Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir is trying to have a Froning Sunday.
Froning, the legendary four-time Games champion, was known for finishing strong, and in his last two years of individual competition, he won all three events on Sunday.
Davidsdottir was Froning-esque in taking first in two of three events in this morning’s test of handstand walking, running and plow pulling, and she’s now close to joining Froning and countrywoman Annie Thorisdottir as the only people to win the CrossFit Games more than once.
Davidsdottir was expected to take first in Handstand Walk, and she did even though she bumped into a tackling-dummy lane marker. She wobbled, kept her balance and continued, making it to the end of the field unbroken. Former gymnast Kari Pearce was less than a second behind.
Davidsdottir stayed competitive in Suicide Sprint by taking 10th. The overall leader going into the morning, Tia-Clair Toomey took first in the sprint, balancing the Icelander’s win.
Davidsdottir seized both the handles and perhaps the day in The Plow. She staved off a late charge by Sam Briggs to take her second win of the morning. Toomey was sixth.
Davidsdottir, helped off by media and medical staff but smiling in the tunnel under the arena, was the big winner of the morning. She hopped over Toomey to take the top spot, with the Australian 11 points behind. The trading of event wins by the top two left Sara Sigmundsdottir the odd woman out, though she retained third overall. Her 18th-, 21st- and third-place finishes left her 49 points back of Davidsdottir and 38 back of Toomey.
During the briefing after the event, Davidsdottir was standing and smiling as she listened to Games Director Dave Castro, showing no ill effects of the morning exertion.
Leaning heavily on a cart in the entrance area beneath the stadium, Sigmundsdottir said the max-effort sprint made dragging the Plow very difficult on the legs.
“I knew that I wouldn’t beat Katrin in the handstand walk, but of course I wanted to beat them in the sprint and The Plow,” she said.
The Mat Fraser Experience continued unabated on the men’s side.
Fraser finished second in Handstand Walk and Suicide Sprint, giving him one event win and six second-place finishes across 13 events. Jacob Heppner won the upside-down race, and Roy Gamboa took the sprint, but only Heppner is in the top five. With Garret Fisher setting the best time in Heat 1, Fraser took sixth in The Plow. The placing was important because Ben Smith, second overall, was 23rd, and Patrick Vellner, holding down the short stack on the podium, was seventh.
Not that Fraser needs to stare into the rearview mirror. He holds the largest lead in CrossFit Games history—195 points—and he’s 231 points ahead of Vellner. Fraser would need to give up 269 points to fall off the podium.
Anything can happen, of course, but Fraser is in the process of putting together the most dominant performance ever seen at the CrossFit Games. It’s clear that he’s tired of silver medals, and if he can maintain his momentum and close out the win with a monster lead, he’ll do something Froning didn’t and perhaps start a legacy of his own.
