Photo by: CrossFit HQ

TEAMS

Event 3

For time, each athlete moves through stations of:

Female Athlete 1:
0.5-mile run
50 wall-ball shots
Male Athlete 1:
0.5-mile run
50 wall-ball shots
Female Athlete 2:
0.4-mile run
40 wall-ball shots
Male Athlete 2:
0.4-mile run
40 wall-ball shots
Female Athlete 3:
0.3-mile run
30 wall-ball shots
Male Athlete 3:
0.3-mile run
30 wall-ball shots

M 20-lb. ball to 10 ft.
F 14-lb. ball to 10 ft.

Time cap: 20 minutes

CrossFit Yas takes on a third consecutive win in Event 3 – making them three for three and a seemingly undefeatable juggernaut.

The True Form runner is old news by week three but it is still doing a great job of making athletes run funny. This treadmill relies on the athlete to generate power and left more than one athlete wobbly as they headed for the wall-ball in this couplet. Throughout all three heats, damaging no reps were given to female athletes who struggled to hit the 10 ft. target or squat low enough after the damage done to their legs on the True Form. In the first heat, only one team finished under the time cap, Cape CrossFit Wolfpack. Their final two athletes would both go unbroken on the wall-ball coming in at 19:48.3. In the second heat, Team Butchers Lab would start out way ahead of the other teams – their first male off the runner and 25 reps into his wall-ball before another male athlete would join him at the rig. However, the no reps cost them and CrossFit Asane started to catch up until the two teams were neck-and-neck going into the final two athletes. Butchers Lab’s final female took very few breaks and took off running for the finish line as the final male ran for the wall-ball. He then proceeded to go unbroken on the wall-ball and sprint across the finish line – redefining their lead in heat 2. Their win would amount to 5th place overall in the event and a 7th place finish for Asane, who followed them across the finish line.

In heat 3, CrossFit Solid took an early lead on the run but Team CrossFit Nordic Alpha would quickly usurp the lead on the wall-ball. Both teams’ female athletes would have a tough time on the wall-balls getting costly no-reps. In fact, the final heat had little to do with the teams that would start off in front. CrossFit Yas, however, started strong and finished that way. Yas showed strong communication as the team yelled for the second female athlete to speed up her wall-ball to coincide with her counterpart on the True Form. It worked out – allowing her to time out her last twenty wall-balls to almost match her teammate’s descent off the runner. They were on pace to beat Norcal’s blistering event record but the final female got seven no reps on her final two wall-balls costing them dearly. Although they didn’t break the record, a strong finish from their final male did add another 1st place finish to their repertoire. The Dutch, Idol, and CrossFit Fabriken would all stealthily move up to take 2nd through 4th in Event 3.

CrossFit Yas explained, after their third 1st place finish, that they are a very close group, “We’re a couple, they’re a couple, and we all live together. And this one, the little one, is very messy – a hamster.”

Results

1. CrossFit Yas (17:43.9)
2. The Dutch (17:55.8)
3. Idol (18:02.6)
4. CrossFit Fabriken (18:18)
5. Team Butchers Lab (18:18.7)

Event 4

1-rep-max snatch

Time cap: 6 minutes (1 minute for each athlete)*
Athlete order: Any

Event 5 begins 2 minutes after this event ends.

Event 4 gave each athlete on the team a minute to hit a heavy snatch. The athletes all used the same 45-lbs. bar (difficult since most women train with a thinner 35-lbs. bar), used a short bar that only measured 42 inches collar to collar (problematic for the taller athletes), and after the first athlete, the remaining team members had to get to their own starting weights set within the minute. Athletes went up against not only the weight but the clock – two perilous adversaries that cost a lot of teams a lot of points. As a result of these challenges most athletes erred on the side of lighter, safer lifts that would guarantee their team points.
The athletes could, and did, use any style or technique (or lack thereof) to get the bar overhead. In heat two, Team CrossFit Galileo’s men would get some big lifts at 237 lbs. but it was Team Butchers Lab that would win the heat with solid men’s lifts (210/225 lbs) and some huge lifts for the ladies, lifting 125, 140, and 170 lbs. to add to their team total of 1,090 lbs., putting them in 2nd place in the event. Only CrossFit JST Black would outlift them with a score of 1,140 lbs. CrossFit Reykjavik-Virtuosity would come back strong today with a 3rd place finish of 1,085 lbs,, CrossFit Solid would take 4th with 1,075 lbs., and CrossFit Turnicum would take 5th with 1,051lbs. All three finishes kept these teams in the top five. CrossFit Yas would finish outside of 1st for the first time but a sixth place finish still kept them strongly entrenched in 1st place overall.

