impact on the team - Astralis became champions, and dupreeh won his first trophy in Katowice.

IEM Katowice 2018

In 2018, the prize pool of the tournament was increased to $450,000, and dupreeh and KRiMZ remained in the same teams and were once again favorites. By then, Astralis had assembled its golden line-up, replacing Kjaerbye with Emil Magisk Reif. 

However, this did not help the Danes win the event, as fnatic became the champions and KRiMZ earned his last victory in Katowice at the time.

IEM Katowice 2019

In 2019, IEM Katowice became a Major once again. When we talk about majors in this time period, the champion becomes obvious. Of course, it's Astralis and dupreeh's second championship.

On the other hand, fnatic was on a decline at that time. The team participated in the tournament but took 20th-22nd place.

IEM Katowice 2020

IEM Katowice 2020 is remembered by most fans for not the best reasons. It was the last tournament before the era of COVID-19 and online events. IEM Katowice 2020 still took place on LAN, but there were no spectators at the stadium. Despite this, the tournament was held and NAVI became the champions. However, talking about dupreeh and KRiMZ, an interesting parallel can be seen. Astralis and fnatic finished the tournament in top-4, just like KRiMZ and dupreeh did at the first tournament in Katowice.

IEM Katowice 2021

In 2021, IEM Katowice was held online, and the prize pool grew to $1 million. Online format had a positive impact on some teams, while others experienced issues. The result was the championship win by Gambit, now playing under the tag Cloud9. It was their first major win as a team.

But what about KRiMZ and dupreeh? They were also at the event - Astralis finished in top 6, while fnatic took the last place. However, this didn't end the series of KRiMZ, as he was able to compete in Katowice.

IEM Katowice 2022

The most recent IEM Katowice as of now is IEM Katowice 2022, which marked the full return of one of the most prestigious LAN tournaments. FaZe dominated the tournament by defeating G2 with a score of 3-0 in the final, even with a stand-in player. 

As for dupreeh and KRiMZ, both players performed similarly again - they both finished in the top 12. The only new detail was dupreeh's team change - the Danish player moved to Vitality.

IEM Katowice 2023

This year we are again expecting IEM Katowice, and dupreeh and KRiMZ will again participate in this prestigious tournament. Who knows, perhaps one of them will win another victory?

 Play-In starts tomorrow, all information about the event can be found on its page.