The 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Open is officially in the books. In the final week of the first stage of the CrossFit Games season, 264,838 registered athletes around the world took on a blood-pumping combination of front squats and thrusters, paired with various gymnastics movements including toes-to-bars, chest-to-bar pull-ups, and bar muscle-ups. The fun didn’t stop there: Open Workout 21.4 was performed immediately following 21.3 and tasked athletes with a heavy lifting complex while under extreme fatigue.
When the leaderboard shook out, event winners were determined, and the overall winners of this year’s Open competition emerged.
Women
21.3
Four-time CrossFit Games champion Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr closed out the first stage of competition with a bang, winning Open Workout 21.3. The Australian’s swift transitions and near-unbroken movements helped her to a 7:37 finish. Toomey-Orr lifted 232 lb. in 21.4 to place eighth in the event. Toomey-Orr will receive US$2,021 for the event win.
Watch Toomey-Orr’s 21.3 performance below:
21.4
Christine Middleton, 31, took the win in Open Workout 21.4. Middleton successfully lifted 242 lb. in the complex that consisted of a deadlift, power clean, hang clean, and shoulder-to-overhead. The American from Ocean State CrossFit in Cranston, Rhode Island, is a perennial team athlete on the Ocean State CrossFit affiliate team. Middleton will receive US$2,021 for the event win.
Watch Middleton’s 21.4 performance below:
Men
21.3
Agustin Richelme of Argentina finished Open Workout 21.3 just a few seconds behind Toomey-Orr in 7:40. The 23-year-old made his CrossFit Games debut in 2019 as the National Champion of Argentina. He placed 50th overall that year. Richelme will receive US$2,021 for the event win.
Fabian Beneito of Spain originally sat in the top spot on the leaderboard for 21.3. After video review it was determined that Beneito consistently failed to fully extend his hips in the front squats and his arms in the thrusters. Beneito was assessed a major penalty, and his original time of 7:37 was adjusted to 8:45, dropping him to 100th place in the event.
Watch Richelme’s performance below:
21.4
Graciano Rubio of CrossFit Valley View in Los Banos, California, successfully lifted 365 lb. in 21.4’s lifting complex, besting all the other men in the field in the event. Rubio, 29, has competed in the Open eight times. This is his first Open workout win.
The video provided by Rubio of his 21.4 performance was shot as a separate clip. CrossFit is unable to verify that Rubio performed the lifting complex within the required time frame, so while he is considered the winner for 21.4, Rubio is ineligible for any associated prize money.
Watch Rubio’s performance below:
Overall Winners
Toomey-Orr had secured wins in every stage of CrossFit Games competition except the worldwide Open — until this year when she completed her sweep. For the first time in her awe-inspiring CrossFit Games career, Toomey-Orr took the overall Open win. With top-8 placements in all events aside from 21.2 (11th), she closed out the three weeks of competition with a 40-point gap over second-placed Emma Cary. Toomey-Orr is making a statement early on: She wants to make history (again) by becoming the five-time Fittest Woman on Earth.
On the men’s side, Canadian Jeffrey Adler is the overall Open winner. The 26-year-old made his CrossFit Games debut in 2019 when he took 33rd overall. Adler came back to take fifth at the 2020 Games and is looking to improve on that in 2021. He’s off to a good start: Adler won the Open by a 40-point gap over second-placed perennial Games athlete Scott Panchik.
Toomey-Orr and Adler will each receive US$15,000 for the win.
Now we look ahead to the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Quarterfinals in which the top 10% of individual athletes and top 25% of teams will complete a series of tests in the quest to qualify for Semifinals and ultimately the CrossFit Games.