30 January 2019
EVENT 1 INDIVIDUALS: OBSTACLE COURSE (100 PTS)
Athletes were left in the dark, unaware of what today had in store for them, until hours before the kick off of day one of competition in Cape Town. After registration, they were loaded onto a bus and taken to Stellenberg High School, in nearby Bellville, where an obstacle course awaited them. Tackling the course one by one with a two minute staggered start time the ladies were up first.
A couple of the earlier athletes to take on the course, USA's Karla Wolford and Australia's Emily Cavell put up fast times of 3:31 and 3:32 respectively. The more well-known international athletes had later starts times, but despite looking very athletic and conquering a majority of the obstacles well, none of them were able to best those early times.
Katrin Davidsdottir, the competition favorite, likely would have put up the best time if not for two failed attempts to get over the second to last obstacle, the wall. She still managed the third fastest time for the women with 3:41 and is off to an excellent start through one event.
The men were next on the course and once again some fast early times were put up, this time by Denmark's Andre Houdet and Canada's Lucas Parker. Their times were very close and it wasn't until after the conclusion of the event that is was revealed that Houdet (2:33) edged out Parker (2:34) for the event win.
Games veterans Streat Hoerner and Cole Sager were the last two men on the course and knew the time to beat. Both of them had solid runs through the course but were unable to chase down Houdet's time. Hoerner finished 4th (2:40) and Sager took a 6th place (2:43) in the event. The men's times were very fast and competitive. Nine men in total completed the course under three minutes.
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EVENT 2 INDIVIDUALS: OBSTACLE COURSE GRIP TEST (50 PTS)
At the conclusion of event 1 it was announced that event 2 would also be at the obstacle course. It would be a version of a grip test and would be a 50 point event. Athletes were asked to clear a course that greatly resembled elements of the hit TV show American Ninja Warrior. Using nothing but their hands they had to swing from several short metal poles, then transition to a series of metal rings, and finish up with several short pieces of rope. If at any point the athletes dropped from the course, their event was over and they were given a score based on the number of pipes, rings, or ropes they had already cleared.
Again the women were first to tackle the course. As athletes made their way through several things became clear. First, the challenge in and of itself was hard for a couple of the girls, seven of the fifteen women competing had to drop and were unable to clear the course. Second, even for those who were rather strong in the event, the grip was starting to go towards the final couple of ropes. Davidsdottir looked great through the first three-quarters of the event, but faded on the short ropes and did not look happy walking off the course after failing to clear the final two ropes, she taken 9th in the event.
Several women were impressive, the fastest three times were all within a second of each other. Defending champ Michelle Merand won it in 35.12 seconds, Cavell took a second consecutive second-place finish in 36.4 seconds, and Michelle Basnett from USA was third in 37.58 seconds. Merand's victory was especially impressive because she overcame a bobble mid-course and still beat all the women in the field.
As soon as the men got underway on event 2 it was clear they would have far less difficulty with the course than the women had. The second man on the course, Trent Williams, put up a time of 26.56 seconds which seemed to be incredibly fast. That time, however, would be beaten again and again as Trent ended up 10th in the event. Russian Timofey Prolubnikov came through in an impressive 23.87 seconds and it looked like that might stand, until Jason Smith took to the course.
Jason, who had taken 10th in event 1, implored a new tactic on the rings. Rather than swinging between them, he kept his elbows bent and biceps engaged throughout. He did not have to waste time swaying back and forth and instead moved from obstacle to obstacle fluidly and effortlessly. He posted a new best time of 21.1 seconds.
Several athletes who went after Jason tried using his technique, but only one was able to do in a faster time. Lucas Parker, having already taken second place on event 1, proved that result was not a fluke, he demolished this test, and the rest of the men's field, with a time of 19.26 seconds! For a man who was once famous for beating Rich Froning in a clean and jerk ladder at the CrossFit Games, he displayed a remarkable amount of athleticism today at the obstacle course.
A couple of the men, notably Streat Hoerner and Mitchel Stevenson, appeared to get stuck mid-course. They were, however, able to recover and in the end, all twenty-three men in the field completed the course without dropping.
