CrossFit Games

Fittest in Cape Town Final Recap: Smith, Basnett and Eikestad Mighty Oaks Head to the CrossFit Games

June 6, 2021 by
Credit: Kelly-Jayne Trindade
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Two more individuals and a team can now start making their travel plans for Madison, WI. Jason Smith, Michelle Basnett and CrossFit Eikestad Mighty Oaks will be representing the continent of Africa at the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games as they each finished atop the podium at the Fittest in Cape Town on Sunday.

With just one Games invitation available for the winners of each division and three Last Chance Qualifier spots available on the individual side, it was an exciting final day of action inside the Woodmill Lifestyle Market in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

The women’s division:

Credit: Kelly-Jayne Trindade

Michelle Basnett may have dual citizenship as an American but will represent South Africa in Madison at the end of July. The 24-year old will make her Games debut after keeping her Day 2, 32-point lead over Dina Swift.

  • Basnett started the day off with an event win in “Pinball,” her second event win of the weekend. She finished the grueling chipper in 12:05, :11 second ahead of Swift.
  • The win all but sealed the Games berth for her and she ended the weekend with a ninth place in “The Frinals” giving her top-ten finishes in all seven workouts.
  • Swift along with fellow South Africans Michelle Merand and Reyneke Gilmari earned the Semifinals Last Chance Qualifier invites, placing 2nd-4th respectively.
  • Swift placed second in “Pinball” and eighth in “The Frinals” to end her weekend.
  • Merand again made another jump up the leaderboard, improving from fourth to third thanks to back-to-back runner-up finishes on the final day of competition.
  • Gilmari ended the day with an eighth and seventh place finish to hold off Tanha Bouffe by five points for the final LCQ spot.
  • Leeverne Engelbrecht was the event winner of “The Frinals”, winning the event in 6:50.

The men’s division:

Credit: Kelly-Jayne Trindade

Almost a year ago Jason Smith was ready to step away from competition after the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today he heads back to Madison for the third time in five years as he concluded his masterful performance at the FiCT with two more top-five finishes for a 36-point victory.

  • He started the day with his worst finish of the competition, finishing fifth in “Pinball” before concluding the competition with a third place.
  • Smith finished the FiCT with three event wins, two runner-up finishes, a third place and a fifth.
  • South Africans Ruan Duvenage, AJ Visser and Egyptian Mohamed Elomda held on to their spots from day two to qualify for the LCQ.
  • Duvenage made a late charge at Smith but it was too little too late as he finished with a third place in “Pinball” and his first event win in “The Frinals”.
  • Visser finished day three with two sixth place finishes to earn his LCQ invite.
  • Billy Pullen won “The Frinals” with a time of 12:37.

The team division:

Day three came was all Eikestad Mighty Oaks, as they won their final two events at Fittest In Capetown to take first overall and sweep the competition. Teams started their day with a long, classic CrossFit workout and finished out their day with a “Frantastic” workout that mixed in nearly every element of pulling gymnastics from chest to bar to bar muscle-ups with thrusters.

  • To no one’s surprise, the three dominant teams of the weekend continued their streak, with CrossFit Tijger Valley finishing second in both workouts and the Mighty Oak’s gym-mates the Golden Oaks finishing third in both workouts. 
  • This will be CrossFit Eikestad’s first trip to the Games. CrossFit Eikestad is also the first gym to have two teams finish in the top three at a Semifinal event.

The Final Overall Top 10 

  1. Michelle Basnett (636) | Jason Smith (668) | Eikestad Mighty Oaks (700)
  2. Dina Swift (604) | Ruan Duvenage (632) | CrossFit Tijger Valley (635)
  3. Michelle Merand (588) | AJ Visser (522) | Eikestad Golden Oaks (635)
  4. Reyneke Gilmari (531) | Mohamed Elomda (512) | FireBolt Dragons (515)
  5. Tanha Bouffe (526) | Kealan Henry(504) | Howling CommandosC (505)
  6. Mary Jamieson (522) | Ruan Potgieter (495) | rossFit Resuelto (480)
  7. Brady Finkel (500) | Billy Pullen (435) | Kyma Kaos (480)
  8. Leeverne Engelbrecht (443) | Schalk Burger (401) | Cape CrossFit Wolfpack (470)
  9. Anneke Spies (406) | Ruan Conradie (398) | CrossFit Engine38 (455)
  10. Reegan Finkel (377) | Matthew Peter Garth Smith (390) | CrossFit Damascus (400)

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