The 2017 Online Qualifier is behind us and the top 20 masters and teenagers from each division will be invited to compete at the 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin, Aug. 3-6.
This year’s Qualifier challenged athletes with a grueling chipper, an Open repeat, a Fran-like sprint and a spicy 2-rounder.
This Games season has already produced so many impressive performances, including 60+ women completing muscle-ups, and well-known athletes qualifying for Regionals as individuals and making it to the Games via the Qualifier. I’ll expand on a few of the most notable highlights from the Qualifier below.
Teenage Girls 14-15
For the top athletes in the Teenage Girls 14-15 Division, winning a workout was the cornerstone of their strong performances.
Devyn Kim, the Open winner in this division, kept the ball rolling in the Online Qualifier finishing all four workouts inside the top 10. An impressive win in Workout 1’s chipper helped her keep a narrow lead over second-placed Nina Ladvenicova. Kim completed 22 muscle-ups before the time cap and logged a tie-break time of 15:15.
Ladvenicova won two events as well. Close wins in Workouts 2 and 3 helped boost her up into second overall after finishing fifth in the Open. The toes-to-bar, double-under, and squat-clean triplet of Workout 2 proved to be no problem for Ladvenicova as she finished all 430 reps in 17:19.
Reagan Henry rounds out the top three taking home a victory in Workout 4—heavy deadlifts, deficit handstand push-ups and front squats—with a time of 3:34.
Teenage Boys 14-15
Although there was some shuffling, the top 20 remained mostly unchanged after the Qualifier in the Teenage Boys 14-15 Division. Of the top 20 athletes in the Open, 18 of them managed to hold onto a top-20 spot in the Qualifier and earn themselves a spot at the CrossFit Games.
Nadav Peled (16th) and Nikita Mihailov (17th) were the two outsiders after the Open that managed to crash the Games party. Peled moved up nine spots, and Mihailov made up 12 spots to secure their invites to Madison.
Dallin Pepper claimed the top spot in the Qualifier after winning Workouts 2 and 3. In Workout 3’s sprint of shoulder-to-overheads and chest-to-bar pull-ups, he was the only athlete to go sub-2 minutes, and he never finished lower than sixth in any of the four workouts.
Teenage Girls 16-17
Haley Adams is on a tear. Adams has won both the Open and the Online Qualifier, but more impressively, she won seven of the nine workouts she’s completed across the two stages of competition so far. She was 1 rep away from winning Workout 2 and sweeping this stage of competition.
In second place, Kaela Stephano leads an experienced group of young women who will be chasing down Adams at the Games. Seven of the remaining nine women in the top 10 have competed at the Games. Stephano, along with Shelby Neal (third) and Taylor Babb (ninth), managed to qualify while also competing in weightlifting for Team USA, which has included weight cuts not normally considered conducive to CrossFit competition.
This division should be a fun one to watch at the Games with so many talented multi-sport athletes.
Teenage Boys 16-17
I’m not surprised that Angelo DiCicco is the clear front-runner in the Teenage Boys 16-17 Division. The 2015 champ in the 14-15 Division, and third-place finisher in the 16-17 Division last year, put on a clinic in Workouts 1 and 2.
In Workout 2, DiCicco managed to successfully clean the 315-lb. barbell, and his time of 18:06 in Workout 1 beat athletes such as Neal Maddox, Kyle Kasperbauer, Chris Spealler, as well as every other man in the 35-39 Division.
The rest of the qualifying field has a solid international presence. In total, 12 of the remaining 19 qualifiers are from outside the United States and include athletes from Australia, Spain, Brazil, Israel, the U.K., Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Canada and Russia.
Additionally, Vincent Ramirez, Evan Haines, Dylan Kade, Noah Casey and Zach Mayer were all able to qualify for the Games in their first year in this division after aging up. All five were at the Games in the 14-15 Division last year.
