Photo by: CrossFit HQ

TEAMS

Event 6

For total time, women will complete, then men will complete:
50 GHD sit-ups, each
50 muscle-ups, total
50 hang power cleans, total (205 / 135 lb.)

Females will go first. Males may begin once females have moved to the finish mat.

Time cap: 25 minutes
Athlete order: FFF then MMM

This event starts with a bottleneck, as each athlete on the team must complete 50 GHD sit-ups before continuing on to the next movement. The faster the athlete moves through those sit-ups the faster they can move on to the muscle-ups. However, if they push too hard on the sit-ups they could end up useless on the other end when confronted by 50 muscle-ups. The first female athlete has to able to start chipping away at the 50 muscle-ups by themselves, necessitating strength in the gymnastic movement if their team was going to maintain any forward momentum. These athletes were afforded a slight respite, however, as their two teammates join them at the rings after moving past the sit-ups. The male athletes cannot begin until the female athletes finish the 50 hang power cleans.

In the early heats, the female athletes’ ability to get through the muscle-ups was the make-or-break point for the entire event. In the first heat, CrossFit Tyneside’s female athletes separated themselves from the pack and were the closest to finishing the event with three reps left on the men’s hang power cleans. In heat 2, Team CrossFit GaliléO’s leading lady was first to the rings and they would only continue to distance themselves from there. All three athletes looked strong on the muscle-ups but their uneven ability on cleans was cause for concern. With two smaller athletes, it was up to the third athlete to handle over half of the 50 reps of 135 lbs. hang power cleans. However, they knew their weaknesses and had a plan. The first female would hit five cleans and the two smaller athletes would clean up, one completing three reps, the other finishing the final two reps and walking the bar up through the transition. Their plan worked, getting the women across the arena, and unleashing their men. GaliléO would complete the event before any other male athletes had the chance to get off the muscle ups. Their blazing time would earn them 3rd place in Event 6.

While the first two heats had a runaway team, the final heat was a back and forth battle between the top teams in the Region. CrossFit Turicum would have the first female athlete off the GHD but it would be CrossFit Fabriken that would lead heading into the hang power cleans. Fabriken’s women did big sets on the cleans with one of their teammates screaming in their ear on every rep, pushing them to hold on to the bar. However, even big sets could not protect them from the ladies of CrossFit Yas. Coming from behind, Yas was the first to cross the finish line and send their first male athlete to the GHDs. That lead wouldn’t stand, as Fabriken and Solid past Yas on the muscle-ups and Fabriken had a ten rep lead on the cleans. Fabriken took the heat and the event with a time of 18:25 and CrossFit Solid would take 2nd with 18:50.9. CrossFit Turicum caught up to CrossFit Yas in the last ten reps but, in an attempt to take the lead, Turicum would fail on their first rep of the final set. Yas would come in at 19:40.2 for 4th. CrossFit Turicum would get 5th with a time of 19:48.6. The big news in this heat was less about who was in the top five but who was not. Team Butchers Lab’s ladies got stuck on the muscle-ups and were unable to complete the event – dropping them from 6th to 10th.

CrossFit Fabriken, fifth place going into this event, said, “We were really, really nervous this morning. The mood in the car was kind of tense so, one done, one to go. We’re excited…. Kinda an emotional rollercoaster, up and down. We did really well in some events that we didn’t think that we were gonna do good at all, and then poorly in some events that we thought we’d be okay in at least. So now we just don’t know, we’re just going to go for it and give it our all in Event 7.”

Results

1. CrossFit Fabriken (18:25)
2. CrossFit Solid (18:50.9)
3. Team CrossFit GaliléO (19:16)
4. CrossFit Yas (19:40.2)
5. CrossFit Turicum (19:48.6)

Event 7

For time, each athlete moves through stations of:
30-calorie row
Deadlift hold while trailing teammate rows (315 / 205 lb.)
30 strict handstand push-ups
Handstand hold while trailing teammate performs HSPU
30 toes-to-bars
Static hang while trailing teammate performs toes-to-bars
50-foot overhead axle lunge (155 / 105 lb.)

