“I feel special to be here at my age. It’s an amazing experience for me.”
Blainville, Quebec’s Deka CrossFit was the first team of the day to finish the 100s Event within the 25-minute time cap. Going into day three, the team is sitting in 11th overall.
They also happen to have one of the youngest teams in the competition with two teenagers competing — 15-year-old Mickael Sarrazin and 18-year-old Stephanie Jarry.
“I feel special to be here at my age,” Sarrazin says. “It’s an amazing experience for me.”
With only one year of CrossFit, Sarrazin boasts a 2:29 Fran. Teammate Greg Lanctôt says in addition to Sarrazin’s physical prowess, he’s also got a good head on his shoulders.
“His physical abilities are amazing for his age, but something that’s even more amazing is his attitude,” he says. “He’s always in the gym, he’s always smiling, always positive. There’s nothing negative about him. He helps all of us with coaching all the time. He’s a big inspiration for us all.”
Although his whole family has joined Deka CrossFit, it was his mother who got the ball rolling.
“My mom started doing CrossFit with her friends and she used to always talk about CrossFit at home,” he recalls. “I came to Deka to give it a try and I just fell in love with the sport.”
Before CrossFit, Sarrazin grew up participating in extreme sports — wakeboarding, BMX, motocross, snowboarding and more.
“I used to be a small Evil Kineval,” he says.
While most 15-year-olds spend free time playing video games and hanging out with friends around the same age, Sarrazin finds himself split between two worlds — his teenage life and his life at the gym.
“Most 15-year-old guys don’t eat well and aren’t used to being in the training kind of lifestyle,” Sarrazin says. “I relate much more to the people at the gym who are older.”
He has been able to find a balance between these worlds in some pretty unique ways.
“Last week, Martine put something on Facebook saying, ‘From now on, everything counts — every meal, every hour we sleep, etc.,’”Lantcôt says.
Sarrazin read the post while eating a burger and fries.
“I wrote, ‘Go in your backyard and do 100 burpees,’ and he just did it, right before going to sleep.” Lantcôt says.
Like Sarrazin, 18-year-old Stephanie Jarry is also new to the sport. She started one year ago, while watching the CrossFit Games on TV.
“I saw it on TV and I said, ‘Wow, you have to be crazy to do CrossFit,’” she remembers. “So, I searched on the Internet and found the closest CrossFit gym near my home, Deka CrossFit, and signed up.”
Jarry grew up playing soccer. Even without a weightlifting background, she was able to overhead squat 195 lb. three times in Event 2 on Friday and handled the 185-lb. deadlifts well in Event 5 today.
At the end of Day 2, Deka is amped about the final day of competition.
“We feel really psyched. We came in ranked 19th, hoping to have fun. Now, we’re in the game,” says team member Marie-Andrée LeBlanc.
As for the team’s thoughts going into tomorrow?
“Kill it.”