Masters Men 35-39
As I suspected, Neal Maddox walked away from the Online Qualifier in first place, and was the only athlete in his division to finish every workout inside the top 10. There were four other former individual Games qualifiers that made the top 20 as well: Kyle Kasperbauer, Guido Trinidad, Armand McCormick and Chris Spealler will all be receiving an invite to Madison.
Other qualifying athletes in this division include Aaron Bielefeldt, Nuno Costa and Alexandre Jolivet.
Masters Women 35-39
Sam Briggs and Becca Voigt are the two biggest names in this division to qualify, but for now I’m going to assume their focus is to qualify as individuals.
A former Games athlete in the team division, Stephanie Roy was the only other athlete besides Briggs to finish every workout inside the top 10. Roy also holds the title of Fittest Law Enforcement Officer after winning the Service Open in her category.
Perennial Regional athlete Kirsten Pedri will be competing at the California Regional, but earned a Games invite in this category behind a first-place finish in Workout 2. Pedri finished the triplet in 19:05 after being time-capped in the workout in last year’s Open.
Masters Men 40-44
Somebody forgot to tell Robbie Perovich that Shawn Ramirez is the king of this division. Perovich built upon his win in the Open by winning the Online Qualifier in his first year of masters competition. He must like the number three because he finished three workouts in third place, which put him 20 points ahead of second-placed Ramirez.
Ramirez will be looking forward to the Games where the slates are wiped clean after moving up the Leaderboard into second in the Qualifier. Ramirez’s attempt at a four-peat will be stiffly contested by Perovich and athletes like former individual Games athlete Yurii Hanson, 2016 runner-up Mike Kern and Giulio Silvino.
Silvino finished third in the Qualifier, and amazingly enough was the only athlete in the top 20 to win one of the four workouts.
Additionally, Tiago Lopes deserves special acknowledgement for setting the new record for lowest finishing athlete from the Open (74th) to move up and qualify for the Games.
Masters Women 40-44
Helen Harding and Annie Sakamoto have picked up right where they left off last year. The top two athletes in the Masters Women 40-44 Division at the 2016 Games finished first and second in the Online Qualifier. The only thing that could prevent another epic battle is if Harding manages to qualify as an individual out of the Pacific Regional.
2013 individual Games qualifier Michelle Crawford qualified in her first year of masters competition, and will have the distinction of being able to compete at the Games as an individual, a master and on a team.
Kendall Burnham came within one clean of finishing Workout 2. Finish or not, the fact that a 42-year-old woman was able to get through 125 toes-to-bars and still clean 205 lb. six times makes for one of the more impressive performances in her division.
Masters Men 45-49
Once again Bill Grundler is atop the Leaderboard in the Masters Men 45-49 Division and his brother James will also be joining him at the Games in Madison.
What stood out to me most, though, in this division was how many athletes who were outside of the top 20 in the Open that managed to crack the top 20 in the Qualifier.
In total, eight athletes were able to move up into a qualifying spot, highlighted by some significant jumps on the Leaderboard. Bob Ruano (third), Kevin Becker (14th), and Eirik Solen (19th) all were able to move up more than 20 spots to earn themselves invites to the Games.
Masters Women 45-49
Cheryl Brost is once again dominating the Masters Women 45-49 Division after winning the Qualifier for the second year. Brost, 46, will also be competing as an individual in the California Regional after receiving an invite during the additional rounds of Regional invites.
The top eight in the Open in this division also happened to be the top eight in the Qualifier due to a unique mixture of experience and new blood. Kylie Massi (fourth), and Tonia Osborne (sixth) both finished in the top four at the Games last year, and the remaining five women are all new to the division after aging up.
Becky Conzelman will return to the Games if she pleases after finishing 12th overall in the Qualifier. The former individual Games athlete, and podium finisher in the 40-44 Division has aged up into this category and moved up into the top 20 after taking 29th in the Open.