END OF DAY ONE STANDINGS:
After two events Lucas Parker and Emily Cavell are the early leaders of the competition. Lucas had finishes of second and first today for a total of 144 points. Emily took second place in both events earning 141 of the 150 available points.
Karla Wolford and Michelle Merand sit second and third for the ladies, each of them having won an event on day one. Competition favorite Katrin Davidsdottir sits 5th, 21 points behind Cavell for the overall lead.
For the men, event one winner Andre Houdet is in second with 132 points, while Australia's Luke McMahon sits third with 116. Jason Smith is in 6th, but his younger brother Richard Smith is currently 4th. Cole Sager, who many picked to win this event, ends day one in 8th place with 96 points, 48 points out of the lead.
EVENT 3 INDIVIDUALS: ANNOUNCED AS ANOTHER OFF-SITE LOCATION EVENT!
After the 2 events at the Obstacle Course the Individual Athletes got transported back to the Stadium for the official "FiCT 2019 Meet & Greet" where they were given the basic layout of the competition stadium - but also informed of some more news for tomorrow's For Time: 400m Run:
Competition Director Chris Oman simply stated: 'your check in time is as previously stated at 6am tomorrow morning where a new set of buses will be waiting for you to transport you to the location for your "400m Run". It will not be a flat run as on this beautiful blue track, but it will indeed test your capacity to move from point A to point B...'
Let's see what Day 2 brings for the Athletes in Cape Town!
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EVENT 3: 400M TIME TRIAL (100 POINTS)
In another morning full of surprises for the athletes, they were brought to a remote location where there were no spectators, no coaches, and no live stream. Waiting for them was a 400-meters time trial event. The terrain they'd be covering, however, was no ordinary 400 meter stretch of land. It was an uphill battle with tall stairs, dirt paths, and waiting for them somewhere along the course would be a sandbag (60/40 kg) which was to be picked up and taken with them for an undisclosed distance. Then they could drop the bag and carry on with the uphill race to the end of the course. As was the case on day one, women were first.
This event is Katrin Davidsdottir. For years now her coach, Ben Bergeron, has been taking athletes to the now famous location known as Blue Hills, and no athlete has been there more frequently than Katrin. To put it bluntly, what they do there is run sprints up hills, often times while carrying things, like sandbags. Furthermore, she's adopted and embraced the 'sled dog' mentality as part of her athlete identity. It helped her get the event win in a mental, grunt work style Games event last year called Chaos. And it helped her get the event win here too. She finished in a time of 4:06, four seconds faster than second place Dina Swift (4:10.6), and fourteen seconds faster than third place on the event Alessandra Pichelli (4:20.8). The result bumped Katrin into the overall lead going into event four.
There was no obvious man to watch on this event, and it's starting to look like there really isn't an obvious man to watch in the field. Streat Hoerner, who had a very disappointing event 2, rallied with a win today on event 3 finishing in 3:29.3. Meanwhile, yesterday's leader, Lucas Parker struggled on this one placing 17th with a time of 4:23.9. He fell all the way to 6th overall in just one event, but is only twenty-four points behind overall leader after three events, Andre Houdet. The men's race looks like it's going to be very exciting and entertaining throughout the weekend!
The degree of brutality on this event became most real while watching Cole Sagerstruggle across the finish line. Cole trains with a similar mindset to Katrin, and has done well in numerous grunt work type events in the past at the CrossFit Games. He had a respectable ninth place finish in just under four minutes, but his legs looked wobbly as he crossed the finish line.
While there were impressive performances by the top men and women on this event, two things seemed to be true for all athletes. One, the sandbag portion was brutal with nearly everyone having to put it down and rest at least once. And two, as fans of the sport from a decade ago will recall (or those who have watched archives from the 2009 CrossFit Games), running up hill with a sandbag leaves humans in a heap at the finish line. The carnage was real for the athletes after this one, but with another event later in the day, their priority immediately became recovery.
