Crossfit Games 2016

We close a weekend full of great emotions for the world of the CrossFit ®.

More than a weekend, it has been 5 days of unstoppable competition, from Wednesday, July 20 to Sunday, July 24.

With a total of 15 events, what we usually call wod in our box, the competition closes and we already have new fittest on earth (the fittest on earth) also known as the Reebok Crossfit Games 2016.

This year was also the celebration of the 10th year of Crossfit Games, so it seems that Dave Castro (the director of the Games) has had a few more details.

Castro always introduces some novelty is the events, some little surprise that is not expected, to add more excitement to the thing. This year has been no less.

1st day of competition: July 20

The day before, they all received a note from the director summoning them to the hotel lobby very early in the morning, passport in hand and with no further information to an unknown destination.

On the first day of competition the athletes made a surprise trip to the Ranch in Aromas (San Jose), the site of the first CrossFit Games in 2006.

Looking quite different than at Carson Stadium which is where it was held a few years ago. Dave took them back to their roots.

Event 1: Ranch Trail Run

They made their debut running 7km in the mountains. With slopes up and down, lots of sun and heat and even some snakes as Dave Castro himself announced. It was reminiscent of the event held in 2009.

First positions men: Mathew Fraser - Josh Bridges - Brent Fikowski

Fraser led from the start of the event and finished at 34'10", followed by Bridges at 35'30" and Fikowski at 36'22".

It looked like Fraser had already done some of his homework from last year (endurance-endurance) and was already pointing in the right direction for the rest of the competition. Known as a very good powerlifter, it was surprising that he was so good in this running event.

First positions women: Samantha Briggs - Kristin Holte - Kristi Eramo

No one was surprised that Briggs was the winner of this event, we know that this type of long distance running wods are her thing and she did not disappoint. With a time of 36'08" she would have snuck into third position if she had competed with the boys. Followed by Holte 36'54" and Eramo 37'50".

Event 2: Ranch Deadlift Ladder

Only 10' after the end of the race and reversing the positions of this first wod, those who had finished in the last positions in the race started this event.

This event consisted of completing a ladder of dead weight or deadlift with a total of 20 bars. The lifts were performed every 30 seconds and if the repetition was valid the athlete continued with the next bar loaded with more weight, until it was not possible to perform a valid repetition.

Men: 192-278 kg

Women: 124-188 kg

First positions men: Sam Dancer - Alex Vigneault - Lucas Parker

First positions women: Brooke Wells - Candice Wagner - Tia Clair Toomey

Wells was the only girl able to lift the last bar with 188 kg. Impressive the strength of this athlete. Wagner was not far behind her and Toomey, who will participate in this year's Olympic Games in Rio as a weightlifter, was third.

Event 3: Ranch Mini Chipper

50 wall ball shots (medicine ball shots)
25 medicine ball GHD sit ups (sit ups on the GHD with medicine ball) with 13.6 kg for men and 9kg for women.
Hill sprint with medicine ball (hill sprint with medicine ball)

Despite being a short event as the times were under 5', the medicine balls they had to use were above those usually used.

First positions men: Brent Fikowski 4'14" - Mathew Fraser 4'20" - Patrick Vellner 4'22".

First positions women: Annie Thorisdottir 4'28"- Brooke Wells 4'52"- Tennil Reed 4'53".

2nd day of competition: July 21

Event 4: Ocean Swim at Redondo Beach

In this event, the 40 men and women started at the same time to complete the 500-meter swim marked with 2 buoys.

For the past 5 years the athletes have been used to having a wod in the ocean and certainly each year they seem more comfortable in these circumstances.

First positions men: Jonne Koski 6'54" - Khan Porter 7'03" - Brent Fikowski 7'18".

First positions women: Tia Clair Toomey 7'28"- Kisti Eramo 7'30"- Tennil Reed 7'38".

Despite his first place finish in this event, Koski explained that he had to stop competing because he was having problems with his back. He was diagnosed with a herniated disc earlier this year and has had to fight his way through his recovery while still preparing for the Games.

After two days of competition he had taken a noticeable turn for the worse and was forced to drop out even though it sure wasn't the way he had imagined he would finish the Games.

3rd day of competition: July 22

Back at Carson Stadium, it was time to start facing some previously announced events such as Murph.

