Mat Fraser needs another CrossFit Games win if he wants access to the Two-Timers Club.
Once inside, he’ll rub knee sleeves with the likes of Rich Froning, Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir. He’ll also sip some fine coconut water with masters athletes such as Will Powell and Scott Olson, as well as two-time teen champ Nicholas Paladino.
Paladino, of course, has leveled up and is now a boy among men in this year’s Individual competition—a boy with a 585-lb. deadlift and a desire to win another CrossFit Games title, this time in the open division.
In 2015, Paladino won the Teenage Boys 16-17 Division of the CrossFit Games by taking first in 4 of 7 events and finishing 22 points up on the older Mickael Sarrazin. In 2016, Paladino logged three event wins, three seconds and one third on his way to a 38-point victory over George Sterner and a second straight championship.
When asked what he’d like the next five years to bring, Paladino answers like a guy who likes the view from the top of the podium: “Hopefully another championship or two.”
Over the last two days of the East Regional, he’ll continue to compete against Fraser and find out how realistic that dream is.
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Back in the day, a lot of people were awed by the fitness of guys like Chris Spealler and Josh Everett. As impressive as they were, we all wondered what might have been had they found CrossFit as teens—or earlier.
Hell, Rich Froning would be a five-time CrossFit Games champ if he knew how to climb a rope in 2011.
As the first generation of CrossFit Kids comes of age, they’re letting the dust settle on the pec deck. They’re posting 270-lb. snatches to Snapchat and throwing dumbbells overhead instead of curling them, all the while hinting at where the Sport of Fitness is going in the next decade.
“This is the first ‘adult’ competition,” Paladino said in the warm-up area Thursday, much the same way a kid might tell you it’s his first R-rated movie.
He knows he needs to improve, but he’s realistic. When asked about his lifting goals, he offers numbers that seem too low given his youth and current strength. He’d like to add 30 lb. to his snatch to hit 300, and 15 lb. to his deadlift for an even 6 bills. The numbers are gaudy, but they aren’t far off.
We’re dealing with a new breed of animal here—and Paladino isn’t alone.
George Sterner, second to Paladino in the teen comp last year, finished fourth in the Open in the North Central Region. He’ll compete in the Central Regional next weekend. Sterner, 17, finished 18th in the Open worldwide—the youngest athlete in top 20. To put that into perspective, Allison Weiss, 2016 teen champ, finished 646th worldwide, while 2015 champ Isabella Vallejo finished 641st. They might not be on the same level as Paladino and Sterner, but they’re very near the tip of the spear and likely to make it to the very pointy part.
Check out these numbers, with the caution that Fraser left no doubt last year about how special he actually is. There’s more to CrossFit than stats, but they’re fun to chew on.
Mat Fraser Nicholas Paladino George Sterner
Age 27 18 18
Height 5’7” 5’9” 5’8”
Weight 190 190 185
Squat 485 425 440
Deadlift 500 585 455
Snatch 315 270 280
Clean and Jerk 375 350 340
Fran 2:07 2:45 2:26
Grace 1:18 1:50 -
Worldwide Open rank 1 (40 pts.) 170 (1822 pts.) 18 (472 pts.)
North East Open rank 1 20 (North Central)
17.1 10:23 10:05 11:06
17.2 222 reps 215 reps 216 reps
17.3 17:47 167 rep 18:17
17.4 327 reps 294 reps 283 reps
17.5 6:24 7:59 6:53
(all weights in pounds)
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In the first event on Friday, Paladino finished fourth, about 35 seconds behind Fraser, though the two were in different heats. In Event 2, Fraser bested the younger athlete by more than a minute even though Paladino had actually beaten Fraser on Open Workout 17.1—also containing dumbbell snatches—by putting up the fifth-best time in the world.
Paladino knows he still has a lot of work to do—but he’s doing it. He managed to train with Fraser a few times this year, and he said the champ’s intensity made an impression.
“Just from watching him work out, I’ve learned what it takes to be a champion,” Paladino said.
He also realized he needs to become more efficient.
“Everything looked perfect and seemed kind of easy,” he said of Fraser’s movement.
Paladino would love to be in possession of a ticket to Wisconsin on Sunday night. In fact, he’d prefer that to his CrossFit Games medals.
Qualifying as an 18-year-old would be “the greatest feeling of accomplishment yet,” he said.
* * *
“I think we’re making it more of an exciting sport because now you get to see where people are at after starting young,” Paladino said.
He isn’t wrong. Watching an 18-year-old hang with the big dogs—Paladino is ninth after two events—you feel like you’re watching a thunderstorm roll in. The protein shake on the table is quivering, and something large is approaching—maybe the kind of athlete who will make us say “Rich Froning was amazing but … .”
Fraser himself is aware that the next era will feature lifelong CrossFit athletes rather than Johnny-come-latelys who drop football helmets and baseball gloves at the gym door.
“This generation of kids that are coming up is just doing CrossFit—kind of the same path as MMA,” said Fraser, who is atop the men’s Leaderboard. “A lot of guys were wrestlers or boxers or anything like that, and then they went to MMA. Now they’re starting out as MMA. … I think it’s going to be incredible if the fundamentals get pounded into (young CrossFit athletes) early. You have good technique, strategizing, working weaknesses, not just doing stuff that looks good on Instagram.”
Of course, the younger athletes will still rule social media.
If you’re going to ditch the bench press to snatch an 80-lb. dumbbell, you obviously have one hand free for Snapchat.
Men
1. Mat Fraser (195)
2. Patrick Vellner (180)
3. Tim Paulson (175)
4. Max Bragg (155)
5. Austin Spencer (151)
Women
1. Carol-Ann Reason-Thibault (200)
2. Katrin Davidsdottir (185)
3. Kari Pearce (166)
4. Dani Horan (159)
5. Chelsey Hughes (155)
Teams
1. Team CrossFit Milford (385)
2. Team Back Bay (380)
3. Reebok CrossFit ONE (350)
4. CrossFit Queens (321)
5. Pro1 Montreal (307)
For complete details, visit the Leaderboard.
