Fish is back on the CrossFit Games menu—but not as the appetizer.
For the past five years, individual athletes have opened the CrossFit Games in the Pacific at ocean locations such as Santa Monica Pier, Camp Pendleton and Hermosa Beach, as well as in a pool at the Woollett Aquatics Center.
The athletes now expect to swim—or at least they should—and they generally look more comfortable in the water with each passing year.
Some, of course, excel in the waves. Both Jonne Koski and Brent Fikowski have competed as swimmers, Australians and California athletes are generally A-OK in the water, and former military service people such as Josh Bridges (Navy SEALs) revel in rough surf.
The athletes arrived at Redondo Beach at 8:05 a.m., a hard turnaround after a lengthy airport delay in San Jose prevented their return from The Ranch in Aromas until about midnight. With three events under their belt already, the athletes definitely weren’t as fresh as they’ve been for swim events in previous years.
This year’s swim was set for 500 meters, with very short runs to and from the water bracketing the time in the ocean. Previous years’ performances suggested the top times would be around 7 minutes depending on conditions, which Surfline.com logged as 0.3-0.6-meter waves with light winds before the event. A bit of beach break promised a few athletes would get tussled.
Immediately before the event, expected top finishers chose one of two strategies, with the males stacked in a line across the start area and females behind. A group including Fikowski, Porter and Rob Forte parked in pole position, while Bridges, Mat Fraser, Ben Smith and a few others camped out about 25 feet outside the inside track.
It looked like wider might have been better for the 17- or 20-second sprint to the water. After the event, Fikowski explained that he let the faster Cole Sager go ahead and then tucked in behind to hit the water about eighth or 10th.
The first athlete hung a right turn at the first buoy 2 minutes into the race, and in the stretch parallel to the shore it was clear Koski was pulling away. He turned back toward shore at 4:14 with a 15-second lead that was never in jeopardy, though Porter made up a bit of ground at the end when Koski jogged gingerly to a 6:54.85 finish that was better than Porter’s 7:03.17.
Koski, moving slowly after the event, said he’s dealing with a back injury he attributed either to too much training or travel.
“I kind of sucked yesterday,” he said, dressing slowly.
Third was up for grabs in a sprint, but Fikowski legged it out over Rasmus Wisbech Andersen, grabbing third in the event and pulling into second overall.
“As soon as we came out of the water, I could kind of see I had a little more in the tank,” Fikowski said.
Mat Fraser finished sixth and reigns at the top of the overall leaderboard. This was the first year he used a freestyle stroke throughout the event instead of deferring to sidestroke out of panic.
“I kept telling myself, ‘Don’t be scared. It feels like you’re drowning. You’re not drowning,’” he said.
Fraser actually clipped Sara Sigmundsdottir at the finish in a dead sprint, though neither knew the race was on.
Talking near the finish line after the event, Sigmundsdottir and Ben Smith both said it got rough. Smith detailed how an unexpected wave buried him on the way into shore and liberated both his goggles and swim cap. Sigmundsdottir said she was dealing with kicking feet and the elements.
“The first time I dived in, I got a kick in my teeth … . I got crushed by a wave like three times. That was kind of creepy,” she said.
Sigmundsdottir was fourth in the event and climbed to fourth overall.
Tia-Clair Toomey (7:28.23) and Kristi Eramo (7:30.14) finished less than 2 seconds apart to best the women, and they were fifth and sixth among all athletes. Tennil Reed was third in 7:38.14. Toomey used the win to claim the top of the overall leaderboard, with Reed only 16 points behind.
Rest is not next on the agenda for the individuals. They’re due at the StubHub Center Tennis Stadium for a briefing at 2 p.m.
For complete results, visit the CrossFit Games Leaderboard.
