Star-Studded Team: CrossFit Nordic

July 21, 2013

Jane Holgate

Team CrossFit Nordic fought a close race at the Europe Regional. Now, they're headed to the Games more confident than ever.


 

The team race for the Europe Regional win came down to the final event. Entering the couplet of rope climbs and squat cleans, Team CrossFit Nordic and Thor were tied with 17 points each.

Sixteen minutes and 36 seconds later, Team CrossFit Nordic stepped on the finish mat, victorious; 46 seconds later, Thor secured second.

Games fans had high expectations for the star-studded team, and CrossFit Nordic delivered. After all, they had the help of 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games competitor Jenny Jacobsen, and 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games competitor Numi Snaer Katrinarson.  

Competing on the team challenged the former individual competitors in new ways.

 “You have to plan more when you train with others and you are more stressed about injuries, but for me it is much more fun. I much prefer to train with friends over training on my own,” Jacobsen says. “But of course, there is more pressure. You don’t want to fuck it up for someone else.”

The idea to create a team came up immediately after last year’s Games. It was a natural fit for Jacobsen, who was recovering from an injury, and a safe bet for Katrinarson.

“I was injured last year, and I knew that it was going to be hard to qualify as an individual, so team was definitely right for me this year,” Jacobsen says. “Numi would have had a good chance of qualifying as he came third (at Regionals) last year, and was also selected to represent Europe at the Invitational, but it was very close. We both wanted to compete at the Games again, and we knew that we would have a better chance as a team.”

From the outset, the team aimed for first at the Regional.

“At the end of the day, the most important thing for us was to qualify for the Games,” Jacobsen says. “When it was so close going into the last event, we decided to go out, do our best and have some fun with it.”

Jacobsen, Ellinor Rehnström, and Louise Åkesson round out the women, and Erik Eliasson, Andreas Sjöstrand and Katrinarson round out the men. They’re a mix of owners and trainers at CrossFit Nordic, as well as a couple everyday folks with outside jobs.

The team gets together to train regularly, but each teammate follows individual programs that target their particular weaknesses. Rikard Walén and Jacobsen’s husband, Mads, oversee the programming and coach the team.

“You never know what to expect, and I guess Dave Castro has an evil plan for something completely different as in past years,” Jacobsen predicts of the Games Events.

Although it’s a whole new game, she isn’t concerned.

“We just try to be as fit as we can, and stay away from injuries,” she says. “I think we have a pretty good team, and we are well prepared … we do have weaknesses and we are addressing those as best we can.”