CrossFit Games

Reebok To Award Potentially $86,000 on Friday Events

July 30, 2021 by
Photo Credit: Kay Wiese
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Thanks to the Reebok Bonus Program, a handful of athletes walked away from day two of the CrossFit Games individual and team events with extra cash in their pockets.

Remind me: Reebok announced the program a week before the CrossFit Games began, offering bonuses for athletes across all divisions on one condition: they had to be wearing Reebok shoes during that event. This program had the potential to add nearly $1 million to the already $2.5 million prize purse. 

  • Individuals and teams were offered $10,000 for a first-place finish and $2,000 for a second-place finish. To be eligible for the bonuses, athletes had to register with Reebok.
  • Title sponsor NOBULL wasn’t put off by the added prize money, Chief Marketing Officer Todd Meleney told the Morning Chalk Up last week that, “Since the beginning of time, we’ve been in favor of anything that supports the athletes and the CrossFit community.”

According to our count, $86,000 in prize money from the Reebok Bonus Program was awarded, based on first and second-place finishes, on Friday. Who had the potential to earn a bonus?

Teams

Of the teams that competed, four had the chance, based on Reebok approval, of earning a bonus: 

  • CrossFit Mayhem, a team full of athletes, had the potential to secure a $20,000 bonus from their two first-place finishes. After winning six out of six events, CrossFit Mayhem, by wearing Reebok footwear, could have secured a $20,000 bonus for their team. All members of the team are Reebok athletes.
  • CrossFit Oslo and Plus64 CrossFit had the potential of earning $2,000 in bonus money, both teams earning second-place finishes. 
  • Edging out CrossFit Mayhem in event seven, CrossFit Decorum, wearing Reeboks, had the opportunity to earn a $2,000 bonus for a second-place finish.

Individuals

A handful of Reebok-signed athletes had the potential to earn bonus prize money, including Haley Adams and Annie Thorisdottir, both of whom secured second-place finishes during the second half of the day.

  • Patrick Vellner and Brent Fikowski, both of whom crossed the finish line in first place wearing Reebok footwear, will add $10,000 to their winnings. (Fikowski also earned a second-place finish in event five, which would bring him to a total of $12,000 bonus earnings.)
  • Amanda Barnhart won the event 9 battle between her and fellow Reebok athlete Annie Thorisdottir.

Of the non-Reebok-affiliated athletes, Jeffery Adler, Alex Vigneault, and Guilherme Malherios all had the potential to benefit from Reebok’s bonus prizes. 

The bottom line: These bonuses are open to every athlete on the field, and despite 160 expressing interest in the program, many of the top two individual event winners, especially those tied to other brands, did not wear Reebok footwear. Half of the individual athletes earning bonuses are signed Reebok athletes. 

  • However, before the Games began, we questioned if athletes would push to take top-two finishes from podium-seeking athletes for the bonus prize money. (Winning just one event wearing Reebok shoes is more than double the first-place purse at Semifinals.) 
  • A photo-finish like this, whether pushing for the money or not, happened in event seven of the Teams division, when CrossFit Decorum beat out CrossFit Mayhem, finishing second place in the event. 
  • But tomorrow, with at least one team event and three individual events, another $48,000 in bonus dollars is up for grabs. Anything could happen. 

Disclaimer: At this time, we could not verify that all athletes have signed an agreement of eligibility with Reebok.

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