Clutch performances.
That’s what the weekend boiled down to for the Europe Regional’s men and teams at the Velodrom in Berlin, Germany.
Russia qualified CrossFit Games athletes for the first time, with 23-year-old Regional rookie Roman Khrennikov winning the entire competition and 34-year-old Andrey Ganin finishing fourth. This was Ganin’s third Regional appearance as an Individual.
Meanwhile, the same five women mostly remained atop the Leaderboard throughout three days of competition, though their order shuffled. Two-time Games champion Annie Thorisdottir clinched the Regional win with a second-place finish in the final event.
Athletes across all divisions represented 21 countries at this year’s reintroduced Europe Regional.
MEN
Throughout most of the weekend’s six events, spectators were shocked to see six-time Regional competitor and four-time Games athlete Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson compete in early heats as he struggled with an old knee injury.
Finally, after Event 5—with handstand push-ups, toes-to-bars, Assault Bike calories, dumbbell box step-overs and dumbbell overhead lunges—the man known as “BKG” finally broke into the top five.
“This man had a rough start to the weekend. We’re not used to seeing this man in the last heat,” an emcee started as he prepared to announce who earned the fifth and final Games-qualifying spot.
As the crowd waited with bated breath, a man yelled from the stands.
“BKG, baby!”
The crowd erupted in laughter as fans throughout the stadium waved Icelandic flags.
Lukas Högberg, meanwhile, will return to the Games after missing the fifth qualifying spot last year by a mere 2 points at the Meridian Regional.
“I feel really good,” said the smiling Swede. “I’m so excited.”
Although he began to doubt himself after finishing sixth last year, he got a boost of confidence once the weekend started. The three-time Games athlete knew he had the capacity to make it back.
“My goal was to qualify and focus on myself and not worry about anybody else or what they’re doing or how good they are,” Högberg explained.
He didn’t want the mental stress of allowing himself to have those thoughts. Instead, he knew he just had one thing to do.
“Fucking bring it,” he said with a grin.
WOMEN
The Games-qualifying women saw one new name among their ranks: Laura Horvath.
The Hungarian athlete has competed in three Regionals as an Individual, finishing 11th in 2017 and seventh in 2016. She finished 4 points behind Thorisdottir in second place.
After hearing the emcee announce her name, she said she felt “amazing.”
“Everything turned out really well,” the 21-year-old said.
Like Thorisdottir, Horvath never finished any event outside of fifth place.
Meanwhile, Kristin Holte, last year’s Meridian Regional winner, said she took unsuccessful chances throughout the weekend. One example: going too hard on the Assault Bike in Event 5. She finished the event in eighth place overall. Still, she learned from her mistakes and is happy for the knowledge.
“I’m going to the Games more confident than ever,” said the Norwegian. “I’m really excited for the upcoming training for the Games.”
TEAMS
At the start of Day 3, 50 points separated teams sitting in first through sixth place at the Europe Regional. It was still anybody’s game.
During the final heat of the final event featuring 144 handstand push-ups and a 144-ft. Worm lunge, Russian team Soyuz CrossFit edged out Team Aarhus CrossFit of Denmark with great exultation. Neither team qualified for the Games.
It was nearly impossible to guess results from the sidelines.
“This is gonna be super close,” announced an emcee to the crowd.
Minutes later—with results in hand—the same emcee reiterated the point spread.
“It just came down to the wire.”
Maxpuls Spartans—the first Norwegian team to qualify for the CrossFit Games, in 2017—felt little hope of making it again.
“We haven’t trained too much together,” team member Morten Almaas explained.
Throughout the year, squad members were so busy with other activities and obligations that they didn’t even practice a single Regional event.
But the team did have one thing going for it: All of its members were the same ones who took Maxpuls Spartans to the 2017 Games, where it finished 16th. That was enough to win the Regional by 20 points.
“Surprised and amazed,” said a clearly shocked Almaas when asked how he felt. “We qualified (for Regionals) as the 12th team in the Open.”
As Almaas spoke, the female members of the team—Mari Rotmo and Sol Anette Waaler—smiled and held their faces in disbelief. Jørgen Skevik, the other male team member, simply laughed and looked giddy.
“We can’t believe it.”
* * *
Men
1. Roman Khrennikov (500)
2. Adrian Mundwiler (482)
3. Lukas Högberg (456)
4. Andrey Ganin (448)
5. Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson (426)
Women
1. Annie Thorisdottir (544)
2. Laura Horvath (540)
3. Ragnheiður Sara Sigmundsdottir (508)
4. Kristin Holte (508)
5. Camilla Salomonsson Hellman (444)
Teams
1. Maxpuls Spartans (476)
2. Team Punt Uit (456)
3. Team RXperformance (454)
4. CrossFit Fabriken (438)
5. Team Butchers Lab (434)
For complete details, visit the Leaderboard.
