After an unprecedented Day 1 of the 2018 Reebok CrossFit Games, teams and individual men and women got a much-needed Rest Day on Day 2 while masters and teenagers competed in Madison, Wisconsin. Day 2 concluded with an Athlete Ceremony, parade of nations and live announcement of team and individual events for Saturday by Director of the CrossFit Games Dave Castro. As we kick off Friday, Day 3, it promises to be another full day of competition for individuals and teams.
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THURSDAY - 5:00 P.M., OPENING CEREMONIES
Assembling by country before the Opening Ceremonies on Thursday evening, the Individual athletes looked much better than they did after Wednesday night’s work. Much better.
What follows is a cross-section of post-marathon reflection collected on Thursday. Today in The Battleground, we’ll see which Individuals are fully recovered and which are still fatigued from the four previous events.
Kristi Eramo: “I just feel a little tired, a little slow. It’s perfect that we got a rest day.”
Chyna Cho: “It feels like someone took a metal baseball bat and slammed it into both my butt bones.”
Josh Bridges: “It feels like someone took me and held me over a ledge and made me fall 10 stories and land on my butt.”
Rogelio Gamboa: “I feel like I was a bad little boy and I got whupped a couple of times on my hiney.”
Scott Panchik: “I feel pretty good. Let everybody know I feel frickin’ good.”
Sara Sigmundsdottir: “I feel great. It was a good warm-up.”
Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson: “I feel better than I thought I would feel considering how fucked I felt yesterday.”
Lukas Högberg: “I feel actually really good. I thought we were going to be way worse.”
FRIDAY - 9:00 A.M., THE BATTLEGROUND (INDIVIDUALS)
Mat Fraser’s leg was on the wrong side of the cargo net.
He flung his legs over the top of the net and ended up facing the wrong way, hanging on for dear life with the fingertips of his right hand.
As his momentum spun him around, both legs went through the net and he lost his grip. He managed to wrench his right leg free of the net and ended up tumbling to land on his back in the soft sand.
And then he went on to take second in The Battleground.
11:00 A.M., THE BATTLEGROUND—FINAL (INDIVIDUALS)
Everything can go wrong on the obstacle course in The Battleground.
Before the final women’s heat, Games Director Dave Castro reminded the athletes of that fact and told them not to gamble on the course. The race would be won elsewhere.
While Mat Fraser and Patrick Vellner recovered from falls to take top spots, others got stuck and slid down the leaderboard.
The usually smiley Mekenzie Riley was looking less than thrilled in the warm-up area after her heat.
“That fucking rope swing got me, man.”
She had no problem with the obstacle last year but said she missed it six times this time around. Part of the issue, she thought, was that it came later in the course—and it didn’t help that she was wearing a weighted vest.
“I was worried about everything but that,” she said.
3:00 P.M., CLEAN AND JERK SPEED LADDER (INDIVIDUAL MEN)
Backstage in the Coliseum, Noah Ohlsen practiced for Clean and Jerk Speed Ladder, taking it in turns with the Lukases—Esslinger and Höberg—to sprint full-tilt at a loaded barbell from a distance of about 7 feet.
“I’m pumped,” Ohlsen said about the return of the speed ladder.
When asked which weights he was hoping to hit, his eyes lit hungrily.
“All of 'em,” he said.
3:00 P.M., ROPE AND YOKE (TEENS)
She slipped her shoulders under the 380-lb. yoke and tried to stand.
It didn’t budge.
She tried again and finally the behemoth moved. A few shaky steps and it crashed to
the grass again. She repeated this process twice more.
She glanced to her right where her family and friends were standing with an expression
of confusion mixed with helplessness.
“I was just like, ‘oh my gosh,'” 16-year-old Annalise Moore explained of her state of mind
at the time.
It was understandable. It was the most weight the teenager had ever put on her back.
Her max back squat is about 320 lb.—not 380. And she rarely trains with a yoke.
“I’ve touched it twice before.”
But after traversing nearly 22 ft. with the yoke, she took a big breath and finished out the
first 44-ft. carry.
As the event continued, she was able to carry the yoke for longer stretches.
“(I was) just pretty much telling myself encouraging words.”
By the time Moore reached the second-to-last round and the clock was nearing the 16-
minute time cap, her mother was bouncing around behind the spectator barricades.
“Come on! You want to finish!” she shouted, sounding almost angry.
Asked if she found her mom’s spirited yelling annoying or encouraging, Moore mustered
a laugh under heavy breathing.
“A little of both.”
