CrossFit Games

Strength in Depth: Day One Recap

January 24, 2020 by
Photo Courtesy of @strengthindepthuk
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In a competition headlined by some of the greatest athletes ever to compete in CrossFit, day one of the CrossFit Strength in Depth leaderboard is headlined by a teenager, a former contender and a team not named Mayhem. The opening day featured two events that tested cardiovascular endurance (a 6,000m run for individuals and a 6,000m sandbag run for teams) and their muscular and gymnastics endurance (“The Standard” for individuals and a variation of “The Standard” for teams).

The team division: Just on sheer name alone, Mayhem Freedom was expected to be the team to beat. However the team of Rich Froning, Tasia Percevecz, Chyna Cho and new member Scott Panchik find themselves in unfamiliar territory, sitting in fourth, 42 points behind the leader.

  • The leader is Team WHEY’D, a team we spotlighted as one to watch in our preview, a team consisting of two-time Irish national champion Emma McQuaid, Lithuanian national champion Arminas Balevicius, 2018 men’s Irish national champion Michael Smith and Helena Collins from the UK.

Team WHEY’D currently holds a 10-point lead over Spanish team TRAINLIKEFIGHT.COM, thanks in part to a first-place finish in the event one run and a third-place finish in event two.

  • Mayhem Freedom was able to bounce back from a ninth-place finish in event one to win event two handedly.
  • This is the first time since the Rogue Invitational in May that Mayhem is not on top of the leaderboard. Mayhem led from start to finish at the 2019 CrossFit Games, their worst event finish was fifth in the Team Ruck event.
  • TRAINLIKEFIGHT.COM recorded a third place in the event one run and finished only 20 seconds behind Mayhem for second in event two. The team is led by Belgium women’s national champion Manon Angonese and David Mata (2018 Games team competitor – CrossFit Norte Redondela).
  • Vondelgym Motion is in third, 18 points off the lead and 24 points ahead of Mayhem.
Courtesy of @strengthindepthuk

The Mens’ Division: Lukas Hӧgberg’s mission to earn an invite to the Games through a Sanctional event got off to a good start on day one. He leads heading into day two after a second-place finish in the run and third in “The Standard.” Hӧgberg, who podiumed in the 2018 Games, holds a six-point lead over the reigning CrossFit Games champion Mathew Fraser.

  • Fraser doesn’t show any effects from the long lay-off between the Games and his first competition floor appearance. He placed sixth in the run and was the only athlete to finish the “Standard” under eight minutes. His time in event two was 12 seconds faster than his time in the same event in the finale of the 2019 CrossFit Games.
  • Greece’s Giorgos Karavis, as expected, is battling for the Games invite. He’s in third place, just eight points behind Hӧgberg.
  • Romain Fellonneau and Will Moorad are also in the hunt for the Games invitation and sit in fourth and fifth respectively. Fellonneau won event one but dropped off considerably in event two, finishing 17th. Moorad appeared healthy after a back injury forced him to withdraw from the Mayhem Classic two weeks ago, he placed fourth in “The Standard”.
  • Eleftherios Theofanidis and Evan Morris withdrew from the competition prior to the start of the competition.

The Womens’ Division: Confidence is the difference between 2019 Haley Adams and the 2020 iteration, at least according to her. Those who questioned her got to see firsthand that Adams should no longer be considered a “rising star” but a contender for the crown. She sits atop the leaderboard after a second-place finish in event one and an event win in “The Standard”. She was the only woman to finish event two under ten minutes and picked up her second career Sanctional event win.

  • Polish national champion Gabriela Migala sits in second place, 28 points behind Adams. She placed fifth in event one and was the runner-up to Adams in event two.
  • Mirka Henriksson has an early edge for the Games invitation as she sits in third place. Behind her are Camilla Salomonsson Hellman and Laura Horvath, who each have Games invites as their respected country’s national champions.

On tap for day two: Three events are scheduled for individuals and teams. The event to keep an eye on is the first-ever on-the-water rowing event in CrossFit competition for the individuals. Following that all events will be held in the sold-out NOCCO Arena in London.

 The Overall Top 10 After Day 1

  1. Haley Adams (192) | Lukas Hӧgberg (182) | Team WHEY’D (180)
  2. Gabriela Migala (164) | Mathew Fraser (176) | TRAINLIKEFIGHT.COM (170)
  3. Mirka Henriksson (144) | Giorgos Karavis (174) | Vondelgym Motion (162)
  4. Camilla Salomonsson Hellman (138) | Romain Fellonneau (146) | Mayhem Freedom (138)
  5. Laura Horvath (120) | Will Moorad (144) | AOD Fitness (128)
  6. Nicole Chovan (118) | Sam Stewart (134) | Esprit De Corps (94)
  7. Carys Webster (104) | Nicolay Billaudel (130) | Stratton Oakmont (92)
  8. Kirsty Oliver (96) | Andre Houdet (128) | Wolfpack (88)
  9. Christina Agerbeck (96) | Daniel Skov (122) | Team Aarhus CrossFit (76)
  10.  Steph Chung (92) | Zack George (118) | Team Nordvest Black (68)

Check back with the Morning Chalk Up for daily updates, recaps and Tommy Marquez’s analysis on event two, the “Standard”. You can follow our coverage on the Strength in Depth Sactional page.

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