EVENT 4: MITCH BUCANNON 2019
(30 Bar MUs, 60 1-arm Overhead Squats, 900m Water Leg)
Athletes knew some details of this event, but were in the dark with regards to the water segment of it until arriving at the beach in the afternoon. When they saw the paddleboards waiting for them surely everyone's minds registered the high likelihood of Australian athletes doing well. In 2015 at the Games Khan Porter was second on pier paddle and Kara Webb was first for the ladies. Last year, in the Madison Triplus, a pair of Aussies, Dean Linder Leighton and Tia-Clair Toomey, won the event.
With fifteen lanes available to them on the beach, the women were all able to go as one heat. Former gymnast Courtney Haley took an early lead after the bar muscle ups. She held on through the single arm kettlebell overall squats and was in a group of three girls, along with Davidsdottir and Pichelli, that entered the water first. All the women handled the paddleboard relatively well; no one was able to chase down that lead pack. Katrin was first out of the water and claimed her second straight event win (12:52.3), extending her overall lead. This has got to be a great feeling for Katrin who had previously had finishes of 18th and 23rd at CrossFit Games events that included paddle boards. Pichelli finished second (13.16.8) and has moved up into third place overall. Haley had her best event finish yet taking third (13:21.6). Mia Akerlundnotably took fourth on both events today and sits in second place, 26 points behind Davidsdottir and 10 points ahead of Pichelli after two days of competition.
Women's Standings after Day 2:
Katrin Davidsdottir (318)Mia Akerlund (294)Alessandra Pichelli (284)
The men were split into two heats. Australians James Newbury and Khan Porter were in heat one where both men showed expertise on the paddle board rising to their knees when the ocean permitted it. Newbury had the lead from start to finish and posted a blistering time of 10:13.9, which those in heat two would have tried to chase down. Porter wasn't far behind him finishing second in the heat with a time of 10:48.49.
Heat two was much tighter out of the gate, but on the single arm overhead squats Cole Sager showed the same proficiency he showed on them during the Chaos event at the Games last August propelling him into the lead entering the water. Unlike either previous heat (women's or men's heat one) there was jostling for position in the ocean among the leaders. Sean Sweeney, who was 6th in Madison last year on the paddleboard event, and Streat Hoerner both passed Sager. Sweeney took the heat win (11:18) but was unable to beat the times posted by either Newbury or Porter from heat one.
The scoring system at Fittest In Cape Town is closely tailored to the number of athletes competing. What we're seeing, therefore, is that a poor event finish has an appropriately corresponding impact on the leaderboard. After two days of the competition there is only ONE Point between the 3 leading men - and yet there are eight men within fifty-five points of the lead. That difference can quickly be made up given the parity in this field we've already seen.
Men's Standings after Day 2:
Andre Houdet (276)Sean Sweeney (276)Streat Hoerner (275)
TEAMS EVENT 1: BEACH WOD
The team competition is finally underway! 88 teams are participating in this community-based event, but with a spot to the CrossFit Games also available for the team that wins there's a new level of excitement and intensity this year as well!
The first event for teams was a grueling beach workout involving synchro pull-ups, synchro kettlebell movements, buddy carries, and swimming. A lot was being asked of the teams and they were given a 30-minute time cap to finish under. One team, Vondelgym, out of the Netherlands, who were wearing orange swim caps to represent their country, were the only team to finish under the time cap and will take the overall lead heading into day 2 of competition.
Team Standings after Day 2:
Vondelgym (300)CFXY (282)Cape CrossFit Wolfpack (264)
The Teams just received a fun surprise via a social media release where it was announced that their previously released "4x400m Run Relay" would go straight into another WOD with a separate scoring opportunity!
This second piece is a relay involving the Row Erg, Ski Erg & Bike Erg before the team passes the finish line for the last time and is called "The Pain Train" - go teams.
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EVENT 5: STRONGMAN DIANE
(25M carry, 9-6-3 HSPU/Cleans, 25M sled pull; 100 points)
The famous CrossFit workout Diane was given a special twist today at the Greenpoint Athletics Stadium. With a buy-in of a dual kettlebell carry, and a brutal cash out which required a reverse sled drag over a grass field, the traditional couplet of handstand push-ups and deadlifts was replaced with deficit handstand push-ups and sandbag cleans over the shoulder. The sandbag slowed some down, but for those who could handle it, this event was a sprint!
