Week Five in the Books

April 8, 2013

CrossFit

Five down, zero to go.

Five down, zero to go.
 

Five down, zero to go.

The fifth and final workout of the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games Open is in the books. Nearly 75,000 competitors submitted scores for all five workouts (compared to just fewer than 33,000 last year). This week, it was chest-to-bar Fran. If you could finish her in four minutes, she'd give you another four minutes to do her again.

Very few competitors would take on chest-to-bar Fran more than once. Of the 85,562 competitors who submitted a score for 13.5, four percent (3,528) got a second go at her, and only the elite few got a third go (33 people or just 0.04 percent of all 13.5 participants).

On Wednesday night with just minutes to assess the workout and formulate a strategy, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet set the score to beat in front of 2,000 cheering fans. Leblanc-Bazinet completed the equivalent of two chest-to-bar Frans in eight minutes, and kept going to complete 244 total reps of 65-lb. thrusters and chest-to-bar pull-ups. Over the next four days, 33,000 women tried to challenge her score, but only one succeeded. Lindsay Bourdon of the South East swept the worldwide win of 13.5 with an incredible score of 256 reps. Although Bourdon is lesser known than Leblanc-Bazinet, she's not coming out of nowhere. Over the last five weeks, she has earned the top spot in the South East with three wins and two second-place finishes. 

Josh Bridges is back! The second-place finisher at the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games surpassed the reigning champion, Rich Froning Jr. by 28 reps and claimed the worldwide win on 13.5. Bridges finished two chest-to-bar Frans in eight minutes, and kept going to complete 254 total reps of 100-lb. thrusters and chest-to-bar pull-ups. Bridges missed out on the 2012 CrossFit Games Season due to deployment with the U.S. Navy where he suffered a catastrophic knee injury. He says he's healed and ready to challenge Froning for the title Fittest on Earth. 

For now, Bridges will need to be content with third place overall (59 points), behind the 2009 champ Mikko Salo (second worldwide, 53 points) and reigning champ Rich Froning Jr (1st worldwide, 28 points). Rich Froning has now won five consecutive Games competitions: the 2011 Games, the 2012 Open, the 2012 Central East Regional, the 2012 Games and the 2013 Open. 

On the women's side, Samantha Briggs won the Open with just 17 points, the lowest score in Open history. Leblanc-Bazinet followed in second with 43 points, and Lindsay Bourdon took third with 54 points. For the second time in 12 months, Kristan Clever fell just outside the top three with fourth worldwide. 

Congratulations to the 138,000 competitors who made this the largest and most inclusive test to find the Fittest on Earth. Now that the first stage of the CrossFit Games season is done, it's time to start orienting toward Regionals and the Games. The top 48 men, 48 women, and 30 teams from each region will be invited to their Regional competition via e-mail later this week. The top 20 Masters competitors in each age division will receive invitations to the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games later.

Stay tuned here for all the details coming up over the next few weeks.

Note: All rankings and stats are accurate as of publication time and remain unofficial until all scores are validated.