Time cap: 20 minutes
Athlete order: Any

Event 7 was not about the athlete who crossed the finish line first but the team that stayed the strongest and most consistent across this relay-style workout. In fact, in Meridian, no team would complete this workout. The biggest obstacle was getting these tired athletes, with fried shoulders, through 30 strict handstand push-ups without holding up the team members coming from the row. The balancing act was a difficult one as athletes had to walk a precarious line between going too slow and exhausting their teammates, who were holding a bar, a handstand hold, or hanging from the bar, waiting for them to get through their reps, or going too fast and pushing themselves to failure.

In the first heat, the approach seemed to be to send the male athletes first and just see how far they could go. Reebok CrossFit Tyneside had another strong start but we saw their fifth athlete get stuck on the strict handstand push-ups and bring the team to a halt, while other teams were able to push ahead. In the second heat, there were a couple of female athletes first on the field and Team Spartan Mentality’s female was the first athlete across the floor. CrossFit GaliléO’s third athlete across the floor struggled with the weight and the clock, failing twice as he attempted to make it across the last five feet. He made it with three seconds left on the clock – giving his team a 6th place finish in the event and putting them in the top ten to finish the weekend.

In the final heat, CrossFit Yas acknowledged on their way in that this was not going to be their event. Handstand walking and handstand push-ups seem to be a troublesome movement for the otherwise dominant team. It was the strict handstand push-ups that decided this event as a lot of teams had athletes stuck for long periods on the rower, waiting for their teammate to finish. Even so, The Dutch, Team CrossFit Nordic Alpha, CrossFit Yas, and CrossFit Solid were all in the running through the first part of the event. Nordic and Yas were the first two teams to start across the floor and Yas’s athlete played it smart, taking his time, and checking with his teammate on toes-to-bar to decide his pace. Nordic was the first to have two athletes across the floor, followed by The Dutch, Yas, and Solid. However, it came down to the end and a team effort as Solid had their third athlete march across the floor. The female on the toes to bar flew through her reps in an effort to give their fourth athlete time to get across. She gave him a minute and he took it – marching quickly and a bit wobbly down the floor. He would have to drop towards the end but regained the bar and crossed the finish line just as time would run out. That team effort not only won them the event but put them in 1st on the leaderboard. Yas dropped to 2nd overall with an 11th place finish (their only showing out of the top ten) in the final event. CrossFit Reykjavik-Virtuosity was a name barely said during the heat but they snuck through with a 5th place finish in the event and after consistent work all week are heading to the Games in third place in the Region. The final two teams that will be heading to the Games are CrossFit Turicum and CrossFit Fabriken, who did what they needed to do today to stay in the top five.

CrossFit Solid said their goal going into this event was “to play it cool,” “We knew we had a real good shot at qualifying for the Games, we didn’t have to outdo ourselves, but we actually did. We came here to qualify for the Games, which we did. The first day went good; everyone was a little tense before the first event. We have some rookies on the team. They did a great job. The running, the wall balls, caught us a bit off guard – they didn’t go as well but we recuperated good. The snatch went perfect, the handstand walk too, and this day has been amazing. We are so happy.”

Results

1. CrossFit Solid (CAP + 21)
2. CrossFit JST Black (CAP + 80)
3. The Dutch (CAP + 83)
3. Team CrossFit Nordic Alpha (CAP +83)
5. CrossFit Reykjavik-Virtuosity (CAP + 84)

CrossFit Games Qualifiers

1. CrossFit Solid (604 pts)
2. CrossFit Yas (592 pts)
3. CrossFit Reykjavik-Virtuosity (570 pts)
4. CrossFit Turicum (556 pts)
5. CrossFit Fabriken (548 pts)

INDIVIDUAL MEN

Event 6

5 rounds for time of:
25-calorie row
16 chest-to-bar pull-ups
9 strict deficit handstand push-ups

Time cap: 16 minutes

In the first event of the final day, some athletes were able to do what was necessary to stay in the top five, while others saw Carson, California and the CrossFit Games slip away.