Results

1. CrossFit JST Black (1,140 lbs.)
2. Team Butchers Lab (1,090 lbs.)
3. CrossFit Reykjavik-Virtuosity (1,085 lbs.)
4. CrossFit Solid (1,075 lbs.)
5. CrossFit Turicum (1,051lbs.)


Event 5

Relay for time of:
6 x 100-ft. handstand walk

Time cap: 7 minutes
Athlete order: any

Two minutes after Event 4 the athletes found themselves turned upside down as each member was asked to complete a 100 ft. march down the arena. Instead, some of the athletes decided to go for a run, while some athletes got left behind. No team was able to complete the workout in heat 1 but that changed drastically in heat 2. CrossFit Centrum Viking would run, figuratively speaking, across the arena – the first three athletes crossing in two minutes. However, as their handstand specialists crossed the field, the athletes left in their wake were unable to finish what their teammates had started. It came down to a race between Team CrossFit Galileo and Team Butchers Lab. Galileo’s final athlete struggled on the final twenty feet but was able to fight her way across moments before Butcher’s Lab, with a time of 5:52.

In the final heat, the real surprise was realizing that CrossFit Yas had a chink in their armor as every athlete on the team seemed to struggle down the floor. This was not a fluke, judging from their ecstatic response when they finished under the seven minute time cap for 10th place in the event. Regardless of their fall from grace (or at least from 1st place in events 4 and 5), CrossFit Yas remains atop the leaderboard, albeit much closer to the second place team, CrossFit Reykjavik-Virtuosity. Virtuosity’s 1st place finish in this even, and new event record of 4:17.3, certainly has helped them close the gap. No one on the team seemed to have any trouble as they raced across the arena. CrossFit Turicum seemed to have little trouble as well, coming in at 4:18.4 for 2nd place in the event and 4th overall. CrossFit Fabriken’s 4th place finish would keep them in 5th place, a precarious position that separates them from Team Butchers Lab by three points and The Dutch, whose 3rd place finish in Event 5 put them in 7th and in a threatening position for the top five teams.

After breaking the Event 5 record, CrossFit Raykjavik- Virtuosity said, “We knew that we would be pretty fast on this, we did it in practice around four minutes. So we were gunning for it (the event record), definitely. We’re lucky, we have a couple of gymnasts and we train with Andy – she’s a very good gymnast, and so we practice it a lot.” Going in to day 3, Raykjavik- Virtuosity said, “We just need to keep fighting. Everything can happen. But we like Sunday so we are really looking forward to it.”

Results

1. CrossFit Reykjavik-Virtuosity (4:17.3)
2. CrossFit Turicum (4:18.4)
3. The Dutch (4:34)
4. CrossFit Fabriken (5:01.8)
5. Team CrossFit Nordic Alpha (5:16.3)

Overall Standings

1. CrossFit Yas (442 pts)
2. CrossFit Reykjavik-Virtuosity (415 pts)
3. CrossFit Solid (409 pts)
4. CrossFit Turicum (403 pts)
5. CrossFit Fabriken (377 pts)

INDIVIDUAL MEN

Event 3

For time:
1-mile run
50 overhead squats (135 / 95 lb.)
100 GHD sit-ups
150 double-unders
50 sumo deadlift high pulls (135 / 95 lb.)
100 box jump overs (24 / 18 in.)

Time cap: 26 minutes

Jonne Koski has taken his third 1st place finish in the first three events – the only man to complete Event 3 in the Meridian Regional and the fourth man to complete the event worldwide.

