CrossFit Games

The Case of Haley Adams’ 96 Missing Reps

May 3, 2018 by
instagram.com/haleyadamssss
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Background.

The Age Group Online Qualifier wrapped up last Monday, where the fittest 200 athletes in each of the teen and masters divisions worldwide tackled another four WODs to determine the top 20 who’ll go to the CrossFit Games.

So what happened?

Haley Adams, the 2017 Second Fittest 16-17-year-old on Earth, absolutely crushed Event 3: a 20 min AMRAP of wall balls, handstand walks, double-unders and rowing.

Her 1052 rep score on Event 3 is 120 reps more than the second place finisher in her division, Kaela Stephano. It’s also the number one score worldwide across all age divisions. Pretty darn impressive.

So what’s the issue?

Double-under reps are notoriously difficult to count, but upon reviewing the video, we counted 96 missing reps (P.S. if that video is taken down, here’s a backup). Not ‘no reps’ like missing the line on handstand push-ups or not reaching full extension on deadlifts. We’re talking double-unders that were never completed but counted anyways. At the box, this is commonly known as “rep shaving.”

Athletes were required to complete 100 dubs each set. But by our count, here are the number of dubs actually completed each set: 90, 90, 90, 87, 86, 86, 90, and 85.

Let’s recap.

Are there missing reps. Yes. There are 96 reps unaccounted for, by our count, and we’re willing to be off here.

Couldn’t they have just miscounted? By 96? Hard to believe. Maybe 1- 3 reps per round, but stopping on 90 and calling it a day is not a miscount.

Did Adams cheat? That’s not our call. Proving intention over a video can be difficult but not impossible. Last year, Trevor Bachmeyer was disqualified and banned for doctoring his 17.5 video, but there’s no doctoring here — just missed reps.

What does the rulebook say? For the Online Qualifier, “The submitted video(s) will be reviewed and the score(s) for the requested workout(s) either validated, modified or invalidated.” But it doesn’t detail what constitutes an invalid submission is.

In the Open, however, a video is invalid if “the athlete fails to complete the workout as required, a significant and unacceptable number of reps performed are ‘no-reps’ or the video does not contain the criteria listed in the video submission standards” (Section 1.27).

In all fairness, 96 reps does appear to be “significant” and having not completed even one full set of double-unders appears to be failing “to complete the workout as required,” but that definition is for the Open.

So what happens next?

We reached out to CrossFit HQ and the video is under review. They said she’s going to receive a score adjustment, but we likely won’t know by how much for a few days. HQ has until May 8 to conclude the video review process of the top 40 athletes in each division.

We’ll update you once they finish the review and make a final decision. This is why there’s a video review process to begin with.

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