CrossFit Games

A Tale of Two Ricky Garards on Day One of Torian Pro

May 20, 2022 by and
Photo Credit: Crispy Dudes | @crispydudes
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Australia’s polarizing Ricky Garard is back and he had a roller coaster first day at the Torian Pro, his first Semifinal competition and first in-person qualifying competition in four years.

By the end of the day, Garard had amassed 180 points, enough to put him in third place and eight points behind the leaders, Jay Crouch and Bayley Martin who both earned 188.

Hot Out of the Gate

Nerves seem to have gotten the best of the Australian as he struggled to keep food down earlier in the day. This was a major problem because the first event, “King Arthur,” was a chipper with a time cap of 23 minutes.

Garard came out hot, only seconds behind eventual event winner Bayden Brown for most of the workout. After passing Jay Crouch on the 1,500m run, Garard was hot on Brown’s heels through the muscle-ups and barbell movements.

However, as Brown crossed the finish line, Garard had just completed his burpee box jump-overs, and was bent over, looking side to side at his fellow competitors. 

Ten seconds elapsed before Garard attempted his final set of 15 overhead squats at 70kg (155 pounds). Forcing his hands from his hips, Garard pulled the barbell overhead in a snatch, but failed to stabilize in the bottom and received a no-rep as the bar fell to the ground. Before completing his third full rep, Matt McLeod, Bayley Martin, and Jay Crouch had joined Garard on the squats.

Nearly two full minutes after his first overhead attempt, Ricky Garard completed all 15 reps finishing fifth in his heat with a time of 20:32.53, and earning a sixth overall for event one. Stumbling across, an unsteady Garard was tended to by the Torian Pro medical team, later stating on Instagram he was “happy to stay conscious.” He added, “That’s what happens though I suppose, when you can’t keep any food down all day.”

Don’t Call It a Comeback (Comeback)

Not only was Garard able to continue on though, but he made a statement taking an event two win and setting a world record* in the process.

Event two, “2014 Regionals Event 5” included 10 rounds of a 170 foot run and one legless rope climb. The reason we need to add an asterisk to the “world record” is because Torian Pro (and Lowlands) changed the workout slightly in that athletes do not need to move their own chess pieces, turning the running portion into a shuttle run.

Garard recorded a time of 2:49, a :42 improvement on the time James Newbury set during the 2014 Regionals at 3:31 (Newbury bested his own time too at three minutes flat).

The bottom line: Garard is on track to earn a spot back to the CrossFit Games. There is a lot of work left to do, but he’s broken the seal. Hopefully nerves won’t be an issue going forward. 

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