Event 3 was about determining a plan, finding a pace, and keeping it for at least 26 minutes. In heat 3 Jamie Frye was first off the treadmill but being first out of the gate in this workout is not necessarily a good place to be. Over the course of the workout Frye would continue to fall – finishing in 30th overall. Justin Ahrens, another athlete that came out quickly, moved fast through the GHD sit-ups but was unable to maintain the pace and fell to 24th place. Athletes Will Kane, Mikko Aronpää, and Michael Mikaere found their pace and were able to hold on to it. Kane was the second athlete off the overhead squats and the first off the GHD sit-ups with Mikaere right behind him. Mikaere started off with sets of four on the sumo-deadlift high-pulls and although he eventually went to singles, the higher rep scheme allowed him to take the heat and take 6th overall while Kane finished in 7th. Aronpää took a slower start but his technique of getting off the GHD between sets allowed him to take some pressure off his back. Aronpää took over third place going into double-unders and would finish in 3rd in heat 3, a finish that would give him 8th overall in the event.

The final heat boiled down to an in-house fight as training partners Jonne Koski and Lukas Högberg went head-to-head. Frederik Aegidius came out strong, working quickly through his overhead squats with a narrow grip but it was Högberg who was the first to the GHD sit-ups with a steady and consistent pace. Högberg has learned some important lessons over his past three years at Regionals – in his first showing he ended up in the hospital after going head-to-head with Mikko Salo, and in his second he ended up at the Games – and this year has yet to be decided but he put up a fight against Koski. Koski made his move on the GHD sit-ups – going steady but unbroken through the 100 reps. He picked up the pace significantly in the second half of the workout, first off the GHD machine. He flew through the double-unders and started working on the sumo deadlift high-pulls two to three reps at a time. Here is where Högberg caught him, with bigger sets on the high-pulls, Högberg was the first athlete to the box jump overs. In mere moments Koski took back the lead and actually picked up the pace as he moved through the box jump overs – his last 40 reps significantly faster – giving him the lead and the finish on Event 3.

Discussing his goal on the GHD Koski said, “Keep on moving all the time. Keep a steady pace on the GHD. I’ve tried it two times and it seems to be working.” Koski said of his training relationship with Lukas Högberg, “I don’t think I could have made it without him before the time cap. That’s the fun part of our friendship – we can be really good friends and competitors at the same time.”

Results

1. Jonne Koski (25:47.9)
2. Lukas Högberg (CAP + 10)
3. Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson (Capt+20)
4. Frederik Aegidius (CAP + 30)
5. Steven Fawcett (CAP + 39)

Event 4

For time:
Handstand walk 250 ft.

Time cap: 3 minutes

Event 5 begins 1 minute and 40 seconds after this event ends.

In the early heats, the athletes’ long breaks cost them a lot of time. Heat 3 was a race as three athletes moved quickly down the floor. Michael Mikaere and Justin Arhens flew across the first half of the floor. While Mikaere was the first to start back on the second half, he fell and stalled on the way back falling to 25th overall in the event and out of the top ten. Justin Arhens kept it consistent, coming in at 1:44 – good enough for 2nd place overall in Event 4. Will Kane followed him in with 1:46 and a 4th place overall finish.

In heat 4, it was all about Filip Yank Fisker as he bicycled up and down the arena with black and yellow bumblebee knee sleeves. He was behind Zachary Moran’s event record of 1:25.9 on the far side but he caught Moran’s time on the second half. In dramatic fashion, Fisker fell 1cm to soon, forcing him to redo the last ten feet, but even so he got across the finish line in 1:24.2. Stephen Fawcett finished soon after but his slow, celebratory dance across the finish line cost him a 2nd place finish and put him in 3rd with 1:45.4 – .4 of a second after Justin Ahrens. Jonne Koski took fifth over all with a time of 1:55.1 – further solidifying his first place on the leaderboard.

Fisker said of his handstand walking prowess, “I’ve pretty much been walking on my hands my entire life. And I was a gymnast when I was little but not for very long. But I’ve kept doing it since forever – I just like being upside down.”


Results

1. Filip Yank Fisker (1:24.2)
2. Justin Ahrens (1:45)
3. Stephen Fawcett (1:45.4)
4. Will Kane (1:46)
5. Jonne Koski (1:55.1)

Event 5

1-rep-max snatch

Each athlete will have two 20-second windows to attempt the lift with 80 seconds rest between windows.

Less than two minutes after Event 4, Event 5 asks athletes to tackle their max snatch in two 20-second timeframes in which to make their lifts. Most athletes are hitting around 90% of their one rep max – although some of them are hitting nothing at all as their shoulders give out.

