Mat Fraser owned the East Regional once again, but Katrin Davidsdottir was upset in Albany.
Carol-Ann Reason-Thibault, who finished second by 14 points last year, is the East’s new champion.
Men
Fraser opened the day with a convincing event win. Going 14-7, 9-6 and 7-2 on the muscle-ups, he stayed just ahead of Patrick Vellner throughout the workout to finish about 10 seconds ahead of his closest rival. The two left the floor together, bantering back and forth about the workout.
Tim Paulson finished third and all but put a lock on a Games spot in his fifth trip to Regionals. He’s coached by David Charbonneau, who qualified with the CrossFit Queens team. Paulson, the 6-foot-1, 215-lb. bearded, hulking owner of CrossFit Pallas, said he’d likely show a softer side if he sealed the deal in Event 6.
“I’m probably honestly going to cry hysterically,” he said immediately after Event 5.
After Event 6, Paulson wasn’t in tears but guaranteed he’d shed more than a few this evening after a beer. He’ll be joined in Wisconsin by Michael Palomba, who finished fifth and is also coached by Charbonneau. Cody Mooney finished fourth.
Fraser used the final event to put an exclamation point on the weekend and log his fourth event win. He led from start to finish and moved the big bag with ease.
“It was a good test run, like a progress report, a mid-year report: ‘I’ve been avoiding this. I’ve been doing too much of that,’” he said.
He continued: “You couldn’t ask for better fucking guys to go against. These guys are fucking beasts. I can’t wait to see how all of our scores line up worldwide.”
Fraser said he used the field—particularly Vellner—to his advantage and actually shaved a minute off his training time for Event 6.
“At the moment, you're kind of like, ‘Man, I wish this guy would go away and make my day easier,’ but in the grand scheme of things, I couldn’t ask for a better trial run for the Games of going against one of the fittest men on Earth.”
If Fraser was sizing up the competition this weekend, Vellner was holding the other end of the tape measure.
“I think moving through this Regional gave me a little bit of confidence that I can compete in control and be relaxed and still be at the level I need to be. So I can probably learn to try to flirt with that edge of control a little bit more.”
He said he’d specifically like to log a few more top-five finishes at the Games this year.
Similarly, Fraser said he has a small list of stuff he wants to improve over the next months, but he won’t share it in case Games Director Dave Castro is listening.
“Dave, I’m bad at trail running,” he said with a wry smile, referencing an event he won at the Games in 2016.
Women
Carol-Ann Reason-Thibault won both events on Day 1, and Katrin Davidsdottir won both on Day 2. Day 3’s first event went to the Canadian, and Davidsdottir struggled to a 10th-place finish.
Reason-Thibault’s muscle-ups looked almost effortless as she landed well on top of the rings for an easy lockout. She said she almost stuck to her planned sets, and she broke earlier than she needed to.
“It wasn’t easy," she said. "I was scared to fail on my muscle-ups."
Surprisingly, she said muscle-ups were not a strength, so she worked on them all year. Her attitude likely helped her grind her way to improve:
“I love suffering.”
Davidsdottir appeared to be slowed by the dips in the muscle-ups more than anything else and did not appear happy with her performance.
Reason-Thibault used the event to give herself a 38-point cushion going into the final event. She said that she “just wanted to make it to the Games” before the competition but admitted that her thoughts had turned to winning.
Davidsdottir used the last event to make a statement even if first overall went to Reason-Thibault. The Icelander made short work of the bike, mowed down the burpees and then moved the sandbag with authority while Reason-Thibault struggled slightly with the heavy load.
The defending champ finished second overall, followed by Kari Pearce, Dani Horan and Chelsey Hughes.
Davidsdottir said she was “bummed about a lot of things, including my attitude,” but was happy to get an opportunity to finish on a high note.
She considers it an advantage to compete on the first weekend of Regionals, and she’ll be getting back to work after a few days off.
In Albany, she acquired a new item she’ll use to push her over the next months.
“That silver medal motivates me more than any gold I could have won. All my medals and cups, they’re in a drawer at home. This one I’ll hang up to see every day.”
Teams
The top of the team Leaderboard looked the same for most of the weekend, save for a few trades. Fifth at the end of Day 2, Pro1 Montreal got bumped down by Ocean States Finest in Event 5. The Rhode Island crew rode third in Event 6 into the Games, though their many raucous fans had to sweat for about 10 minutes while the final scores were being tabulated.
They were willing to go all in for the final spot, Tristan Maiorano said.
“We had to die for it,” he said after the event as he waited to enter the drug-testing area. “We tried to keep our eyes on (Pro1 Montreal) and put as many people between as possible.”
The sextet was unsure what to expect at the Games in August, but Maiorano thought pegboards might show up. Though Rhode Island is not actually an island, the state is indeed on the ocean, and the team members have already been practicing swimming individually in anticipation of aquatics at the Games.
Charbonneau’s CrossFit Queens team was just hoping to get to Regionals, and now they’re going to the Games. Charbonneau himself has finished fourth twice as an individual at the Regional level, and he was on the CrossFit Dynamix team that finished fourth at the Games. The placing might have been less satisfying in previous years, but he’s no doubt smiling today—especially given Paulson, one of his Individual athletes, also qualified for the Games.
Reebok CrossFit ONE—featuring multi-year Games competitors Austin Malleolo and Spencer Hendel—finished third. Team Back Bay and Milford argued over the top two spots for much of the weekend, but it was the former who will go to Madison as the top seed out of the East.
The 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games run Aug. 3-6 in Madison, Wisconsin.
MEN
1. Mat Fraser (585)
2. Patrick Vellner (550)
3. Tim Paulson (520)
4. Cody Mooney (453)
5. Michael Palomba (412)
WOMEN
1. Carol-Ann Reason-Thibault (565)
2. Katrin Davidsdottir (552)
3. Kari Pearce (536)
4. Dani Horan (466)
5. Chelsey Hughes (401)
TEAMS
1. Team Back Bay (580)
2. Team CrossFit Milford (560)
3. Reebok CrossFit ONE (512)
4. CrossFit Queens (477)
5. Ocean States Finest (475)
For complete details, visit the Leaderboard.
