Phil Toon and Ellie Turner, Both 23, Continue Turning Heads at Wodapalooza
Ellie Turner and Phil Toon proved on Friday at Wodapalooza in Miami that their Day 1 performances were not flukes.
At the halfway mark of the competition, Turner, a 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games rookie, and Toon, who narrowly missed qualifying for the Games last summer when he placed ninth at the CrossFit Atlas Games semifinals and sixth at the Last Chance Qualifier, sit in first and third overall respectively.
Toon has gathered two second place finishes, a sixth and a 12th so far, while Turner’s lowest finish is fifth. After capturing two event wins on Thursday, Turner finished fourth on Event 3 and fifth on Event 4 on Friday and leads Emma McQuaid by 36 points.
What they’re saying: Turner is the first to admit she’s surprised by how well she has done this weekend so far.
- “It wasn’t even on my radar (to be leading),” said Turner, adding she didn’t even know what the prize money was for first place until someone mentioned it to her when she found herself sitting atop the leaderboard.
- Turner also said she struggled a bit after the Games, so the weekend so far has been “the confidence booster that I needed.”
- That being said, Turner isn’t getting ahead of herself. “Literally anything can happen. I’m just going to go out and do my best in each event, and that’ll be a success for me at the end of the weekend.”
- Turner’s coach, Michele Letendre, also admitted she wasn’t expecting Turner to be where she is right now. “I’m not going to lie, I’m surprised, but at the same time, I knew she had that kind of potential. She’s really good,” said Letendre, who also called Turner “the future of Australia” when it comes to CrossFit.
- Toon is also unconcerned about the leaderboard. “I’m just out here trying to prove to myself mainly that I belong here. I don’t have expectations besides that,” said Toon after Event 3.
- His coach Matt Torres said he wasn’t surprised by Toon’s performance, as he knows what Toon is capable of. The only question was whether he’d be able to do it on the competition floor, Torres said.
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