Week Five in Review: Asia

March 26, 2012

John Frankl

Feng Yi Chew of Singapore secured yet another 1st place finish for the week with an overwhelming 126 reps, 23 reps higher than her nearest rival.

In the week of the Open, athletes returned to two movements — a classic CrossFit couplet. The time was dropped from 12 minutes to seven for a modified version of one of CrossFit’s all time favorite girls—Fran. Only this time it was not “for time,” and the standards were cranked up just a bit in terms of weight and range of motion.

In Asia, the numbers remained steady. The males dropped from 266 to 237. Only 29 male athletes dropped for 12.5, as opposed to 35 for 12.4. For the female athletes we saw a drop of nine, one higher than last week, to 97.

This Fran ladder began with a modest 3-rep set, and so was doable by nearly all competitors. This, along with the toughness of those athletes who made it this far, led to slightly less drop off than in previous weeks.

Feng Yi Chew of Singapore secured yet another 1st place finish for the week, this time with an overwhelming 126 reps, 23 reps higher than her nearest rival. She finished in 1st place overall. Okinawa’s Christen Wagner finished 2nd for the week with 103, and 2nd overall, but the gap between Wagner and Chew opened a bit.

Candice Howe’s 6th place finish with 95 was enough to cement a 3rd place finish overall. Howe’s placing is instructive; she had only one 3rd place finish for an individual week, but her consistency was enough to maintain her position. CrossFit 671’s Nicole Tainatongo scored a 4th place finish with 98, which guaranteed her 4th place overall.

After some movement in the first two weeks, the women’s positions remained pretty steady over the last three weeks.  

Among the men, Brice Collier’s 4th place finish of 133 was sufficient to hold on to the No. 1 position overall. He maintained this position for the final four weeks after a slow start at 19 for week one. Collier reminds us that determination and skills across various time and modal domains are the keys to winning.

Joseph “T-Rank” Rank takes 6th place with 127, and this is enough to secure his overall position at 2nd. Like Collier, a low finish for 12.1 held Rank back a bit, but he excelled during the final four weeks.

Michael Mogard finishes in 10th place, but this is still enough to hold on to his 3rd place in Asia. Korea’s Seong Hyeon Go pours it on at the end to take sole possession of 4th place. This knocks Greg Harris—who came in 11th for the week—out of 4th and into 5th overall.

The drop in athletes for 12.5 was smaller than 12.4. The overall drop in Asia over the five weeks of competition was fairly good when compared to the Open numbers worldwide. The sport of CrossFit is new here, but growing rapidly. And the athletes are serious.

As we look toward the Regional event in Korea on May 4-6, we hope the community will come together in a meaningful way. We need a maximum number of the top 60 athletes to register and show up for Regionals in order to send the very best from Asia.

Open athletes not in the top 60 need not consider themselves finished with the Games. We also need plenty of volunteers and spectators to ensure the Regional event is as professional and as fun as possible. Please remain engaged to the end.