Week 1 of the 2016 CrossFit Team Series, presented by Compex, has come to a close and it’s déjà vu. Team Reebok Reunited sits on top after taking a sixth-, a second-, and two third-place finishes in the four events.
2015 Games champ Ben Smith, three-time Games athlete Emily Bridgers, five-time top-10 Games finisher Scott Panchik, and seven-time Games athlete Stacie Tovar make up the quartet that took the Team Series championship in 2014. In 2015, Bridgers, Smith and Tovar took the title with Canadian Games athlete Paul Tremblay in Panchik’s place. Back then, they were Team Reebok Classics.
Close behind, Rogue Red sits in second. 2015 California Regional winner Dan Bailey, 2014 Games champ Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, perennial Games competitor Margaux Alvarez, and 2010 Games champ Graham Holmberg comprise the team that came close to taking the top spot this week.
Event 1 ran as a relay with male/female pairs completing 21, 15 and 9 reps of synchronized burpees, overhead squats and chest-to-bar pull-ups. Reebok Reunited finished in 9:52, just 12 seconds faster than Rogue Red. Watch Reebok Reunited complete Event 1 in the video below.
In Event 2—an individual relay of double-unders, toes-to-bars, deadlifts and box jump overs—Reebok Reunited took second to Rogue Red, finishing just 28 seconds slower. With an athlete average of 3:29, Reebok Reunited was edged out by Rogue Red’s athlete average of 3:22.
In Event 3, teams were challenged as female/female pairs and male/male pairs to complete max reps of calories on the rower and shoulder-to-overheads. Reebok Reunited took third to Rogue Red’s second, logging 694 reps while Rogue Red scored 717.
Perhaps it was Rogue Red’s decision to pass the bar from the overhead position versus Reebok Reunited’s strategy of dropping the bar for each transition that allowed the team to log a few extra reps. Watch Rogue Red complete Event 3 in the video below.
In Event 4, it was time to lift heavy. All four athletes had to set their 1-rep-max hang power clean in a 10-minute window. Reebok Reunited outlifted Rogue Red by a full 35 lb., totalling 1,120 lb., while Rogue Red tallied 1,085 lb. Alvarez and Leblanc-Bazinet beat Reebok Reunited’s women by 15 lb., but Panchik and Smith more than made up the difference by lifting 55 lb. more than Bailey and Holmberg.
Two-time Games athlete Brooke Wells, 2016 Affiliate Cup champ CrossFit Mayhem Freedom teammate Lindy Barber, and Games athletes and brothers Alex and Jacob Anderson make up third-placed Team Kill Cliff. Arguably the most impressive of Kill Cliff’s Week 1 performances was Event 4 where the team totaled 1,170 lb. with the men lifting 340 lb. (Jacob) and 360 lb. (Alex) and the women pulling 235 lb. apiece (Barber and Wells). Watch Team Kill Cliff complete Event 4 in the video below.
Down in fourth are a few athletes who are used to being on top. Rogue Fitness Team Black is made up of 2016 California Regional winner Josh Bridges, four-time Games champion Rich Froning, 2016 repeat Games champ Katrin Davidsdottir and two-time Fittest Woman on Earth Annie Thorisdottir.
Despite a first-place finish in Event 3 where the team totaled 750 reps, an eighth place on Event 1 and a 14th on Event 4 moved the team down the leaderboard for now. But if there’s one thing we know about the athletes on this team, it’s that they don’t like to lose. Without a doubt, they’ll be ready for Week 2.
This year, with a $151,000 prize purse disbursed among the top 15, these teams are hoping to climb the leaderboard or hang onto their spots throughout Week 2.
5th FitAid Misfits
6th Team Rogue Unicorns
7th The Bell Province
8th Cool Whip and a Chocolate Chip
9th Jersey Shore's Finest
10th Team RXSG
11th Team Reebok CrossFit One
12th Team Wags & Weights
13th CrossFit Parallax
14th CompWOD
15th Surrey Girls
Week 2 of the Team Series starts Oct. 4. Click here for more details.