In the first heat, Simon Matyla’s karate kid style celebration set the audience cheering as he stuck his second lift of 241 lbs. And in the next heat, Laurent Camps hit 262 lbs. with ease and giving him second place in Event 5. In heat 3, Justin Arhens hit 253 lbs. After a great showing in Event 4 and 5, Arhens has moved up to 7th place on the leaderboard. Will Kane’s 25th place in the event dropped him from the top ten to 11th place on the scoreboard, while Mikko Aronpää’s 251 lbs. earned him 8th in the event and kept him in 8th on the leaderboard.

In the final heat, Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson took a bow following his 256 lbs. lift. Phil Hesketh power snatched his first lift at 245 lbs. and squat snatched 257 lbs. for 3rd place overall in the event. These athletes did what they needed to do as Steven Fawcett snatched 245 lbs., just enough to keep him in 4th in the standings. And while Gudmundsson is closing the gap, Jonne Koske’s 18th place finish still hasn’t shaken him from the top of the podium. Filip Yang Fisker with two consecutive 1st place finishes in the final events of day 2 has forced himself into the top five – and now he has to keep himself there as these athletes prepare for the final day of competition.

Filip Yang Fisker said of Events 4&5, “These are my favorite events from last year pretty much, so I was well prepared for this. I’ve practiced a lot and it didn’t go as planned but I went with plan B and it worked so…that’s all right. I’m pretty excited to ugh -- I don’t know if I won, did I? My plan A was to go unbroken on the handstand walk instead of tripping in the last one. And I was very fatigued from the chipper- I completely froze on the GHDs and that affected me a bit here….If it (265lbs.) felt good, I would have gone for the event record but I didn’t have it in my shoulders. I tried my best and thankfully got the last rep at 265 lbs.”

Results

1. Filip Yang Fisker (265 lbs.)
2. Laurent Camps (262 lbs.)
3. Phil Hesketh (257lbs.)
4. Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson (256 lbs.)
5. Jason Smith (255 lbs.)

Overall Standings

1. Jonne Koski (431 pts)
2. Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson (404 pts)
3. Lukas Högberg (379 pts)
4. Stephen Fawcett (376 pts)
5. Filip Yang Fisker (369 pts)

INDIVIDUAL WOMEN

Event 3

For time:
1-mile run
50 overhead squats (135 / 95 lb.)
100 GHD sit-ups
150 double-unders
50 sumo deadlift high pulls (135 / 95 lb.)
100 box jump overs (24 / 18 in.)

Time cap: 26 minutes

Three women from the Meridian Regional have joined the other six elite athletes who have finished Event 3. One of them, Kristin Holte, has also earned the new event record, decimating Denae Brown’s time of 24:31.9 with a time of 23:52.

This was a workout that forced each athlete to know their bodies, their abilities, and their pace as they took on high reps of taxing movements. Each athlete seemed to have their own least favorite movement but if they wanted to get through to the end they had to push through it. In the first two heats, no athlete made it as far as the box jump overs but Dina Swift and Jo Caulton both got way out in front in their respective heats. Each athlete distanced themselves on the GHD sit-ups and stayed steady through the remaining movements to keep their leads. In heat 3, Oxana Silvenko, Olympic silver medalist in Olympic Lifting, would fly through the 95 lbs. overhead squats with ease but after that her performance would fall apart and she would fall from the top three to 28th in the event. Martina Barbaro was another athlete who took an early lead; an early leader on the overhead squats, Barbaro was fourth to get to the GHD and first off of it. After that she maintained the lead, using fast singles to deal with the sumo deadlift high-pulls and was the first female athlete to get to the box jump overs. Although she would not complete the workout, her completed reps would afford her a 5th place finish overall in the event.

In the final heat, Kristin Holte and Mikaela Norman were first off the True Form and that would start a trend. While most women who came out fast tended to fade, these women are not like those women. Holte got of the GHD at 15:07 and minus a couple of false starts on the double unders, Holte just kept moving and no one could catch her. Mikaela Norman followed in her footsteps, pacing off of her coaches colored cue cards that he held up throughout the workout. Whatever yellow and green means – it worked. The only person who could come between Holte and Norman was Ragnheidur Sara Sigmundsdottir. After a slower time on the run, Sigmundsdottir paced herself on the rest of the movements until she could get to the sumo deadlift high-pull – then she ripped through them. She cut through Norman’s lead until it was non-existent, passing her to start on the box jump overs. While neither athlete could keep up with Holte, both athletes finished the event: Sigmundsdottir with a time of 24:45 and Norman at 25:29.9.

