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Cole Sager Dominates at the West Coast Classic

June 20, 2021 by Maggie Weaver

Credit: Athlete's Eye Photography

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Games veteran Cole Sager dominated the field at the West Coast Classic, finishing the weekend on top of the podium.

Remind me: Now, having punched his ticket to the CrossFit Games, this will be Sager’s eighth appearance, his first in 2014 after breaking into the sport in 2013.

He’s shown impressive performances across the 2021 season, ranking 41st in the Open and 17th in Quarterfinals.

At the West Coast Classic: Sager started the weekend out strong, earning fifth place in the Regionals Snatch Ladder 2016, crossing the finish line milliseconds behind Noah Ohlsen.

From there, Sager’s dominance continued:

He crushed the field in event two, Legless 2013, finishing first with a time of 4:50. But, he was edged out of the top spot on the leaderboard by three-time Teen champion Dallin Pepper.
On day three, Sager earned himself another first-place finish in the Ruck Run 2.0 2019.
The Ruck Run is an event he had completed before, back in 2019. That year, athlete George Sterner beat him in a race to the finish. This year, Sager was the one fighting for first place, sprinting past James Sprague to earn the event win.
Sager closed out day two finishing fifth in event four, the Triple G Chipper 2017, and second in event five, Regional Finale 2017. This moved him into first place going into the final day of competition, with 464 points.

On day three, Sager came out with another top-five finish, ranking fourth in event six, Push Pull 2.0 2014.

In the final event, Regional Closer 2015, Sager logged his worst rank of the weekend: 20th place. His time, 1:36, was 17 seconds slower than in 2015, when he “blitzed it,” in the words of host Tommy Marquez, to get a time of 1:19.
But 20th place wasn’t enough to knock Sager from his lead, and the 30-year-old athlete took the win with 583 points.

The bottom line: Sager came into the weekend with a clear goal: qualify for the CrossFit Games. And, he did just that with impressive, dominant performances throughout the weekend.

“I just don’t take these things for granted,” Sager said. “Every year is a great experience… I’m so thankful to be here and thankful for the support group that I have, sponsors, family, everything in between.”
As a new dad, this win on Father’s Day, he says, was even more special.

What happens next? Sager says not much will change as he trains for the Games: “This isn’t anything different than anything we’ve done in the past. The West side is always in the last week, so we just lock back in and we go to work.”