J. Anderson and K. King Win 15.4

March 24, 2015

CrossFit

Jacob Anderson and Kristin King won 15.4 with 183 and 180 reps, respectively. 

The world's leaders got past the set of 27 handstand push-ups.
 

The fourth week of the 2015 Reebok CrossFit Games Open is in the books.

Last Thursday, Dave Castro introduced a new movement to the Open: handstand push-ups. For 15.4, athletes would complete an 8-minute ascending ladder of handstand push-ups and relatively heavy cleans.

Open Workout 15.4 (Rx’d)
8-minute AMRAP:
3 handstand push-ups
3 cleans
6 handstand push-ups
3 cleans
9 handstand push-ups
3 cleans
12 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
15 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
18 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
21 handstand push-ups
9 cleans
Etc., following same pattern
M 185 lb.  F 125 lb.

With the introduction of a new movement came the introduction of a new movement standard. Athletes had to start and finish each handstand push-up with their heels over a line taped onto the wall. (Read about how the height of the line was determined for each athlete, here.) 

The new movement standard regulated from the top down. As with anything new, there was a learning curve for some competitors.

But enough about the workout. What about the winners?

We award $2,015 to the man and woman who turn in the world’s best scores on the week’s Open workout and back it up with video; this week the prize money goes to multi-year North Central Regional competitor Kristin King and 2014 South East Regional competitor Jacob Anderson.

King set the world's highest score on the workout with 180 reps. That means King finished the all handstand push-ups in the round of 27. To get all that work done she had to complete a rep every 2.6 seconds.

Kristin King 15-4 from Jennifer VanBrooker on Vimeo.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen King demolish the women’s field on a workout that involves handstand push-ups. The 2011, 2012, 2013 North Central Regional competitor won the first regional event in 2012—Diane—with a time of 2:22.

King's 180-rep performance put her far ahead of the rest of the women’s field. The next closest competitor, fourth-ranked woman at the 2014 Games Michele Letendre, finished 13 handstand push-ups behind King (167 reps).

On the men's side, the race for the top spot wasn't finalized until late Monday night; five pending top scores sat invisible to fans atop the leaderboard waiting for approval or rejection by affiliate managers. Now that those scores have been retracted, we can announce a relative newcomer Jacob Anderson has snatched the win. The 21-year-old athlete from the South East turned in 183 reps, which means he finished all 27 handstand push-ups in the set of 27 plus 3 185-lb. cleans within the time cap.

 

That gave Anderson a 9-rep lead over the next closest competitor, four-time Games champion Rich Froning (174 reps). The last time we saw Anderson in competition at the 2014 South East Regional, he took third place on Event 4—21-15-9-6-3 reps of strict handstand push-ups, 195-lb. front squats and burpees. 

There's a tight race between Froning and 2014 silver medalist Mat Fraser on the overall worldwide leaderboard. Fraser is in first overall with 123 points and Froning follows 6 points behind with 129. The Open is based on a points-per-place ranking system, and with a worldwide pool of competitors, 6 points can be overcome. Froning has won the Open every year since 2012. Watch to see whether he's able to overtake Fraser in the final week. Ben Smith holds third worldwide just as he did in 2011 and 2013 (159 points). 

On the women's overall leaderboard, the 2014 Games champion Camille Leblanc-Bazinet leads (74 points), followed by the 2011 and 2012 Games champ Annie Thorisdottir (103 points), and the highest ranked female rookie at the 2014 Games Emily Bridgers (107 points). 

While the worldwide leaderboard is fun to follow, the worldwide standings aren't what's key to advancement for individual and team competitors—it's the region-based standings that matter. Athletes from the United States and Canada regions are aiming for the top 20 (top 15 for teams), while athletes from Europe and Australia are aiming for the top 30 (top 20 for teams), and athletes and teams from Latin America, Asia and Africa are aiming for the top 10.  Masters athletes are aiming for the top 200 worldwide in their age division (40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59 or 60+). While the top individual and team competitors will advance to regionals (May 15-17, 22-24 and 29-31), the top masters athletes will advance to the online Masters Qualifier (April 23-27).

The final workout of the 2015 Open will be announced from CrossFit Max Effort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Moments after, the last three women to win the CrossFit Games—Leblanc-Bazinet (2014), Sam Briggs (2013), and Thorisdottir (2012)—will compete. You won’t want to miss it.

Catch the livestream on Games.CrossFit.com starting at 5 p.m. PT on Thursday, March 26.