While the athletes in the early heats had no chance of making it to the games that did not impact their effort on these final workouts. Two of the top five scores in this event came from heat 1 and heat 2. In heat one, Ates Boran flew through the first three rounds of chest-to-bar pull-ups and deficit handstand push-ups unbroken. Simon Mantyla started catching up on the row and actually passed him for a moment on the way to the last set of pull-ups but Boran would go unbroken and retake the lead. On the handstand push-ups it was a race of singles but Boran finished first and took 5th place overall with a time of 13:27.1.

In heat 2, it was the Mitchel Adams show. He went unbroken on every round with fast transitions. He was actually faster on his second round than his first, and by round four he had lapped most of the other athletes. While Mikko Salo had everyone watching Jonne Koski for a first place finish in this event, they overlooked Mitchel Adams, who took the first in his heat with a time of 11:30.7 – a time that would remain untouched in the next two heats.

In heat 3, Viktor Långsved, Stefano Migliorini, and Bartlomiej Lipka all stayed neck and neck for the first four rounds. Migliorini and Lipka would get ahead on the gymnastic movements and Långsved would catch up on the row. However, in the final round, Långsved would take the lead off of the row and keep it for a 6th place event finish. Lipka would finish quickly after him. Migliorini, who was so fast on his previous rounds, had costly issues with the final handstand push-ups that would drop him to 12th place in the event.

The final heat created a lot of changes on the leaderboard. The top ten men had some obstacles to overcome, the least of which was Mitchel Adams blazing time in heat 2. Filip Yang Fisker had to battle against his height in a workout that left his feet dragging against the floor on his pull-ups and gave him an even longer distance than most athletes on the strict handstand push-ups. Justin Ahrens had an injury from the snatches on day 2 that he was concerned about going in to the event. Jonne Koski had expectations to uphold as all eyes were on him and the event record. All the athletes faced different obstacles going in to the first event of the final day. Koski and Gudmundsson went out at a fast pace, both getting off the rowers at the exact same time on round 2 and 3. Koski started out kept pace with the event record for four rounds but a no rep on his final rep in round 2 and a break in the handstand push-ups on round 4 changed his focus from the event record to just maintaining control over the final heat. Steven Fawcett started a little slower but he never slowed down and some miscues for the other athletes allowed him to catch up in the final round. As the other athletes stopped to chalk up, he leapt up to the bar and all the athletes headed for the handstand push-ups at the same time. Fawcett was able to stay on the wall the longest, getting seven reps, and then fought for the last two after a quick break. Fawcett crossed the finish line first at 11:42.4, Gudmundsson then came hurtling over his chess piece for a 3rd place finish in the event at 11:47.1, and Koski would take 4th with a time of 11:57.8. Phil Hesketh was able to do what he needed to do with an 8th place finish in the event, and Fisker did what Hesketh needed him to do to close the distance between 5th and 6th, getting 22nd in the event. Despite his injury, Ahrens had a pretty solid finish with 11th place but it was not enough to allow him back into the top five.

Steven Fawcett said, “The two movements, chest-to-bar and deficit handstand push-ups, are like my two favorite movements so I’m comfortable and can try to do a few more rounds and try to keep a similar pace. The drop off on them isn’t that much so, for me, it was just push hard on the row and try to do all the gymnastics while pretty gassed, so – it worked out well. Koski and Björgvin started off really fast and I was hoping to be ahead of them by round three but I knew every time I got to the wall for the push-ups, I was making ground. Last round, I saw them both chalk up, there was already chalk on my bar so I just went for it. I was most confident for this but, hopefully, if I look at the leaderboard now, it should give me a few points between 5th place. So I just need to do a decent score on the last one.”

Results

1. Mitchell Adams (11:30.7)
2. Steven Fawcett (11:42.4)
3. Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson (11:47.1)
4. Jonne Koski (11:57.8)
5. Ates Boran (13:27.1)

Event 7

For time:
15 muscle-ups
1 squat clean (205 / 135 lb.)
1 squat clean (225 / 145 lb.)
1 squat clean (245 / 155 lb.)
1 squat clean (255 / 165 lb.)
1 squat clean (265 / 175 lb.)

