Four records fall as top fives begin to distance themselves from the field in Europe.
Copenhagen, Denmark—At the conclusion of Day 1 of the Meridian Regional, Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir called Day 2 “moving day,” and it turned out she was half right.
Men’s overall leader Jonne Koski moved exactly nowhere and still looks down the leaderboard at his rivals, but Davidsdottir herself moved from fifth to a tie for first with defending champion Annie Thorisdottir.
MEN
Before the final heat, no one had left fewer than 40 box jumps on the deck, but the top athletes were looking to change that.
Steven Fawcett logged his run in about 7:21, well under Mat Fraser’s 7:35 split in the East Regional, but he was soon overtaken on the overhead squats by Lukas Högberg and Frederik Aegidius. And then, of course, overall leader Jonne Koski appeared at the front, as he always seems to do. He had been making quiet, steady gains on the GHD and was on to skipping under the 16-minute mark.
He notched a single rep on the sumo deadlift high pulls, as if to get one out of the way first, then settled into a rhythm of doubles and triples for the most part. Högberg, a much larger athlete, was cycling faster, biting off sets of 5 and 6. He was first to the box by 2 reps, but his technique let him down in the early going. Using a sort of spinning squat landing atop the box, he received several no reps and stopped to discuss them with his judge before modifying his technique and moving on. The short break cost him, and Koski was back in the lead, though his reps looked a bit labored even if they were very consistent in terms of pace.
As Fawcett banged out the fastest reps of any competitor a few lanes over, Koski was nearing the finish, buoyed by a large crowd that was on its feet. He got the final nod from the judge, made his way to the mat and raised his arms to his fans, who praised him for his third event win in a row. Only three men had finished Event 3 in previous weeks, and Koski became the fourth.
Högberg had but 10 reps left when time expired, and he might have finished had he avoided a few misses earlier. He knew the no reps cost him, but he wasn’t disappointed with his result, which pulled him into third overall.
“The plan was to open with a low pace,” said Högberg, who finished 23rd at the Games last year and would like to improve upon that in 2015. “I know I’m a good runner … so I can go harder on the rest.”
As the Swede spoke, Koski walked by and, with class, said, “Thanks for the push!” The Swede thanked him in return.
Högberg said he found the box jumps toughest because they were at the end of the event, but he targeted the ab work as the brat of the bunch.
“If it was one separate movement, I’d say GHD.”
Nevertheless, he said he feels pretty good as Event 3 was mostly “breathing.” He’s sticking to his plan for the snatches later this afternoon but wouldn’t disclose his opener.
“Can’t say—pretty high,” he smiled.
Still, he’s not planning to roll the dice in a tricky event in which a zero will put a bullet in an athlete’s Games hopes.
“In an Olympic competition, it’s super safe,” he explained of his opening lift. “Here with all this? … It’s just regular safe.”
Event 3 Results
1. Jonne Koski (25:47.9)
2. Lukas Högberg (cap + 10)
3. Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson (cap + 20)
4. Frederik Aegidius (cap + 30)
5. Steven Fawcett (cap + 39)
A record fell in Event 4, but it didn’t quite go according to plan.
The day before, Filip Yang Fisker said he had hoped for an event record, disclosing he’d completed the handstand walk—minus the short run—well under the event record of 1:25.9 that was set by Zachary Moran in the East Regional.
Fisker raced to start the event and was very, very fast indeed. He was cruising to an easy victory and an event record in the range of 1:15 or so, except he failed to get both hands completely across the final line. He started for the finish mat, but his judge called him back and directed him to the mark 10 feet from the finish line. Fisker kicked up, mowed down the distance and ran to the mat to stop the clock in 1:24.2—an event record, but not quite what he was capable of.
“I said, ‘Fuck! This is not happening!’” he said. “I definitely felt differently this time because of the chipper.”
Fisker specifically noted the GHD sit-ups had tired his core and made the handstand walk quite a bit more difficult.
No one else was within 20 seconds.
Fisker was looking for 200 points in the pair of events, and he almost took a zero on the second part. Loading up 265 lb., he actually missed it twice behind him in his first lifting interval. With just under 2 minutes to think about it, he stuck with 265.
“I was shitting myself,” the friendly Dane said after the event, but he decided not to reduce the load, which Högberg was doing just behind him after missing 255 twice in his opener, once with a knee touch.
“My shoulders were not there,” Fisker said.
He added: “I lost it behind twice, and that’s not something I normally do. I just needed the minute rest.”
