Last year's world record score has been shattered in 2015.
This article has been updated as of Thursday, March 12 at 7 p.m. PT: After video review of Natalie Newhart's performance of Workout 15.2, CrossFit Games directors have ruled that more than 5 reps did not meet the movement standards and have applied a Major Penalty. A 15 percent penalty has been applied to her submitted score of 441 reps, bringing it down to 375.
The second week of the 2015 Reebok CrossFit Games Open is in the books.
The couplet of lightweight overhead squats and chest-to-bar pull-ups released almost exactly a year ago as 14.2 returned this week as 15.2. The repeat workout gave athletes a chance to see whether they’ve improved over the last 12 months.
There has been a repeat workout in the Open every year since 2012. (The first Open competition was held in 2011.) Workout 15.2 marks the fourth exact repeat.
- 2013 | 12.4—a 12-minute AMRAP of 150 wall-ball shots, 90 double-unders and 30 muscle-ups—returned as 13.3.
- 2015 | 14.2—an ascending ladder of overhead squats and chest-to-bar pull-ups on a 3-minute interval—returned as 15.2.
It’s clear from the top of the leaderboard the world’s fittest athletes have gotten even fitter.
The number to beat entering this weekend was 404 reps set by Camille Leblanc-Bazinet in 2014. To get 404 reps, Leblanc-Bazinet had to earn her way into the seventh 3-minute interval. There, she completed 22 overhead squats and 22 chest-to-bar pull-ups before being time capped at 21 minutes.
Twelve months ago, Leblanc-Bazinet’s performance put her far ahead of the rest of the field. The next closest competitor was Irving Hernandez who turned in the men’s best performance at 396 reps. The next best female competitor, Kelley Jackson, finished in the sixth 3-minute interval and fell 51 reps short of the champ (353 reps.)
This weekend, 10 men and three women reached or exceeded last year’s high score of 404 reps. Those competitors are James Hobart (404 reps), Jacob Heppner (407 reps), Will Kane (408 reps), Mat Fraser (409 reps), Rich Froning (413 reps), Noah Ohlsen (414 reps), Will Zerlang (422 reps), Dakota Rager (427 reps), Ben Smith (433 reps) and Josh Bridges (435 reps) on the men’s side, and Kelley Jackson (409 reps), Kara Webb (416 reps) and Leblanc-Bazinet (427 reps) on the women’s side.
That’s right, the 404-rep record has been shattered and reset to 435 for men and 427 for women.
Every week we award $2,015 to the man and woman who turn in the world’s best scores on the week’s Open workout; this week the prize money goes to Bridges and Leblanc-Bazinet. (Pending video submission and review of Leblanc-Bazinet's performance.)
Leblanc-Bazinet needs little introduction. The 2014 fittest woman on Earth set the world record on this workout last year, and remarkably came back a year later and PR'd by 23 reps.
Camille Leblanc-Bazinet - 15.2 from John Cropper on Vimeo.
With his 435-rep performance on 15.2, Bridges has added another worldwide Open workout win to his collection. The three-time CrossFit Games competitor from Southern California has won the final Open workout every year he has competed (11.6, 13.5 and 14.5), and tacked on extra wins like 11.4 and 15.2. Bridges’ score on 15.2 is a 79-rep improvement over his 356-rep score on 14.2. You can watch Bridges face Scott Panchik Thursday, March 19, at the live Open announcement of 15.4, which will be broadcast from CrossFit X-Factor in Portland, Oregon.
Now that three scored events have been released, it’s time to start watching the overall leaderboard. Out of the 159,543 men in the Open, three men have risen to the top in the same order as their best Games finishes: four-time Games champion Rich Froning leads, followed by 2014 silver medalist Mat Fraser, and 2011/2013 bronze medalist Ben Smith. Similarly on the women’s side, Leblanc-Bazinet is in the lead. However, different women follow her in the top three. The best female rookie at the ’14 Games Emily Bridgers is in second, followed by the woman who wore the white leader’s jersey for a good part of the 2014 Games weekend, Kara Webb.
The next workout will be released Thursday, March 12 at 5 p.m. PT. Come to Games.CrossFit.com to watch Dave Castro announce 15.3 from CrossFit Chicago moments before four-time top-five Games finisher Julie Foucher faces relative newcomer Lauren Brooks, who finished seventh at the 2014 Games.
