The Leaderboard for 18.2 closed last week, but winners had yet to be given their official nod—until now. Penalties shook up the standings at the top during the score-validation process, and there are new winners for Week 2.
The Men
In 18.2a, three men cleaned 400 lb. or more.
Cleaning this amount of weight is impressive even when fresh, but two of these men—Ioannis Papadopoulos (402-lb. clean) and Denis Catana (401-lb. clean)—accomplished this feat after first finishing 18.2, a ladder of dumbbell squats and burpees, in well under six minutes.
The worldwide win for the men in 18.2 went to Nicolai Duus, a 28-year-old from Denmark. Duus blazed through the dumbbell squats and bar-facing burpees and finished with an impressive time of 3:44.
Originally the 18.2 win appeared to go to 20-year-old Colten Mertens, who logged a time of 3:39. However, Mertens ultimately was assessed a major penalty for lack of hip extension in the squats. Two other athletes who also were temporarily at the top of the Leaderboard after 18.2, Aleksandar Ilin and Mateusz Zajączkowski, both received penalties for lack of depth in the squats.
When the dust settled and all three scores were taken into account, a very familiar name rose to the top of the men’s leaderboard after Week 2.
Mat Fraser finished 49th in 18.2, with a time of 4:02, and he earned 21st in 18.2a by cleaning 380 lb. He hasn’t won a workout yet, but Fraser is likely not budging from the top spot. He has 74 points overall, 203 points less than second-place Alex Vigneault, who took third place worldwide in the 2017 Open but then withdrew just before the East Regional due to a partial pectoral tear.
In third place after Week 2 was Anthony Davis, who took fifth in the 2017 Open but elected to compete on Timberwolf CrossFit’s team, which took 8th at the 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games. If this is the year that 23-year-old Davis decides to go individual, he will compete against the Central East and North Central athletes at the Central Regional.
If you retested 18.2 and only improved your time by a few seconds, you’re in good company. Noah Ohlsen redid 18.2 and 18.2a, after going head-to-head against Patrick Vellner in the Open announcement live show, and he improved his score by three seconds for a time of 4:02. The retest was worth it, however, because Ohlsen increased his clean by 20 lb., with a final weight of 331 lb.
Vellner also repeated 18.2, improving his score by 11 seconds (4:06) and adding 18 lb. to his clean, lifting 343 lb.
The Women
Ashleigh Corby, a 28-year-old from Australia, took the top 18.2 time for the women, finishing in 3:50. She then cleaned 206 lb. in 18.2a.
After finishing 18.2 in 6:36, Chelsea Sellers cleaned 276 lb. to take first in 18.2a, lifting 1 lb. more than second-place Brazilian athlete Luana Soares. Soares, who finished 18.2 in a mere 5:40, initially logged a heavier lift than Sellers on 18.2a, but that lift ultimately was disqualified because it was completed after time expired.
Looking at the scores for both 18.2 and 18.2a, two completely different physical tests, demonstrates just how fierce the competitive CrossFit scene is today. The woman who achieved the top score in 18.2 still cleaned over 200 lb., and the woman with the heaviest clean in the world for 18.2a was able to finish 18.2 in under 7:00. Simply put—if you want to compete in CrossFit, you have to be good at it all.
After Week 1, the top three women were all former Games athletes competing for a spot in the Europe Regional.
After Week 2, two less familiar names were in the top three on the women’s leaderboard. Emma Ferreira held third place. The 23-year-old from New York is competing in her fourth Open; she finished 39th in the North East in 2017. Carolyne Prevost, an athlete from Ontario, Canada, was in second. She has competed at Regionals every year since 2013, and in 2017, she had her highest Regional placing, finishing 10th overall.
Cassidy Lance-McWherter, a four-time Games athlete who finished 12th in 2017, was in first overall. She was the only former Games athlete in the top three.
In fourth place overall was Kara Saunders (formerly Webb), the second-place finisher at the 2017 Games.
What about Tia-Clair Toomey, the 2017 Fittest Woman on Earth? She was in 29th place worldwide after a 402nd-place finish in 18.1. In the 2017 Open, Toomey finished 18th worldwide. Her previous lowest placing was 103rd on 17.4.
After Week 2, Toomey was in fifth overall in the Australasia Region, and, while it’s exciting to be at the top of the world leaderboard, regional qualification is what matters for those looking to advance to the Games.
Teens and Masters
Athletes of all ages, Rx’d and scaled, had a level playing field on 18.2a. This means you can compare your 1-rep-max clean with the oldest and youngest athletes in the Open.
After finishing 18.2, 60-year-old Susan Rathbun stepped up to the barbell and cleaned 160 lb. This is Rathbun’s sixth Open, and during that time, the woman from Massachusetts has moved through three different age groups since starting in the 50-54 Division in 2012.
Sixty-one-year-old Michael Bridges cleaned 256 lb. to win 18.2a for the Men’s 60+ Division. This feat is not surprising after taking a look at Bridges’ athlete page. His long list of impressive athletic accomplishments includes four gold medals and five world records in powerlifting at the Pan American Championships in 2009, where he competed in the Open division at the age of 52. He put up an impressive 804-lb. back squat, the heaviest in the entire meet. He also took 12th at the CrossFit Games in 2014 and 15th in 2015, both in the 55-59 Division.
Looking at the Open’s youngest athletes, 14-year-old Morgan McCullough cleaned 315 lb., winning 18.2a for his division, and 15-year-old Sofia Tweede cleaned 225 lb., placing first in 18.2a for her division, as well.
In the Masters Women 35-39 Division, Valeria Fontán had the heaviest clean (258 lb.) to win 18.2a, while Samantha Briggs won 18.2 with a time of 4:16. Justin King took second place in his age group (Masters Men 35-39 Division) in 18.2a with a 376-lb. clean—only 3 lb. under fellow 35-39 Division athlete and 18.2a winner, Konstantinos Papadopoulos of Greece.