He was correct and stuck his final attempt with little doubt, even if his shorts were soiled.
Högberg said he wasn’t rattled with his misses and had no doubt in his heart, though he did drop 5 lb. for his second lifting interval.
“I’ve been saying to myself all day, ‘I’m a champion,’” he said, referencing a video his coach sent him to keep him focused.
Högberg’s 250 lb. was good for a tie for ninth. Fisker’s 265 was the winner, and he accomplished his goal of taking first in the last two events of the day.
Fisker’s results now have him in a Games spot, while Högberg is third overall.
Both will be chasing Koski, who remains first after taking fifth and 18th in the paired events, as well as Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson, whose 14th and fourth have him entrenched in second.
Event 4 Results
1. Filip Yang Fisker (1:24.2–event record)
2. Justin Ahrens (1:45.0)
3. Steven Fawcett (1:45.4)
4. Will Kane (1:46.0)
5. Jonne Koski (1:55.1)
Event 5 Results
1. Filip Yang Fisker (265 lb.)
2. Laurent Camps (262 lb.)
3. Phil Hesketh (257 lb.)
4. Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson (256 lb.)
5. Jason Smith (255 lb.)
Overall Standings
1. Jonne Koski (431)
2. Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson (404)
3. Lukas Högberg (379)
4. Steven Fawcett (376)
5. Filip Yang Fisker (369)
6. Phil Hesketh (335)
7. Justin Ahrens (319)
8. Mikko Aronpää (319)
9. Jason Smith (317)
10. Frederik Aegidius (307)
Event 3’s long chipper utterly laid waste to the first heat of women. The boxes were left untouched by all athletes, and some didn’t even make it through the double-unders that preceded the sumo deadlift high pulls.
Indeed, it’s a tough challenge, and only six women worldwide had completed it by the time the Meridian women stepped up to make their attempts to beat Denae Brown’s event record of 24:31.9.
Heat 2 fared little better: Still the boxes were decorations. In Heat 3, two women made it to the box, warming them up for the final heat to put on a show worthy of the CrossFit Games. If the event was long and grinding, the fans didn’t know it, with a monster crowd cheering and clapping the women through the entire event.
Kristin Holte looked light and nimble on the treadmill and came off the run first, as expected. She was done in less than 8 minutes, well ahead of the 9:46 split in Denae Brown’s record run. Mikaela Norman kept pace and was right behind Holte.
“I needed the push,” Holte said after the event. She said she knew she’d likely be first off the treadmill and welcomed someone pacing her.
The pair were neck-and-neck through the overhead squats and got to the GHD at almost the same time. Holte’s reps came about 50 percent faster, allowing her to take a 40-second advantage to the rope. She picked up a few more seconds there, though she faltered a few times.
Chipping away at the sumo deadlift high pulls in sets of 5 and later 3, Holte was done at about 20:20. By that point, Sara Sigmundsdottir had overtaken Norman by demolishing the sumo deadlift high pulls and trailed the leader only by 30 seconds or so. Holte, however, was very, very quick on the box and pulled about 30 reps ahead of Sigmundsdottir before finishing in 23:52.0, shaving an incredible 40 seconds off the record.
Sigmundsdottir rolled in at 24:45, and Norman became the ninth woman in the world to finish, clocking in at 25:29.9.
Sigmundsdottir had never tried a TrueForm before Thursday. Though she picked up a few tips about taking smaller steps and keeping her chest up, she knew she’d need to motor on the other elements of the event. As one of just three women who completed all the reps, she wasn’t concerned about having dug a hole for the two events that close out Day 2.
“I’m used to training … I train like I’m competing, so I’ll be recovered—hopefully,” she laughed afterward.
With the win, Holte climbed into first place, and Sigmundsdottir moved into second, bumping Annie Thorisdottir—sixth in Event 3 (cap + 46)—to third. Media staff reported the two-time Games champ was visibly upset after the event.
“I thought I would be able to finish it, but I didn’t have my goal set on the event record,” said Holte, who finished second to Sam Briggs in last year’s 50s chipper.
The envy of just about every athlete on Earth, Holte said the box jumps were almost refreshing after all the other work.
“I was able to breathe during the box jumps … so (I was) kind of recovering in the end,” she said.
Event 3 Results
1. Kristin Holte (23:52.0–event record)
2. Sara Sigmundsdottir (24:45.0)
3. Mikaela Norman (25:29.9)
4. Katrina Tanja Davidsdottir (cap + 19)
5. Martina Barbaro (cap + 35)
A pair of records went down in the fourth and fifth events, and neither was a surprise, though the first came in through the back door.
