This article will be updated as the day's events unfold.
Friday's events are underway at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
"It feels like we're in a cloud," said Day at the Games host Sam Farber about the morning's weather.
The sky is hazy and the air is moist as the competition for the Fittest on Earth continues.
Hungary's Laura Horvath and America's two-time Games champ Mat Fraser sit atop the Leaderboard at the start of the day. The Battleground and Fibonacci are the day's only known events so far.
The Battleground
The Battleground starts with a Rescue Randy dummy drag across the field. Then, athletes will complete 2 rope climbs and a run on the new O-course, followed by 2 more rope climbs and one final rescue drag—all while wearing a weight vest (20/14 lb.). Randy weighs 185 lb. for the men and 165 lb. for the women.
In Heat 3 of the men, Australia's James Newbury set the time to beat, crossing the finish line in 9:11.87. His time would be good enough for fifth place after Heat 4 took on The Battleground.
Cole Sager flew through the event in Heat 4 to finish in 8:35.01. He was followed closely by Mat Fraser, Lukas Högberg and Patrick Vellner, who filled out the top five in the event.
Sager was the only male athlete who dragged Randy with one hand.
"I just kind of looked at the dummy as if it was a sled drag,” Sager said afterward.
When the top 10 women took the floor, overall leader Laura Horvath got out to an early lead. Tia-Clair Toomey was hot on her heels, followed by Katrin Davidsdottir and Annie Thorisdottir. But Horvath held onto the lead through the O-course and never relinquished it. She won the event with a time of 9:29.76.
"I don't put pressure on myself, or I try not to," Horvath said. "Everyone has a shot. It's not final yet. ... I came here to win. I think all the women came here to win."
Clean and Jerk Speed Ladder
Director of the CrossFit Games Dave Castro announced Individual Event 6 (IE6) just an hour before athletes would have to tackle it. The event is a beefed-up version of the Clean Speed Ladder from the 2014 Games. The weights will remain the same as they were in 2014, but when Castro compared the average clean of the individual athletes to the loads from 2014, he knew he needed to add a new challenge. The final weight was less than the average clean for both the men and the women, Castro said. So he added an overhead element and dubbed it the Clean and Jerk Speed Ladder.
After eight heats of quarterfinals, the 20 men and 20 women with the fastest times moved on to the next round. After four heats of semifinals, five athletes in each division went on to the finals in the winner-take-all event.
Mat Fraser failed the final barbell twice in the semifinals and did not advance.
Nick Urankar won the event with a time of 1:51.1.
In a big upset on the women’s side, Games rookie Amanda Barnhart took the win, beating out the likes of Tia-Clair Toomey, Kara Saunders and Annie Thorisdottir.
“This Coliseum is insane. You guys helped me get through those last few bars, so thank you so much,” Barnhart said to the crowd after the event.
Fibonacci
Fibonacci closed out Friday night for the individual athletes. The event was a repeat of last year's final event, the Fibonacci Final. It would offer a chance at redemption for some athletes, Castro said. In 2017, the only male athlete to complete the event was Logan Collins. This year, Noah Ohlsen joined that list after he put up an impressive performance in Heat 3, completing the event in 5:22.39.
When Heat 4 of men brought out the top dogs, the crowd was ready to see some more men put a nail in the coffin of Fibonacci—and they did. Logan Collins, Noah Ohlsen, Patrick Vellner and Mat Fraser (event winner) all finished the event this year.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m in first or 10th place, I’m still gonna give it my all,” Fraser said when asked about his lead over the rest of the field.
2015 and 2016 CrossFit Games champion Katrin Davidsdottir took the event win for the women, with a time of 3:31.73.
Davidsdottir said she played it smart on the handstand push-ups and the crowd helped get her to the finish line.
Check out the full Leaderboard for standings in all divisions.