Event 5: Murph

1.6 km of run
5 rounds of
20 pull ups (domindas)
40 push ups
60 squats
So, 1.6 km of run
With a ballast of 9kg for boys and 6.3 kg for girls.

Unlike last year's Murph, this year the 100 pull ups, 200 push ups and 300 air squats were split into segments which seems to have benefited some athletes compared to last year's Murph times. Overall the results were better than 2015.

Not to mention that Annie and Webb had to be medically assisted after the event for heat stroke and this year were able to complete the event on their own two feet without further medical problems.

First positions men: Josh Bridges 34'38" - Mathew Fraser 35'47" - Noah Ohlsen 37'02".

First positions women: Kari Pearce 36'42"- Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir 36'48"- Carleen Mathews 37'05".

Event 6: Squat Clean Pyramid

10 squat cleans (111/75 kg)
8 squat cleans (120/81 kg)
6 squat cleans (129/88 kg)
4 squat cleans (138/93 kg)
2 squat cleans (147/97 kg)

Every 2 minutes you had to complete those repetitions otherwise you could not move on to the next pass.

First positions men: Alex Anderson 5'21" - Mathew Fraser 5'41" - Scott Panchik 6'08".

First positions women: Kara Webb 5'17"- Jamie Hagiya 5'30"- Tia Clair Toomey 5'56".

Hagiya's great performance in this event must be highlighted. Rookie in these Games, it is the first podium he made but also the rest of the tests was showing great quality except the first event, in the first part of the table.

Event 7: Double DT

10 rounds of
12 deadlifts (dead weight)
9 hang power cleans (hanging load)
6 push jerk (from shoulders to overhead)

Weight: 70 kg for men and 47 kg for women

First positions men: Samuel Kwant 11'37" - Mathew Fraser 11'41" - Rasmus Wisbech Andersen 11'46".

After already 7 events it seemed that Fraser was not willing to give up the podium at every single wod. He was proving that he was consistently good in every event that was being put in front of him.

First positions women: Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir 9'25"- Brooke Wells 9'43"- Ragnheidur Sara Sigmundsdottir 9'48".

4th day of competition: July 23

Undoubtedly with clear signs of fatigue in facing the final of the competition, the athletes faced this penultimate day of the Games.

Event 8: Climbing Snail

3 rounds of:
500 berm run (running up the stairs of the stadium)
2 rope ascents
40 ft snail push (12 meters of moving a very heavy spherical object)
2 rope ascents

The peculiarity is that to access the rope to climb it, it was necessary to make an extra effort since the rope did not reach the ground. The athletes had to jump and climb it by hand without the help of their legs, until they climbed high enough to be able to use their legs.

In addition, the "snail" (this heavy sphere) was a new object introduced in these Games, so it was not something that any athlete had on hand.

First positions men: Brent Fikowski 10'53" - Patrick Vellner 11'09" - Cole Sager 11'16" - Cole Sager 11'16"

First positions women: Samantha Briggs 12'30"- Kari Pearce 13'09"- Thuridur Erla Helgadottir 13'19".

Event 9: The Separator

For men:

12 ring handstand push-ups (pine tree push-ups on rings)
15 back squats 102 kg (back squat)
20 burpees
9 ring handstand push ups
18 front squats 93kg
20 burpees
6 ring handstand push ups
21 overhead squats 84 kg (overhead squat)
20 burpees

For women:

15 back squats 75 kg
20 burpees
6 ring hand stand push ups
18 front squat 65 kg
20 burpees
4 ring handstand push ups
21 overhead squats 56kg
20 burpees
2 ring handstand push ups

First positions men: Cole Sager 12'03" - Christisn Lucero 12'05" - Ben Stoneberg 12'59".

First positions women: Kari Pearce 13'13"- Katrin Tanja Dacidsdottir 13'17"- Tia Clair Toomey 13'21".

With the push-up movement on the rings, no reps were quite common in all athletes.

In the last round of girls, it was a super exciting race between Katrin, Tia and Sara, although Sara was a little behind with the overhead squats.

Event 10: 100%

40 box jumps 76 cm/ 61 cm (box jumps)
20 D-ball cleans 68kg / 45 kg (loaded over the shoulder)

For the demonstration they counted on Dan Bailey who this year could not qualify for the Games. By the way, have you seen the training I did with Dan Bailey?

