Regional Report: Handstand Push-Ups Knock Many Athletes Out

May 8, 2012

Manuela Echeverri

Weak handstand push-ups knock several top athletes in the Open out of competition in Latin America.

With the sun shining bright and the expectation building, Latin American athletes arrived to the “Canchas Panamericanas” ready to take on the weekend. The teams were the first to walk into the arena and the crowd was ready for a show. 

Teams
 
CrossFit Santiago won Heat 1 with a time of 7:04. Having done two trial runs of the workout at home turned out to be a good strategy for this team. Every single rep was planned and transitions were smooth. 
 
The next heat brought the “big dogs” of the region. CrossFit Cayman and CrossFit 7 Mile were neck to neck throughout the workout and were followed closely by CrossFit Guayaquil. At the end, fast transitions and Jenn Chailler´s handstand push-ups were what set Team CrossFit 7 Mile apart and allowed them to win the event with a time of 5:34. This Team 7 Mile strategy paid off as the new team in town sits in 1st place after Event 1. CrossFit Guayaquil´s 4th place finished surprised many spectators since this Ecuador team was favorite coming into Regionals. 
 
1st Place: CrossFit 7 Mile (5:34)
2nd Place: CrossFit Cayman (6:08)
3rd Place: CrossFit Santiago (7:05) 
 
Women
 
As the individual women took the floor, the first heat proved that handstand push-ups are still a movement women in the region struggle with. Heat 2 brought plenty of excitement as Deborah Shrem walked towards the barbell. This Panamanian is only 14 years old with less than a year of CrossFit under her belt. The deadlifts proved to be very heavy for Shrem, but this former gymnast was patient and flew through 21 handstand push-ups to be the first athlete in her heat to be back to the bar for the 15 deadlifts. 
 
Vivian Sakamoto won the second heat and sits in 3rd overall after Event 1. Fan favorite Nega Ibarra from Argentina won her heat, but was a few handstand push-ups shy of finishing the workout in the allotted 9 minutes. 
 
The crowd grew as the top women in the region lined up for the last heat. All eyes were on Anita Pravatti. Tarasa Barnett started out strong and was the first to the handstand push-ups, followed closely by Pravatti and Selene Saldivar. Barnett had a very efficient and tight kip which allowed her to be the first athlete back on the bar and then back to the handstand push-ups. It seemed Barnett was going to be the winner of the heat, but on the last set of handstand push-ups she was “no repped” several times. 
 
Selene Saldivar came from behind and won the heat with a time of 5:21 all while wearing red TOMS shoes. However, Saldivar has withdrawn from the competition due to a previous neck injury. 
The big surprise of the day came from Anita Pravatti as she was unable to complete the 21 handstand push-ups, therefore not moving forward to do Workout 2.
 
The female winner of the Open in the region could not survive workout 1 and this leaves the question of how good of an indicator the Open is to predict overall fitness in this particular region. 
 
1st Place: Selene Saldivar   5:21
2nd Place: Tarasa Barnett   6:11
3rd Place: Vivian Sakamoto 9:02 
 
Men
 
In Heats 1 and 2 for the men, most athletes were not able to complete the workout. Heat 3 was won was by Hector Bohorquez from Raza CrossFit, followed closely by fellow Brazilian Mario Barone. 
 
As the heats went by, more athletes were able to complete the workout in the 9 minutes and some competitive times started to appear. Heat 5´s winner, Francisco Javier won with a time of 2:58 and he became the time to beat in the remaining heats. Orlando Trejo, David Andrade and other top athletes of the region tried to beat Javier’s time, but unsuccessfully. 
 
Trejo came the closest with a time of 3:03, the crowd really supported this Peruvian athlete and it was a surprise to many that he did not win the first event as it was expected for him to sweep the Region and take 1st place in all of the WODs. 
 
1st Place: Francisco Javier  2:58 
2nd Place: Orlando Trejo: 3:03 
3rd Place: Bernardo Alcivar  3:57