7:10 P.M., FIBONACCI
Logan Collins was slower on Fibonacci this time around. The event winner in 2017, he added about 19 seconds to his time in 2018.
He said the seconds are due to the cumulative effects of the weekend, even though Fibonacci is no longer the final event. Last year, Collins says, there was less deadlifting, and the kettlebells didn’t slow him down as much. Collins said he ruptured two discs in the deadlift event at The Ranch in 2016, and he ran into his old nemesis when a heavy barbell showed up in 2018. He’s feeling the effects of a lift on Wednesday.
“I got a little bit prideful on the 1-rep-max in the (CrossFit) Total.”
For those who try CrossFit Games events at home, remember this: You can’t replicate the overall stresses of the Games—and they are very real.
FAMILY FIRST
“Survival of the fittest.”
It was Ehea Schuerch’s second of many tattoos, and she got it when she was 18. It was one of two signature sayings from her dad.
The other: “You’re a Schuerch.”
The tattoo has taken on new meaning since Ehea got involved in the Sport of Fitness just over two years ago.
“You’ve got to work harder than other people if you want to come out on top.”
She’s currently 14th, and she’ll keep working.
She’s a Schuerch.
MASTERS: FUNCTIONAL FITNESS FOR LIFE
At 22, 5-foot-3 Chasity Snowden was 175 lb. She wore a Size 14 in women’s clothing, and doctors had diagnosed her with both Crohn’s disease and bipolar disorder.
She had grown up with a professional boxer for a father and an aerobics instructor for a mother. While her dad was obsessed with eating massive amounts of food, her mother struggled with both anorexia and bulimia.
Snowden inherited her parents’ obsession with food. Roughly two years after being diagnosed with Crohn’s and bipolar disorder, she swung from being significantly overweight to being 105 lb. in preparation for a bodybuilding competition.
Today, the 37-year-old sits at a healthy 140 lb. with fitness to spare as she competes at this year’s CrossFit Games in the Masters 35-39 Division. For her day job, she’s a nutrition coach, drawing from her struggles to help others manage theirs.
“It’s been a blessing because I can help so many people with it.”
Snowden continued: “My goal is just to make a big impact on the world.”
Amanda Allen knew something was wrong.
She felt it every time she did burpees, every time she got a massage, every time she lay face down.
In mid-December 2017, she ended up in the emergency room twice with excruciating pain.
“They couldn’t give me enough morphine.”
Imaging found tumors. Doctors warned of cancer.
Roughly a week before Christmas, Allen had emergency surgery to remove nearly 9 lb. of fibroid tumors. A biopsy revealed they were benign.
On Friday at the CrossFit Games, the 47-year-old was in first place in the Masters 45-49 Division with two events remaining. Her lowest finish was a tie for fourth. She went shirtless for the event, proudly displaying a scar that traveled much of the length of her torso—from just below her breasts down to her pubic bone. She said she hasn’t felt discomfort once.
“I’ve felt better than I’ve ever felt before—that’s an incredible gift.”
HOW TO MAKE MORE MASTERS
What’s the best way to get a parent to start CrossFit?
“Bring them in to watch the grandkids. When they’re in, introduce them to another person of a similar age ... or a similar crisis.”
Matt Swift is leading the 45-49 Division after six events, but, more importantly, he’s an instructor with the CrossFit Specialty Course: Masters.
Swift said older people often need 10-15 exposures to CrossFit before they’ll try it, so people need to be persistent. He listed seven stages older people will go through.
Take note, and guide your older friends and relatives through them.
1. Refusal: “This is not for me.”
2. Disclosure: They’ll share the thing they’re really worried about—health conditions, injuries, etc.
3. Curiosity: They’ll ask about members who are similar to them.
4. Consultation: They’ll go to talk to the member who’s most similar—the “expert witness.”
5. Arguing: They’ll start to push back on their inner couch potato and convince themselves that they can do CrossFit.
6. Connecting: Creation of a small social network within the gym—maybe just a few texts with a single similar member.
7. Questioning: They’ll incidentally ask a trainer for a tip on something.
At that point, the person is ready to start very slowly, Swift suggested.
Then they’re on to Stage 8:
Health.
CURRENT OVERALL STANDINGS (AFTER SEVEN EVENTS)
MEN
1. Mathew Fraser (564)
2. Lukas Högberg (516)
3. Patrick Vellner (474)
WOMEN
1. Tia-Clair Toomey (580)
2. Laura Horvath (520)
3. Annie Thorisdottir (516)
Visit the Leaderboard for a complete list of the overall standings for TEAMS, MASTERS and TEENAGERS.