First positions men: Brent Fikowski 2'46" - Gary Helmick 2'50" - Cole Sager 2'51" - Cole Sager 2'51"

First positions women: Alessandra Pichelli 2'24" - Tia Clair Toomey 2'28" - Brooke Wells 2'31".

5th day of competition: July 24

With a lot of enthusiasm and extreme exhaustion, all the athletes are going for this last day of the Games with the desire to show all the work they have put in during a year.

Event 11: handstand walk

85 m of hand walking

Athletes had marks every x meters where they could rest if they did not need to continue from the same point. Otherwise, if they fell before passing that mark, they had to backtrack to the previous mark.

First positions men: Jacob Heppner 1'36" - Mathew Fraser 1'42" - Scott Panchik 1'42"

First positions women: Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir 1'33" - Kari Pearce 1'33" - Brooke Wells 1'41".

Several athletes finished in the same second and it was the hundredths that decided the final order. Demonstration of how tight the competition was in every way.

A remarkable note is that Katrin ran all the meters unbroken, i.e. in a row without falling or stopping to rest.

Event 12: Suicide Sprint

256m sprint race

First positions men: Roy Gamboa 43" - Mathew Fraser 44" - Ben Smith 44".

First positions women: Tia Clair Toomey 47" - Alea Helmick 47" - Meg Reardon 47".

Once again, the hundredths were decisive and once again Fraser continued to show his ability to excel in all types of events.

Event 13: The plow

Drag the forklift/plow for 170m.

It was a novel element. Athletes are not used to the plow but to the sled. Either pulling it or dragging it, but with the sled it's different. The grip is more forced and they don't have their hands free to run more naturally.

First positions men: Garret Fisher 1'17" - Lucas Högber 1'22" - Christian Lucero 1'28".

First positions women: Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir 1'38" - Samantha Briggs 1'39" - Ragnheiður Sara Sigmundsdottir 1'44".

Event 14: Rope Chipper

200m ski (vertical rowing)
50/40 double unders (double rope jumps)
200m row (rowing)
50/40 double unders
200 meter assault bike
50/40 double unders
200m row
50/40 double unders
200m ski
27 meters of sled drag (140/100)

With the peculiarity that the rope to make the jumps were much heavier than the usual ones. Not only for the thickness of the rope itself but also for the handles that were heavier as well.

I guess that was another of Dave's surprises.

First positions men: Brent Fikowski 7'32" - Cole Sager 7'45" - Patrick Vellner 7'50".

First positions women: Anna Tunnicliffe 8'06"- Chyna Cho 8'06" - Kara Webb 8'21"

A curiosity during the event is that Webb was winning in his wave of girls and at the end of the ski he went to celebrate that he had won, forgetting that he still had the sled drag to complete the event.

She was able to react in time and quickly go to finish the wod and was still a winner among the girls who were doing it with her.

At this point, and due to the distance in points that Fraser maintained over the rest of the competitors, mathematically it was already known that Fraser was going to be the fittest man of 2016..

For the women, on the other hand, everything was still to be decided in the last event.

Event 15: Redemption

3 pegboard ascents
21 thrusters
2 pegboard ascents
15 thrusters
1 pegboard ascents
9 thrusters
Weight 61 / 38 kgs on the bars

The peg board was the star exercise Dave appeared with last year at the Games. Let's just say he was generous enough to give a second chance to those who choked on this redemption wod.

First positions men: Zac Carhedi 5'37" - Mathew Fraser 5'56" - Brent Fikowski 6'07".

First positions women: Alexis Johnson 7'31"- Carleen Mathews 8'18". - Kari Pearce 8'25"

Final standings Reebok Crossfit Games 2016

After a constant and hard-fought battle, Katrin Tanja and Mathew Fraser earned the title of the fittest people on the planet this weekend.

Podium Crossfit Games 2016 women

1º Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir 984 points
2nd Tia Clair Tommey 973 points
3rd Sara Sigmundsdottir 919 points

It is identically the same podium as last year in 2015. Tia Clair was her first year at the Games and already made it seem like she would have a good chance of winning this year.

Podium Crossfit Games 2016 men

1º Mathew Fraser 1096 points
2nd Ben Smith 899 points
3rd Patrick Vellner 863 points

Fraser has been in second place for 2 years in a row, finally the third time has been the charm and he has been proclaimed the fittest on earth. Ben was last year's winner and Patick has been the positive surprise this year.