Steve Fawcett became one of the first British men to qualify for the CrossFit Games in 2015. Now he’s looking to lead the first British team to the same place.
“We’re very passionate about raising the standard in the U.K.,” he said Friday morning at the Meridian Regional, adding that 2013 Games champion and England native Sam Briggs paved the nation’s way.
Fawcett’s team, CrossFit JST, took fifth place in Event 1. It followed that up with a second-place finish on Event 2, which called for all six team members to synchronize 40 Worm thrusters, 40 Worm burpees, 30 Worm thrusters and 30 Worm burpees. CrossFit JST looked smooth and seamless on the thrusters, allowing it to blow past other teams and win the heat.
The synchronized indoor rowing it repeatedly practiced leading up to the Regional helped, Fawcett said.
CrossFit JST ended the first and second days of competition in first place overall after being the runner-up in Event 3 and winning Event 4.
In addition to Fawcett, the CrossFit JST team comprises five former individual Regional competitors. All that fitness certainly helps, but communication is paramount, Fawcett noted.
“We’re working together, getting to know each other,” he said.
Competing on a team has been a decided mental shift, Fawcett added.
“It’s been a nice change. It’s a different type of stress.”
For Maccabeast Team—which is seeking to become the first Israeli squad to qualify for the Games—the challenge lied in being able to create a team in a small country where citizens must serve in the military once they turn 18.
The requirement can make it difficult to develop athletes in the prime of their younger years, said team member David Ben David, who owns CrossFit Hadar Yosef in Tel Aviv.
“We lose three good years,” he said.
The 26-year-old, himself, started CrossFit when he was 21—after leaving the Israeli Army.
“It’s all right,” Ben David said, smiling, after his team took a 26th-place finish in Event 3 on Saturday. “We’re doing our best.”
Maccabeast sat in 19th overall at the end of Day 2.
CrossFit Idol, meanwhile, is hoping to capitalize on famed Russian genetics.
The team, which sat in ninth overall after two days of competition, hopes to become the first team out of Russia to qualify for the Games.
It would be cool, if it happened, said Andrey Ganin, an individual Regional competitor also from CrossFit Idol who served as an impromptu translator for the team.
The crew’s best finish thus far has been sixth in Event 2. Idol’s time of 17:28 was 5 minutes faster than what it recorded in practice, Ganin said.
He noted: “That’s Russian power.”
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Men
1. Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson (370)
2. Jonne Koski (320)
3. Jason Smith (311)
4. Lukas Högberg (306)
5. Elliot Simmonds (300)
Women
1. Kristin Holte (380)
2. Samantha Briggs (350)
3. Jamie Greene (345)
4. Annie Thorisdottir (341)
5. Anna Fragkou (311)
Teams
1. CrossFit JST (370)
2. CrossFit Reykjavik (365)
3. Maxpuls Spartans (340)
4. CrossFit Fabriken (338)
5. Soyuz Team (322)
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