Week 4 marked the finale of the 2021 CrossFit Semifinals. The West Coast Classic took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, and highlights can be found on YouTube and games.crossfit.com.
The CrossFit Atlas Games and CrossFit Asia Invitational rounded out the last of the virtual Semifinals. Video highlights for each event with featured matchups can be found on the CrossFit Games YouTube channel.
Here’s how the final two virtual competitions shook out.
CrossFit Asia Invitational Day 1
Former Games athlete Aleksandar Ilin made a statement on Day 1 with back-to-back event wins, starting his weekend with 200 points.
The Russian women dominated the top of the leaderboard after Day 1 with 33-year-old Svetlana Veselova and Aizhan Zharasova in a tie for first with 192 points each and top-three finishes in both events. Both women are looking to make their first CrossFit Games appearances in July.
The Kolesnikov Team held the teams’ top spot at the end of Day 1, just five points ahead of Team Dubai. A team stacked with talent, all four team members placed between ninth and 24th in the individual qualifiers and turned down Semifinal individual spots for a shot to go to Madison as a team.
Check out the leaderboard for the CrossFit Asia Invitational here.
CrossFit Atlas Games Day 1
Individual Event 1
Event 1 was Friendly Fran, a repeat from Stage 1 of the 2020 CrossFit Games: 3 rounds for time of 21 thrusters and 21 chest-to-bar pull-ups.
The top-seeded men going into the 2021 CrossFit Atlas Games all had prior Games experience.
Veterans Jeffrey Adler, Patrick Vellner, Alexandre Caron, and Samuel Cournoyer were looking to get back to the Games as individual athletes; Tyler Chrisophel — who competed as part of team CrossFit 417 in 2017 and 2018 — was looking to make his first Games appearance as an individual.
At 25, Dane Smith is the youngest of the famous Smith brothers — Dane joins brothers Alec and Ben on the CrossFit competition floor — and was looking to follow in their footsteps at the CrossFit Games. He wasted no time proving his mettle, taking Event 1 with a time of 3:47.
In the virtual matchup, it was a race between 34-year-old Canadian Paul Tremblay and one of last year’s top-five Games athletes, Jeffrey Adler. Adler dropped his bar 11 reps into his final set of thrusters while Tremblay took a moment to catch his breath before starting his final round. The brief pause allowed him to go unbroken on the final round of thrusters and edge out Adler for first in the matchup and second in the event with a time of 3:48.
Paul Tremblay at the 2018 East Regional – Photo by Charlotte Foerschler
The top-seeded women going into the 2021 CrossFit Atlas Games were Games veterans Paige Semenza, Carolyne Prevost, and Emily Rolfe. Also among them were 16-year-old Emma Lawson — who took third in the 15-16 division at the 2019 Games — and Sydney Michalyshen, the Canadian rookie looking to make her first trip to the Games.
Carolyne Prevost and Mekenzie Riley took different strategies in the Friendly Fran virtual matchup. Riley broke up her thrusters and pull-ups early while Prevost completed her first two rounds unbroken on both. Prevost finally broke 17 thrusters into her final round and finished her last set of pull-ups in three sets for the event win at 4:07.
Individual Event 2
In Event 2 athletes faced 400-reps in a down-and-back chipper including dumbbell shoulder-to-overhead, dumbbell deadlifts, GHD sit-ups, and single-arm dumbbell overhead squats.
The top six men going into Event 2: Dane Smith, Paul Tremblay, Phil Toon, Jeffrey Adler, Logan Collins, and Griffin Roelle.
Jeffrey Adler during Event 2 at the Atlas Games Semifinal – Photo by @sam_beriault
Going into the virtual heat, the time to beat was set by Patrick Vellner at 11:53 — almost 30 seconds faster than his time from the 2020 CrossFit Games. Paul Tremblay was on the top of the leaderboard going into Event 2 and put his strength on display, performing 70 dumbbell overhead squats before putting the dumbbell down.
But the race was between Phil Toon and Dane Smith in this virtual heat. Toon pulled away on the overhead squats and never looked back, taking the virtual heat win with a time of 12:39 and sixth overall in Event 2.
The top six women going into Event 2: Carolyne Prevost, Anikha Greer, McKenzie Flinchum, Sydney Michalyshen, Mekenzie Riley, and Emily Rolfe.
It was a virtual race between Emily Rolfe and Carolyne Prevost in Event 2.
Prevost came out hot, finishing her first set of shoulder-to-overheads in just 49 seconds. Rolfe and Prevost came off the first set of GHD sit-ups simultaneously, but Rolfe built a 31-second lead on the overhead squats.
Rolfe split her last set of shoulder-to-overheads into 6 sets while Prevost didn’t break until 36 reps into her final set of 50. Rolfe unofficially finished just seconds before Prevost, but Prevost would take the event win with a time of 12:07 after Rolfe faced a 1:48 penalty for failure to reach the finishing position during her dumbbell deadlifts.
Team Event 1
Event 1 was a Friendly Fran spinoff: 3 rounds of 15 synchronized thrusters, 15 synchronized chest-to-bar pull-ups, and 15 synchronized bar-facing burpees.
The top-seeded teams at the 2021 CrossFit Atlas Games were CrossFit Resurrection, Pro1 Montreal, 1855, Team Koda, and Novative Lab.
Multi-year Games team and favorite coming into the weekend, Pro1 Montreal took Event 1 with a time of 6:39. They were the only team to go sub-7 minutes in the event, followed by CrossFit Resurrection, who finished 28 seconds later to take second in the event.
Pro1 Montreal during Event 1 at the Atlas Games – Photo by @sam_beriault
Team Event 2
Teams faced a down-and-back chipper in Event 2 featuring synchro dumbbell shoulder-to-overheads, synchro dumbbell deadlifts, synchro GHD sit-ups, and synchro single-arm dumbbell overhead squats.
The top six teams going into Event 2: Pro1 Montreal, CrossFit Resurrection, 1855, C2X CrossFit, Novative Lab, and Rhapsody.
The male pair from CrossFit Resurrection was first to both sets of GHD sit-ups, but Pro1 Montreal beat them off the second set. The Canadians were the first males to finish, giving the team’s women a nice head start. The Pro1 Montreal ladies were the first to complete the overhead squats and pulled even further away from the rest of the pack on their way back down the chipper, taking the event win in 19:43, more than50 seconds faster than CrossFit Resurrection.
View the overall leaderboard for the CrossFit Atlas Games here.
Two more men and women will earn a chance to compete in Madison at the Last-Chance Qualifier, this July 2-4. Click here to see the events, and tune in to games.crossfit.com, YouTube, and Instagram for updates all weekend long.
Featured image by @sam_beriault