Event 7 was a sprint from start to finish. If you hoped to place high, you couldn’t break on the muscle ups and you couldn’t miss any reps as you climbed the barbell ladder – oh, and you needed to run between reps. There was no room for error in Event 7.

The intensity seemed to build over the heats. Heat 1 had most of the athletes going unbroken on the muscle-ups but then lumbering between lifts – like the abuse from the rest of the weekend had finally caught up with them. In heat two, the men sped up the pace, most of them making it under two minutes. One athlete got stuck on the final lift of 265 lbs. and with the encouragement of the crowd and fellow athletes he got the lift and did a celebratory backflip. Stefano Migliorini and Alec Harwood flew off the rings in heat 3 but in an unforgiving event, Migliorini sprawled out over the first back, costing him his pacing and his composure as he tried to catch up through the remaining bars. Migliorini got stuck on the final lift – failing twice before he could cross the finish line causing him to fall to 36th in the final event. Harwood never looked back coming in with a time of 1:26.9 – fast enough for a 5th place finish in Event 7 to conclude the weekend.

The final heat saw the top ten athletes in Meridian give it all they had. After an unsteady start on the rings, Koski regained control and was the first athlete onto the bar. Unsurprisingly, once on roll, Koski just kept rolling, getting through the event with a time of 1:20.8. Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson came barreling down in the next lane with a time of 1:22.9. As far as affecting the leaderboard, Phil Hesketh’s 3rd place finish, at 1:24.9, secured his trip to the Games and knocked Filip Yang Fisker out of contention - an emotional outcome for both athletes as they waited anxiously for the final scores.

In the end, Jonne Koski, Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson, and Lucas Högberg are reunited as they will return for a second consecutive year to the CrossFit Games and Steven Fawcett and Phil Hesketh will be the two tough, new names added to the list of Meridian athletes heading to the Games.

Jonne Koski said of Event 7, “The plan was to try to make it safe and go a bit slower but I know, just because of the audience and competition, just made me go faster. You know, I had to go for it.”

Regarding his return to the Games in 2015, Koski said, “I’m going to do pretty much the same as I did last year, train a bit differently, like train a lot outside and do different things. And try to get my weight lifting a little more…how do you say it…secure, you know? Train hard and have fun.”

Results

1. Jonne Koski (1:20.8)
2. Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson (1:22.9)
3. Phil Hesketh (1:24.9)
4. Frederik Aegidius (1:25.9)
5. Alec Harwood (1:26.9)

Games Qualifiers

1. Jonne Koski (616 pts)
2. Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson (589 pts)
3. Steven Fawcett (514 pts)
4. Lucas Högberg (513 pts)
5. Phil Hesketh (496 pts)

INDIVIDUAL WOMEN

Event 6

5 rounds for time of:
25-calorie row
16 chest-to-bar pull-ups
9 strict deficit handstand push-ups

Time cap: 16 minutes

In an event that only 29 of 194 athletes finished before this weekend, Ragnheiður Sara Sigmundsdottir sent out a warning to the other Games competitors. Sigmundsdottir destroyed Kari Pearce’s previous event record time of 13:19 with a time of 13:00 – and, more concerning, it didn’t even look like she was thinking about the record.