Masters Men 50-54
This division for the men seems to be the most wide open heading into the Games in terms of who could take the top spot.
The top athlete from the Open, Marcel Stoeckli, did not submit scores for three of the workouts, and two of the top finishers in the Qualifier, Kevin Koester and Glenn Waters, were outside of the top 10 coming into this stage.
Last year’s Champ Ron Ortiz (10th), and runner-up Marco Casali (fourth) will also be in the mix come August. Every single qualifier had a finish outside the top 15. That type of parity in the division could lead to some fireworks on the Leaderboard at the Games.
Masters Women 50-54
Shellie Edington won her second Online Qualifier in convincing fashion. Edington finished every workout inside the top five, and looks to be in a good position to win her second straight Games title in this division.
Behind Edington are a group of eight to 10 athletes with Games experience who could battle it out for one of the podium spots. Marion Valkenburg finished every event inside the top 10, and Amy Mandelbaum won Workout 2 impressively as the only woman in this division to clean the 175-lb. barbell.
Top Open finisher Lisa Osborne dropped to fourth overall after the Qualifier, but should be happy that everyone starts with a clean slate in Madison.
Masters Men 55-59
Three-time champion Will Powell (seventh) will have his hands full trying to win his fourth-straight title this year in Wisconsin. There are a ton of talented athletes in this division who qualified and you have to look no further than the top three in the Qualifier.
Brig Edwards won his second Online Qualifier after previously winning in 2014 in the Masters Men 50-54 Division. Edwards is a three-time podium finisher, and two-time runner-up in the 50-54 Division. Now that he’s aged up and is the young guy in the group, he poses a big threat to Powell’s fight for a four-peat.
Dennis Cole, father of individual Games athlete Chad Cole, and Steve Parsoneault also stand in the way. Cole blasted Workout 3 in 1:51, and Parsoneault used two top-five finishes as both athletes moved up into the top three overall.
Masters Women 55-59
Contrary to some of the other divisions, the Masters Women 55-59 Division was the model of stability. Fourteen of the top-15 finishers in the Qualifier were also top 15 in the Open. The lone exception, Bonnie Lynn, was 16th.
Reigning champion in this division Mary Beth Prodromides won Workout 3 and never finished lower than fourth en route to winning the Qualifier. Behind her were four Games veterans including last year’s runner-up, Bianca Williams.
Lynne Knapman continued her historic streak by qualifying for her eighth CrossFit Games. Knapman is the only masters athlete to qualify for and compete at every single CrossFit Games masters competition since it’s inception in 2010.
Masters Men 60+
If there was any question about who is the top contender in the Masters Men 60+ division, David Hippensteel put that to rest in the Qualifier. Hippensteel finished with just 10 points, 30 points ahead of second. He had two wins in Workouts 2 and 3, and finished second in the other two.
One of Hippensteel’s second-place finishes came at the hands of John Mariotti, who finished second overall and won Workout 1 after reeling off 20 muscle-ups before the time cap. Robert Caslin and Stephen Angove, the other two podium finishers in this division from the 2016 Games, also managed to qualify and give themselves another shot at a CrossFit Games medal.
Three-time masters champion Scott Olson qualified for his seventh CrossFit Games.
Masters Women 60+
Patty Failla had arguably the most impressive performance of any masters athlete in the qualifier. Failla won three of the four workouts, and finished in third place in the other. Combined with her win in the Open, she finished with just 7 points.
Failla, along with 10th-place finisher Alison Locke were the only two athletes to complete a muscle-up in Workout 1. This year was the first year the 60+ women were required to perform a muscle-up in the Qualifier.
Marcia Yager rebounded from not qualifying last year with three top-five finishes to end in a tie for second overall in the Qualifier. Last year’s runner-up Lidia Beer also finished in the tie for second, and 2016 champ Shaun Havard finished fourth. The three women were separated by just 5 points and should make the race for the podium in August an exciting one.