Though the women’s side of the competition left little to surprise today, the men’s side suffered a tough loss.

Andrea Barbotti who finished day two in second place was forced to withdraw from the competition today. Barbotti competed for the first time at the Meridian Regional last year and finished in 31st place. This year it seemed like a hard year of training under his belt was going to pay off huge with a podium spot and his first trip to Carson. He blazed through the deadlifts in Event 5 yesterday taking 1st place but the price for the win was an aggravation of an old back injury. Today unfortunately, Barbotti was unable to complete Event 6 within the time cap and after consulting with coaches and medical staff, it was decided that withdrawing was the safest option. No doubt Barbotti will be back next year stronger than ever!

Karl Gudmundsson continued his dominance today with 2nd and 3rd place finishes in Event 6 and 7. With such strong showings across the board at Regionals, look for Gudmundsson to make another podium run at the Games this summer in Carson.

Lukas Esslinger jumped from 4th to 2nd place after today with top 5 finishes in Event 6 and 7 while Jonne Koski remained in 3rd.

New to the top 5 is rookie athlete Adrian Mundwiler. Mundwiler had dropped out of the top 5 after day two but smashed back in today with a commanding 1st place finish on Event 6 and 10th place finish in Event 7.

Lukas Hogberg managed to hang on to his qualifying spot making this his third consecutive trip to the Games.

Absent from the top 5 this year is Frederik Aegidius who looked as though he had a shot to creep into the top 5, but costly no-reps on his final event dashed those hopes and left him in 7th place overall.

LEADERBOARD:

1. Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson
2. Lukas Esslinger
3. Jonne Koski
4. Adrian Mundwiler
5. Lukas Högberg

By Leah Kay
Photo Credit: Jonne Koski Instagram (@jonnekoski)