Liftoff Data

November 12, 2015

Megan Mitchell and Lin Yi

Leaderboard nerds, it is time to look at the data from the 2015 CrossFit Liftoff, powered by Rogue.

 

Leaderboard nerds, it’s time to look at the data from the 2015 CrossFit Liftoff, powered by Rogue.

CrossFit’s first online weightlifting competition gave athletes four days to establish their 1-rep-max snatch, 1-rep-max clean and jerk, and score on the 12-minute AMRAP of 3 snatches (135 / 105 lb.), 6 clean and jerks (135 / 105 lb.), 9 chest-to-bar pull-ups and 54 double-unders.

Beyond the Whiteboard gave fans an early look at what was possible based on their users' data. Here we follow up with the data from the competition itself.

Let us know what you’ve observed, or what you’d like to know more about, in the comments below.

Snatch

  • 99th Percentile: Men - 312 lb., Women - 200 lb.
  • 95th Percentile: Men - 270 lb., Women - 169 lb.
  • 90th Percentile: Men - 250 lb., Women - 150 lb.
  • 75th Percentile: Men - 220 lb., Women - 130 lb.
  • 50th Percentile: Men - 189 lb., Women - 110 lb.

2,500 men and 1,168 women submitted poundage for the snatch.

The heaviest weights went to the heavyweight Olympic weightlifters. Caine Wilkes—who weighs 321 lb.—of Team USA topped the charts with a 390-lb. snatch, while his teammate, Olympian Sarah Robles, snatched the most of any female athlete with a 258-lb. lift at a body weight of 327 lb. 

Another 44 men joined Wilkes in the 300-lb. + club, while 14 women snatched 200 lb.+. Of those athletes, the strongest pound-for-pound were 218-lb. Colin Burns (379-lb. snatch, 1.74 x body weight) and 132-lb. Lacey Van Der Marel (205-lb. snatch, 1.55 x body weight).

Men, on average, were able to snatch 5 lb. more than their own body weight (187-lb. BW, 192-lb. snatch, 1.03 x BW), while women, on average, snatched 36 lb. less than their body weight (150-lb. BW, 114-lb. snatch, 0.76 x BW).

In the tables below, you can see how many athletes snatched less than (0.75), equal to (1.0), or more than (1.25, 1.5) their body weight. There’s overlap between the rows since 0.75+, for example, includes any athlete who lifted at least three quarters of their body weight. Anyone who snatched one and a half times their body weight makes it into the 1.25, 1.0, and 0.75 counts as well.

Snatch / Body weight Number of Men Percentage of Field
0.75+ 2,250 90%
1.0+ 1,363 54%
1.25+ 466 19%
1.5+ 75 3%
Snatch / Body weight Number of Women Percentage of Field
0.75+ 641 55%
1.0+ 192 16%
1.25+ 41 4%
1.5+ 5 0.4%

Clean and Jerk

  • 99th Percentile: Men - 383 lb., Women - 245 lb.
  • 95th Percentile: Men - 330 lb., Women - 211 lb.
  • 90th Percentile: Men - 310 lb., Women - 190 lb.
  • 75th Percentile: Men - 275 lb., Women - 170  lb.
  • 50th Percentile: Men - 242 lb., Women -  145 lb.

2,459 men and 1,156 women submitted poundage for the clean and jerk.

Wilkes and Robles once again bested all comers, setting the standard with 480-lb. and 328-lb. clean and jerks, respectively.

Another 15 men clean and jerked 400 lb.+. No other woman exceeded 300 lb., however, 10 women clean and jerked 250 lb. or more. Remarkably, 90 women, including 17-year-old 2015 Reebok CrossFit Games teenage competitor Nairobi Romero, clean and jerked 200 lb.+. Kids these days.

Of the men who clean and jerked 400 lb.+, 193-lb. Cernei Gheorghii was the strongest pound-for-pound. He managed to get 425 lb. off the ground and over his head, which is an over double body-weight lift (2.20 x BW). Out of the women in the 250-lb.+ category, 157-lb. Hatice Yilmaz turns heads with a 1.66 x body weight lift of 260 lb.

Men, on average, were able to clean and jerk 58 lb. more than their own body weight (186-lb. BW, 244-lb. clean and jerk, 1.31 x BW), while women, on average, clean and jerked 2 lb. less than their body weight (150 lb. BW, 148 lb. clean and jerk, 0.986 x BW).

