The first workout of the 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games Open challenged athletes with a piece of equipment never before seen in the five-week competition: the dumbbell. Though many knew a dumbbell movement was coming—athletes were warned before the Open began—exactly how the dumbbell would show up in an Open workout was still a mystery.
While many were surprised that dumbbells would be included in the Open, a brief look at history reveals that dumbbells have been a CrossFit staple since the beginning. CrossFit Founder Greg Glassman advised us all to use them more often in 2016. The one-arm dumbbell snatch appeared on the CrossFit scene as early as 2004 in the CrossFit Journal, and made its Open debut last week.
Workout 17.1 was a couplet of one-arm dumbbell snatches and burpee box jump-overs. Within a 20-minute window, athletes would attempt to complete 10 snatches and 15 burpee box jump-overs, then 20 snatches and 15 burpee box jump-overs, then 30 and 15, 40 and 15, and 50 and 15.
It was a tall order for Week 1 but the community took the workout by storm, and one man and one woman came out on top when the final dumbbell was snatched and the final box jumped over.
After the live announcement of 17.1, 2013 Games champ Sam Briggs’ score sat atop the women’s leaderboard all weekend. It looked like no one would knock her out.
But then a sub-10 time appeared. Somebody had beaten Briggs’ time, completing the couplet in 9:47.
Oh, and it was Briggs again. She had given 17.1 a second go.
But just as certainty seemed to set in on Briggs’ victory, a new time appeared on top: 9:46.
Sara Armanius of CrossFit Fabriken bested Briggs by 1 second. She more than cut the time cap in half, and she is your *unofficial Week 1 winner for the women.
Armanius’ speedy snatch technique and dizzying burpee pace were nothing short of amazing as she chased the time to beat. Perhaps not a household name—yet—Armanius, 27, took 44th place overall in the 2016 worldwide Open and went on to take 16th at the Meridian Regional, where she notched three top-10 finishes.
Nicolai Duus of CrossFit Nordvest *unofficially takes the top spot for the men in Week 1, posting a blazing time of 9:41 on the spicy couplet.
More impressive than his time is the fact that Duus, 27, has never competed in the CrossFit Games Open until now. It’s safe to say he’s off to a great start.
Switching hands in the air at a rapid pace and moving efficiently on the box helped Duus log the fastest time in the world among men or women.
His pace never slowed on the snatches—in fact it seemed to speed up toward the end—and he held steady on the burpee box jump-overs.
With two European winners, 17.1 is *unofficially in the books. Now it’s time to look ahead to Week 2. What will Director of the Games Dave Castro have in store for the community this week? Don’t miss the live announcement of Open Workout 17.2 right here on Games.CrossFit.com, where fifth-fittest woman on Earth Kari Pearce will go head to head with 2016 Games rookie Kristi Eramo at Rogue Fitness in Columbus, Ohio.
*All standings are unofficial until validation and video review.
