Sam Briggs and Josh Bridges Win 14.5

April 1, 2014

CrossFit

Briggs and Bridges set the world's fastest times on 14.5 at 8:31 and 7:49, respectively. 

Sam Briggs and Josh Bridges set the world's fastest times on 14.5 at 8:31 and 7:49, respectively. 
 

Sam Briggs did it again. For the third time in the 2014 Open, Briggs has put her name at the top of the women’s worldwide Leaderboard by winning the week’s workout.

Flanked by past CrossFit Games champions Jason Khalipa, Rich Froning, Annie Thorisdottir, and Graham Holmberg, Briggs tore through the 65-lb. thrusters and burpees.

Briggs was the first to the round of 18, 15 and 12 thrusters. But during the 12 burpees, Froning caught up to her and reached the final round first. He finished at 8:26, while Briggs ended at 8:31.

Over the next four days, women from around the world tried to catch Briggs, but none succeeded. Julie Foucher came the closest, finishing seven seconds behind the champ (8:38).

Froning led the men until Sunday afternoon. The lead changed with a tweet.

“The Open is over … not where I wanted to end up but I am stoked to end on a good note! 7:49,” Josh Bridges tweeted.

Bridges had fallen behind on Open Workout 14.3 (148 reps, 1336th place) and 14.4 (244 reps, 57th place), but stayed in the top 10 worldwide on 14.1, 14.2 and 14.5. By cutting 37 seconds off the champ’s time on the final Open workout, Bridges finished with an indisputable win, just like he did in 2013. 

Briggs and Bridges will receive the final weekly cash prize of US$2,014.

Watch the world’s top performances of 14.5:

The three-time CrossFit Games champion Rich Froning Jr. and 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games champion Sam Briggs have won the Open.

Froning never finished outside of the top 10 worldwide on an Open workout (fourth, second, eight, first, third), and accumulated just 18 points over five weeks. Khalipa was the next most consistent competitor worldwide with 71 points (sixth, 15th, 12th, 16th, 22nd).

Briggs won three of the five Open workouts (14.1, 14.4 and 14.5), took fifth in the world on 14.3, and dipped to 27th on 14.2. With just 35 points, Briggs was the world’s most consistent female competitor by a large margin. Camille Leblanc-Bazinet followed with 162 points (ninth, first, 135th, 10th, seventh).  

Congratulations to all of those on top of the Leaderboard, and to everyone who had the guts to do the Open.