C&J / Body weight Number of Men Percentage of Field
1.0+ 2,170 88%
1.25+ 1,458 59%
1.5+ 606 25%
2+ 25 1%
C&J / Body weight Number of Women Percentage of Field
0.75+ 1,011 87%
1.0+ 605 52%
1.25+ 213 18%
1.5+ 55 5%
2.0+ 2 0.2%

The two women to clean and jerk double body weight were Yana Dyachenko of the Ukrainian weightlifting team and Evagjelia Veli. The 112-lb. athletes lifted 232 and 225 lb., respectively.

Workout

  • 99th Percentile: Men - 432 reps = 6 rounds + 0 reps
                              Women - 433 reps = 6 rounds + 1 reps
     
  • 95th Percentile: Men - 369 reps = 5 rounds + 9 reps
                               Women - 362 reps = 5 rounds + 2 reps
     
  • 90th Percentile: Men - 360 reps = 5 rounds + 0 reps
                              Women - 297 reps = 4 rounds + 9 reps
     
  • 75th Percentile: Men - 296 reps = 4 rounds + 8 reps
                              Women - 234 reps = 3 rounds + 18 reps
     
  • 50th Percentile: Men - 243 reps = 3 rounds + 45 reps
                              Women -  216 reps = 3 rounds + 0 reps

1,939 men and 571 women completed the 12-minute AMRAP as Rx’d, which amounts to 85 percent of the men and 54 percent of the women.

Of those athletes, the average man completed 3 rounds and 31 reps (247 reps total) while the average woman completed 2 rounds and 51 reps (195 reps total) within the time cap.

Seven men and seven women presumably PR'ed their snatch at 135 / 105 lb., logging one rep for the workout. 

Four athletes—Rich Froning, Nuno Costa, Lauren Fisher and Samantha Briggs—entered into the eighth round (505 reps+). This elite group includes two Games champions and two members of the perennial Games team, Invictus.

Overall Total

As many expected, the top lifts went to Olympic weightlifting specialists and the top workout scores went to CrossFit Games competitors.

Chest-to-bar pull-ups were not in the cards for the top two female weightlifters, Sarah Robles and Holley Mangold, just as 300+ clean and jerks were out of the range of the female Games athletes (Brooke Ence came closest with a 250-lb. lift).

Even a killer snatch and clean and jerk could not make up for a very low score on the AMRAP, and consequently the CrossFit athletes faired better in the overall total which combined snatch weight, clean and jerk weight, and workout reps. 

The top table shows the scores of the top three men and women in the weightlifting total rankings, while the bottom table shows the scores of the top three men and women in the workout rankings. 

Top Weightlifters Snatch C&J AMRAP Overall Total
Sarah Robles 258 lb. (1st) 328 lb.(1st) 9 reps (500th) 595 (115th)
Holley Mangold 213 lb. (3rd) 297 lb. (2nd) 9 reps (500th) 519 (219th)
Johanie Filiatreault 219 lb. (2nd) 286 lb. (4th) 162 reps (308th) 667 (51st)
Caine Wilkes 390 lb. (1st) 480 lb. (1st) 83 reps (1,659th) 953 (68th)
Cameron Swart 363 lb. (4th) 464 lb. (2nd) 10 reps (1,706th) 837 (305th)
Vladislav Rigert 353 lb. (9th) 463 lb. (3rd) 220 reps (1,158) 1,036 (21st)
Top AMRAPers Snatch C&J AMRAP Overall Total
Lauren Fisher 175 lb. (44th) 225 lb. (27th) 508 reps (1st) 908 (1st)
Samantha Briggs 180 lb. (33rd) 220 lb. (35th) 507 reps (2nd) 907 (2nd)
Emily Bridgers 180 lb. (33rd) 215 lb. (45th) 489 reps (3rd) 884 (3rd)
Rich Froning 306 lb. (32nd) 375 lb. (26th) 508 reps (1st) 1,189 (1st)
Nuno Costa 215 lb. (597th) 320 lb. (157th) 505 reps (2nd) 1,040 (18th)
Matt Hewett 255 lb. (170th) 325 lb. (126th) 450 reps (3rd) 1,030 (23rd)
Notice that three of the six weightlifters got stuck on the chest-to-bar pull-ups, and those that didn't managed between one to three rounds of the AMRAP. These AMRAP performances dropped them to 300th - 1,700th in the workout rankings, and 21st - 305th in the overall total rankings.
 
The top CrossFit athletes racked up 450 - 508 reps on the workout, and with the exception of Nuno Costa, stayed within the top 200 if not the top 50 on the snatch and clean and jerk. 
 
It would have had to have been a very low scoring workout for CrossFit athletes to not come out ahead in the overall total. That was not the case in 2015.