Your Coffee is ready.

Battles at the Top Pave the Way for Final Day Action at 2022 Atlas Games

June 11, 2022 by Brian Friend

Photo Credit: TYR Sport

Enjoying Morning Chalk Up? Access additional exclusive interviews, analyses, and stories with an Rx membership.

In all three divisions there are tight races at the top of the leaderboard at the Atlas Games on Day 2. Pat Vellner and Jeff Adler for the men; Emma Lawson and Paige Powers for the women; And Omnia Black and CrossFit Milford for the teams. There’s plenty of drama working our way down the leaderboards as well that will need to be resolved on the last day.

Men:

Saturday saw the top four men further separate themselves from the field.

Those four men would be Patrick Vellner and Jeff Adler, who are separated at the top by only four points with Vellner holding the narrow lead.
And Alexandre Caron and Alex Vigneault who’ve finished nearly every event in sixth, seventh, or eighth place have built a 50 point buffer between themselves and fifth place.

Day one leader, Nycolas Joyal, regressed dramatically today with a 24th and a 14th. He slipped all the way to sixth and is three points outside the cutline. In his way is a man who has been in a similar situation before. Back at the 2017 East Regionals when Austin Spencer was only 24 years old, he placed sixth and missed the Games by five points. His best day that year was the last day, and his Friday-Saturday this year have been better. No one has been giving him much of a chance, but he’s definitely in this fight.

Behind Joyal lurks Cedric Lapointe, who can’t seem to help but digging himself a whole immediately these past two years, and yet here is rebounding nicely again. He’s moved up 17 positions in the last three events and is nor only 10 points away from the Games cutline. Could two more good events be enough to complete the comeback for Lapointe?

Women:

There’s a big gap brewing on the women’s leaderboard between the top five and everyone else. It’s the same five that were in yesterday, only the order has changed a bit.

Freya Moosbrugger and Carolyne Prevost each took a ninth place finish today (Moosbrugger on event three, Prevost on event 5).
That allowed Caroline Conners to climb from fifth to third.
Emma Lawson and Paige Powers lead the way.
Lawson salvaged a sixth on the lift to go with a first on event three. She has 376 points and retains the overall lead for the second day in a row.
Powers was more consistent on Saturday with a second and a third and is now only 12 points behind Lawson for the overall lead; while also being 24 points clear of third place Conners.

The LCQ spots are being held down by Erin Vandendriessche (6th), Tori Dyson (7th), and Callista Lang (8th). However, Vandendriessche in 6th is 44 points behind Prevost in fifth. And Dyson is another 31 points behind that. It’s going to take a significant shake up for these women to claw into a Games spot Sunday.

Paige Powers and Emma Lawson are all smiles at the top of the Atlas Games leaderboard.
Photo Credit: Training Day Media

Teams:

The big movers on day two for the teams were CrossFit Taranis Lifetree.

They’re the only team who was outside a qualifying spot yesterday who managed to fight back into a qualifying position today.
Third place on the relay style event three demonstrated significant individual skill.
Second place on the barbell complex demonstrated significant individual strength.
Tomorrow they have a very demanding worm workout to answer the call for.
It’s the only time we’ll see the worm in Montreal this weekend, so this is their chance to show their capacity with it.

The next most consistent team on day two was CrossFit 1855 who placed fourth on the relay and fifth on the lifting gaining 165 points after only getting 110 on Friday. They moved into sixth position (275 points), but are still 35 points behind East Woodbridge.

The other three teams in qualifying position are still CrossFit Omnia Black (1st – 345 points), CrossFit Milford Team Conquer (2nd – 330 points), and CrossFit Pro1 Montreal, who moved back considerably due to a 14th on the lifting workout (4th – 315 points).

Omnia Black is looking to go back to back as Semifinal champs after winning Granite Games last season.

The big picture: The men’s race seems most likely to create the drama tomorrow, and with several men who have been close before vying for that last spot we can expect quite a show. It will take a big shake up for someone on the women’s side to move into the top five, but all eyes will continue to be on the Emma Lawson who maintains her lead, though narrowly, over Paige Powers. Don’t miss the final day in Montreal tomorrow, at what will be the final of ten Semifinals to wrap up this portion of the season.