In the early heats, none of the women were able to complete the event. Laura Faulkner would get the furthest in heat 1 and Oddrun Elk Gylfadottir would have just five handstand push-ups left when the clock ran out. In heat 3, Anna Fragkou would take the lead – going unbroken on the deficit handstand push-ups. Martina Barbaro tried to stay with her and actually caught her on the final row but Fragkou flew past her on the pull-ups in sets of eleven and five and finished unbroken on the handstand push-ups. Fragkou would be the first female athlete in the region to complete the event. Unfortunately, Barabaro would get stuck on the floor with one handstand push-up remaining.
In the final heat, Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir and Mikaela Norman were first to the rig, and Davidsdottir was the first athlete to head to the handstand push-ups, along with Annie Thorisdottir, and Ragnheiður Sara Sigmundsdottir. The handstand push-ups were the game definer, as Sigmundsdottir flew through the handstand push-ups unbroken. With each round Sigmundsdottir would extend her lead, at one point a minute ahead of the event record pace. The final round forced her to break for the first time, once on the chest-to-bar pull-ups and twice on the handstand push-ups. Even with those breaks she took 19 seconds off of the event record and left the rest of the athletes in her dust. Her 1st place finish in this event also gave her 1st place on the leaderboard after this event. The race became for second place. In the final round, Davidsdottir reclaimed 2nd place, while Thuridur Erla Helgadottir went unbroken on the final round for 3rd. Kristin Holte would finish 4th, and, after a struggle on the handstand push-ups, Annie Thorisdottir would take 5th. Carmen Bosmans had the athletes and fans screaming her encouragement as she fought through her final five reps but unable to lock out the last rep she would not be able to complete the workout. In the bigger picture, only 29 female athletes had completed this workout coming into this weekend, now 6 more have added themselves to that list.

Ragnheiður Sara Sigmundsdottir practiced this event twice and said, “In the first practice I broke the handstand push-ups up and the chest-to-bar then I saw the region and I was like, ‘Okay, if they can do it unbroken, I can do it unbroken.’” As for the last event she said, “I love it. It’s my favorite event. I love muscle-ups but I ripped a little bit now so I’m kind of afraid but I’m just not going to think about it.”

Results

1. Ragnheiður Sara Sigmundsdottir (13:00)
2. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (13:53.5)
3. Thuridur Erla Helgadottir (14:00.5)
4. Kristin Holte (14:13.9)
5. Annie Thorisdottir (14:54.8)

Event 7

For time:
15 muscle-ups
1 squat clean (205 / 135 lb.)
1 squat clean (225 / 145 lb.)
1 squat clean (245 / 155 lb.)
1 squat clean (255 / 165 lb.)
1 squat clean (265 / 175 lb.)

Event 7 is gymnastics meets heavy lifting – basically, no one is safe. While for the men few would break on the 15 muscle-ups, for the women – few wouldn’t. In heat 1, only three athletes would finish the workout, Laura Faulkner finishing first. In heat 2, six athletes would finish before the time cap; Englebrecht pulling ahead with a brisk walk between lifts. In heat 3, nine of the ten athletes would complete the workout. In a race between Elia Navarro and Hjördis Óskardóttir, Navarro was the first off the rings, completing big sets, and she ran through the bars. Óskardóttir took off behind her. Navarro was just able to get the last lift up finishing at 2:10.7 while Óskardóttir would finish in 2:12.7, getting 4th and 5th place in the event respectively.

In the final heat, Oxana Silvenko, Ragnheiður Sara Sigmundsdottir, and Thuridur Erla Helgadottir went through the muscle-ups unbroken. Silvenko threw up the bars with ease and then leapt over them, crossing the finish line in 1:26.8. Sigmundsdottir at 1:31.7 and Helgadottir at 1:33 finished close on her heels. All three of the women finished the heat before the next female athlete, Annie Thorisdottir, would get off the rings.

Sigmundsdottir’s finish solidified her 1st place win overall and Helgadottir made sure she wasn’t going anywhere but to Carson, California. It’s a Scandinavian overthrow as Ragnheiður Sara Sigmundsdottir, Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir, Annie Thorisdottir, and Thuridur Erla Helgadottir from Iceland and Kristin Holte from Norway are heading to the Games.

Results

1. Oxana Silvenko (1:26.8)
2. Ragnheiður Sara Sigmundsdottir (1:31.7)
3. Thuridur Erla Helgadottir (1:33)
4. Elia Navarro (2:10.7)
5. Hjördis Óskardóttir (2:12.7)

Games Qualifiers

1. Ragnheiður Sara Sigmundsdottir (629 pts)
2. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (591 pts)
3. Annie Thorisdottir (588 pts)
4. Kristin Holte (581 pts)
5. Thuridur Erla Helgadottir (574 pts)

Related Articles:
2015 Meridian Regional Recap: Day 1
2015 Meridian Regional Recap: Day 2
Who's Who In The Meridian Regional