There was an eight-minute time cap, and with only one heat of fifteen for the women, they were once again on level playing field; win your heat; win the event. Much like what Katrin did yesterday with the hill event, today it was Allesandra Pichelli's turn to dominate. She took the lead early and never looked back beating the field by over twelve seconds finishing in 4:32.44. Australian Courtney Haley was second, and American Karla Wolford, who continues to hang with the more well-known women, took third. Davidsdottir was fourth, but will need to stay alert now as Pichelli's win narrowed the gap at the top of the leaderboard.
Heat 1 for the men started shortly afterward's. Two times CrossFit Games athlete Tim Paulson laid waste to the heat finishing in 3:45.37 establishing the time to beat. Heat 2, featuring the top eleven men to start the day, were up next, and WOW was this an exciting heat. Cole Sager took the lead early and maintained it getting to the sled first. There he slowed down a bit allowing Lucas Parker and Sean Sweeney to catch up. It was a photo finish as all three men collapsed across the finish line within a couple tenths of each other. After checking the watch it was Sager (3:56.03) who edged Parker (3:56.15) and Sweeney (3:56.27) for the heat win, but none of them were as fast as heat one winner Paulson who claimed the event win and the 100 points that come with it.
EVENT 6: "THE TRAP 2019"
(Assault Bike/Ring Muscle Ups/Burpee Box Jump Overs; 100 points)
At the start of each working interval, athletes were required to accumulate calories on an assault bike, knock out some ring muscle ups, and then perform as many burpee box jump overs with the time remaining. They would have three, three-minute working intervals, with a two-minute rest between.
Davidsdottir was most likely licking her chops for this event having won the 2223 intervals which was of a similar style at the CrossFit Games in 2017. In the first round she came out flying and built a significant lead. In round two "the trap" started to set in for her on the muscle ups, a long known weakness of hers appeared to be tripping her up again. Despite all the work she's done on them they were definitely a limiting factor for her in this workout. In round three it was Mia Akerlund, last to the rings, who chased her down with an unbroken set of seven ring muscles ups, and in a furious race of burpee box jump overs narrowly took the event win. Katrin did manage to finish second, which bodes excellently for her in the big picture. Pichelli was third in the event, those were the only three women to finish under the time cap.
Heat one for the men really highlighted the name of this workout. Anderon Primowas in the lead after round one, then disappeared. Jonas Muller took the lead in round two, then faded. By the end of round three, Tristan Maiorano from Ocean's State CrossFit came out of nowhere to win the heat.
The second heat had a completely different feel, it seemed no one wanted to be the rabbit who took it out to fast. By the end of the second round is was still there for anyone to take it with only a couple reps separating several men. For the second time today Cole Sager was involved in a sprint at the finish, this time going rep for rep with young Andre Houdet who has continued to shine event after event. Houdet came out ahead to win the heat, and the event. He also vaulted himself to the top spot on the leaderboard with this performance.
Once again athletes were strewn across the field of competition, but they still had one event to go...
EVENT 7: THE SPOTLIGHT LADDERS
(Clean Speed Ladder; 100 points)
Women were split into three heats and had to clear a series of squat cleans for time. The fastest twelve advanced to the semi-final round where the weights were heavier. The top six then advanced to the finals with heavier bars still. (Same format for men only they started with four heats).
This event was basically over before it began in terms of the winner. Mia Akerlund is among the best Olympic lifters in competitive CrossFit, and she did not disappoint on this workout. She had no problem with any of the barbells, comfortably winning each round and the event. Both Mia and Alessandra Pichelli are hanging around within striking distance of Katrin, therefore eyes were on her to see where she'd end up. It was critical for her to make the final heat, which she did, but hometown hero Michelle Merand, as well as Chelsey Hughes, edged her out. Katrin finished fifth in that event and the points are now extremely close heading into the final day.