Oxana Slivenko has dominated heavy barbells at the Ballerup Super Arena in recent years, and the 2008 Olympic silver medalist didn’t disappoint in the max snatch. A former world record holder on the strength of a 123-kg lift (270.6 lb.) at the 2006 World Weightlifting Championships, Slivenko opened with a calculated 185 lb. that was relatively easy but would put her out of reach of just about everyone. She snapped under with ease, and most of the crowd ignored the next pair of lifters in order to watch what Slivenko was sliding on the bar.
She decided on 210 lb., and when her turn rolled around again, she pulled the bar but left it just out front. Looking dejected, she stepped back from the bar, as if she didn’t know she could lift again in the 20-second window. With screams from the crowd and a motion from her judge, she realized her error, quickly re-gripped the bar and threw it right overhead, receiving it in a deep squat from which she had no trouble rising. It was an event record by 18 lb.
A second record fell to Davidsdottir in the handstand walk that started the paired event for the final heat. She held the record distance in 2014 (405 feet in 3 minutes), and she did 250 feet in record time in 2015.
When the tone started the event, she sprinted across the floor and was on her hands immediately, moving with fluid speed. She was clearly in the lead throughout, yet Thorisdottir and Holte weren’t far behind. After a quick pirouette at the turn-around, Davidsdottir was right back on her way to hitting the finish mat in 1:19.8 to erase Kari Pearce’s 1:32.1 record, set at the East Regional. Thorisdottir was also under the old mark with 1:31.5 to take second.
Sara Sigmundsottir took her worst placing of the competition: Her 2:41.4 was good enough for ninth.
Moving to the barbell, it was a foregone conclusion that Slivenko’s number would withstand Heat 4, and the race was for second.
Sigmundsdottir hit a squiggly 167 that spit her out the side before she dialed it on her second attempt in the same 20-second window. Davidsdottir was solid with 173, and Holte logged 165.
In the second round, Holte missed 181 out front before overcompensating and bailing it backward to stand pat on her first attempt. Sigmundsdottir improved with 180 and let out a giant yell of joy, and Thorisdottir withstood a soft lockout to better her first mark and take home 176 lb.
Davidsdottir boosted 183 for her second attempt but caught it with her head down. The bar rocked her just a touch, but she stabilized and stood, the lift never in danger.
“I would say that’s a good save,” she said afterward.
The two-event combo left her ecstatic.
“So happy everything went better than expected,” she said.
While she knew she would do well on Event 4, she wasn’t going to kid herself and assume it would be a handstand walk in the park. The other women in the region are very strong upside down, so she pushed very hard.
“The only thing I’m thinking is, ‘Keep going, keep going, keep going,’” said Davidsdottir, who couldn’t tell where her competitors were.
Despite the event-record effort, she felt very fresh for the max-out session.
“I’ve been practicing a lot, so I kind of knew how my shoulders would feel,” she said.
On the snatch, she was happy to let Slivenko take first because the Russian was well below her on the leaderboard and unbeatable in Event 5.
“I knew second place would be my first place,” Davidsdottir said.
The two events were a big boost for the Icelander, who now sits tied with Thorisdottir as both have the same number of points and identical placings if you line up their next best results in other events. Sigmundsdottir is 1 point behind.
The showdown will be on tomorrow with the top of the podium up for grabs and three Icelanders closest to claiming it. The top five spots, however, are becoming very clear, with 49 points separating fifth and sixth.
Event 4 Results
1. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (1:19.8)
2. Annie Thorisdottir (1:31.5)
3. Kristin Holte (1:36.2)
4. Bjork Odinsdottir (1:41.5)
5. Thuridur Erla Helgadottir (1:55.7)
Event 5 Results
1. Oxana Slivenko (210 lb.)
2. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (183 lb.)
3. Sara Sigmundsdottir (180 lb.)
4. Annie Thorisdottir (176 lb.)
5. Laura Hughes (175 lb.)
Overall Standings
1T. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (435)
1T. Annie Thorisdottir (435)
3. Sara Sigmundsdottir (434)
4. Kristin Holte (427)
5. Thuridur Erla Helgadottir (394)
6. Carmen Bosmans (345)
7. Mikaela Norman (335)
8. Bjork Odinsdottir (331)
9. Angelica Bengtsson (289)
10. Oxana Slivenko (286)