Kristin Holte said of Event 3, “The goal was keeping the same pace through it all. I knew that running was kind of one of my strengths so I sort of paced my running a little bit and then I saw other girls keeping the same pace as me and I was like, ‘Oh, I have to keep on going now.’ I broke up the overhead squats as I was supposed to and then I tried to pace on the GHDs and the goal was just to get to the box-jumps.”

Results

1. Kristin Holte (23:52)
2. Ragnheidur Sara Sigmundsdottir (24:45)
3. Mikaela Norman (25:29.9)
4. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (CAP + 19)
5. Martina Barbaro (CAP + 35)

Event 4

For time:
Handstand walk 250 ft.

Time cap: 3 minutes

Event 5 begins 1 minute and 40 seconds after this event ends.

In the first three heats Celeste Engelbrech and Saara Lacksonen separated themselves from the rest of the field, the only two athletes to complete the 250 ft. handstand walk. None of the girls in the third heat were able to complete the event. In the final heat, that changed as the women went running across the floor on their hands. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir knew she was going to do well in this event and she did, breaking the event record with a blistering time of 1:19.8. Kristin Holte was right behind Davidsdottir but dropped 10 feet before the finish line, getting passed by the consistent, if not quick, Annie Thorisdottir with a time of 1:31.5. Holte would finish at 1:36.2; Bjork Odinsdottir would come in at 1:41.5, and Thuridur Erla Helgadottir would finish at 1:55.7. Nine out of ten athletes in this heat would finish the workout – proving that the top women are right where they belong.

Results

1. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (1:19.8)
2. Annie Thorisdottir (1:31.5)
3. Kristin Holte (1:36.2)
4. Bjork Odinsdottir (1:41.5)
5. Thuridur Erla Helgadottir (1:55.7)

Event 5

1-rep-max snatch

Each athlete will have two 20-second windows to attempt the lift with 80 seconds rest between windows.

More records were broken in Event 5 as Oxana Silvenko got a 210 lbs. snatch. No other athlete would come close but Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir’s 183 lbs. snatch would give her second in the event and a first place spot on the overall leaderboard.

In the early heats, a lot of big lifts went up, but a lot of them came right back down. With tired shoulders the athletes had controlling the bar at the top. In heat 2, Anna Fragkou and Mary Jamieson were both able to put up 170 lbs. In heat 3, Laura Hughes was able to hold on to 175 lbs. for fifth place in the event. In the final heat, there was heavy weight being moved as Ragnheidur Sara Sigmundsdottir stumbled on her first attempt with 167 lbs. but was able to quickly adjust and make the lift. Her second lift was successful with 180 lbs., which would be enough for 3rd place. Annie Thorisdottir would hit 176 lbs. for 4th – giving her enough points to maintain, albeit share, 1st place on the overall leaderboard with Davidsdottir. However, the real story of Event 5 was Oxana Silvenko, whose first lift was an easy 185 lbs. Her first lift alone would have given her first place but after failing her first attempt at her second lift, Silvenko made a 210 lbs. snatch – shattering the event record.

At the end of day 2, a single point differentiates the first three places on the leaderboard. The final day is going to be a battle to determine the podium for the Meridian Region’s female athletes.

Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir said after her second place lift, “I knew that I would do well but this is a very strong region. I know that most of us can go for a one rep at around 185 (lbs.) so I was like you never know. I was just focused on myself and what I can do and trying not to focus on what they were putting on their bars. And 183 (lbs.) felt good today and I was confident that I would hit it and I’m happy that I hit it.”

Results

1. Oxana Silvenko (210 lbs.)
2. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (183 lbs.)
3. Ragnheidur Sara Sigmundsdottir (180 lbs.)
4. Annie Thorisdottir (176 lbs.)
5. Laura Hughes (175 lbs.)


Overall Standings

1. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (435 pts)
1. Annie Thorisdottir (435 pts)
3. Ragnheidur Sara Sigmundsdottir (434 pts)
4. Kristin Holte (427 pts)
5. Thuridur Erla Helgadottir (394 pts)

Related Articles:
2015 Meridian Regional Recap: Day 1
Who's Who In The Meridian Regional