As has become the norm with the men in this competition, you can't just look to the final heat for stellar performances. As the event progressed we saw a very strong top six qualify for the finals including Cole Sager, Jason Smith, Lucas Parker, Tim Paulson, and Anderon Primo - who had come out of the heat one. It was a tight battle in the middle of the floor between Primo and Parker, but the 24 year old Brazilian showed a little more poise in the end and secured the victory. Parker took a much needed second place, and Tim Paulson, matching his performance in the Speed Clean and Jerk ladder from last year's CrossFit Games, placed third.
It was an exciting finish to a day that was entertaining throughout. The athletes will surely be feeling the effects of today's event and there's still one more day to go! Individual standings after day three of competition are very tight setting up what ought to be a thrilling finish:
Women:
Kartin Davidsdottir (576)Mia Akerlund (570)Alessandra Pichelli (566)
Men:
Cole Sager (514)Sean Sweeney (508)Andre Houdet (500)TEAM COMPETITION:
Today featured five scored events for teams. They began with a couple of relay events back to back which included sandbag carries, running, and all the Concept 2 erg equipment we've become familiar with. Later on another couplet of events took place including some max lifting and a conga line style gymnastics event with toes to bar, muscle ups, and handstand walking. To close out the day they laid it all on the line with a nasty four-person deadlift bar and synchronized burpees.
The international teams Vondelgym and Superhero project have really separated themselves from the rest of the competition. Vondelgym has yet to finish worse than 4th in any event and has what appears to be a comfortable 100 point lead over Superhero project. However, with so many (88) teams in the field, the scoring system for teams is on a 300 point scale. One bad finish can mean a massive scoring difference. Knowing this both teams will need to come out firing tomorrow because if they don't qualify here, they likely won't be competing at a team in Madison this summer.
South African team Jacked Rebels sit third, and it's refreshing to see them holding their own against the stiff competition that has traveled down for the event. In addition to the battle for the top spot and invitation to the CrossFit Games, there will be a battle for the final podium spot tomorrow between them and Iceland's CrossFit XY, who are currently only 35 points out of third position.
Vondelgym (1536)Superhero project (1436)Jacked Rebels (1297)
The battle for an invitation to the Games was as close as any fan dared to hope for coming into the final day. Competition favorites Katrin Davidsdottir and Cole Sager each held a slim six-point lead and were by no means guaranteed of victory; which is, without a doubt, what they both came to Cape Town in search of.
EVENT 8: SPRINT MURPH
(800 m run, 50 c2b pull-ups, 100/75 push-ups, 150 squats, 800 m run, vest; 100 pts)
This event is one that looks rather innocent on paper, but then a couple nuances were thrown their way. First, the bodyweight reps must be done in unbroken sets of 25; if not, there's a 200-meter penalty lap for each extra break. Second, they weren't bodyweight reps. Athletes learned the night before that they'd be doing this workout with a weight vest on.
Davidsdottir performed as expected, and as needed, on this one. She leads after the run, never relinquished it, and crossed the finish line with a big smile knowing this would set her up well for the rest of the day. A trio of Australian women, Simone Arthur, Carly Menzies, and Courtney Haley finished second through fourth. Both women who had been pressuring Davidsdottir on the leaderboard, Mia Akerlund and Alessandra Pichelli, struggled finishing 13th and 10th respectively.
The men's heat was very tight throughout. Jonas Muller led the way after the first run but was quickly caught by several others. During the bodyweight portion of the workout it was James Newbury who took control, reaching the run and finishing first for his second event win of the week. Fellow Aussie Luke McMahon took second and Streat Hoerner finished third. Sean Sweeney finished fourth while Sager was sixth, which was enough for Sweeney to jump ahead of Sager for the overall lead.
Standings After 8 Events:
Women:
Katrin Davidsdottir (676)Alessandra Pichelli (626)Mia Akerlund (618)
Men:
Sean Sweeney (592)Cole Sager (590)James Newbury (546)EVENT 9: THE 100 METER HSW SPRINT
(20/30 cal row, HS walk, 20/30 cal ski, HS walk, 20/30 cal bike: 100pts)
Two for two for Davidsdottir today. She has been great on her hands for as long as she's been competing and is a workhorse on the erg machines. She won the event by nearly thirty seconds, expanding her overall lead heading into the final. Ex-gymnast Courtney Haley came second, while Pichelli rounded out the top 3.
For the men Tim Paulson used his size and power to get out to an early lead. He was more than capable during the handstand walks to hold off the field and comfortably claimed his second event win of the competition. When Sweeney came across in second place everyone started looking for Sager. Several other men crossed the finish line and by the time Sager came in, seventh overall for the workout, it was clear that Sweeney would be in the driver's seat for the last event.
Standings After 9 Events:
Women:
Katrin Davidsdottir (776)Alessandra Pichelli (714)Mia Akerlund (702)
Men:
Sean Sweeney (686)Cole Sager (662)James Newbury (634)EVENT 10: FINAL
(3-2-1 legless rope climbs, 21-15-9 axle bar thrusters;100 pts)
The women's competition was all but wrapped up coming into this one as Katrin had a sixty-two point lead. All she needed was to avoid a bottom-three finish to secure the coveted invitation to the CrossFit Games. It was not the prettiest way to lock up the win for Davidsdottir. She took 5th on the event and still seems to have difficulty with legless rope climbs, but she'd done enough work on the earlier events to earn her the title of Fittest in Cape Town for 2019.
Sweeney was sitting twenty-four points ahead of Sager and would, therefore, need a finish of 5th or better to guarantee the win, assuming Sager would win the event. As it turns out, this combination of movements (rope climbs and thrusters) is perhaps the best possible set of movements Cole could have asked for. Not once, but twice when rope climbs and thrusters have shown up in Regional competition Cole Sager has taken first in his region and third worldwide on the event. In 2016 he famously overcame a seemingly insurmountable gap with his performance on that workout to earn the final qualifying spot out of the West region. Was there to be more magic with this couplet for Sager today?
Cole certainly did his part; he was ahead from the start and comfortably won his heat. It wouldn't be enough though. Sean Sweeney, "the Crossfit Cowboy", finished right behind Cole, securing his invitation to the CrossFit Games.
For Sean this is a massively important accomplishment. He's never broken the top 20 in the CrossFit Open (his best ever finish was 57th and last year he was 142nd), which means if he was going to the Games this year his best chance was to win a Sectional. On top of being a great competitor, Sean is a genuine, kind-hearted man who always puts on a show for the fans. He earned the respect and love of the locals in South Africa who will surely be cheering for him next summer in Madison.
Final Standings:
Women:
Katrin Davidsdottir* (856)Mia Akerlund (802)Alessandra Pichelli (802)
Men:
Sean Sweeney* (774)Cole Sager (756)James Newbury (718)
Teams:
Superhero project had 100 points to make up over the final day and would have six scored events to try and do so. They'd have to do well, win some events, and also hope that Vondelgym stumbled a little. Superhero project had an excellent final day winning 4 of the 6 events while taking a 2nd and a 3rd on the other two, but would it be enough to overcome the 100 point gap?
Vondelgym's model of consistency continued, they never had a placement worse than 5th all weekend. And yet, after being beaten on 5 consecutive workouts they needed to beat Superhero project on the final event if they were going to retain the spot they'd held all weekend; and it couldn't have been any closer. Vondelgym took second on the event.
Superhero project took third, and in the end beating them by one place on event 12 was enough. They won by an incredibly narrow margin of 2613 to 2609.
For Vondelgym they'll be making a return trip to the CrossFit Games after finishing 33rd there last year. It's worth noting that they are doing so as an affiliate. The new team structure, which allows teams to be comprised of athletes from anywhere around the world, seems to point towards super teams having an advantage. The other teams who have qualified so far from different Sanctioned events are representative of that. Congratulations to Vondelgym for sticking together and winning this weekend, earning the right to represent their affiliate in Madison again this summer.
Final Team Standings:
Vondelgym* (2613)Superhero project (2609)Jacked Rebels (2320)
*Invitation to CrossFit Games*
More in the Months to come... Watch this space.