Jeffrey Adler, Emma Lawson Edge Out Patrick Vellner, Paige Powers for Atlas Games Wins
It was a fight at the top throughout the weekend for Jeffrey Adler and Patrick Vellner. They were never more than 12 points apart from each other after any event, but the clutch performance by Adler on Sunday winning both workouts pushed him over the top to the win. This is big for Adler who continues to improve competition after competition and year after year.
Vellner finishes second, and although it won’t matter come Madison, it’s likely that this result doesn’t sit well with him. Perhaps it will fuel him in the coming weeks.
Third and fourth positions were mostly locked down throughout the week as well. Alexandre Caron finished third and qualified for his fourth Games in the last five years and will be trying to improve on his 24th place finish last year. Caron is riding high right now after taking second and Wodapalooza and now third here.
Behind him is Alex Vigneault who will be making his fifth CrossFit Games trip. He was pretty steady with finishes all ranging between 4th and 13th. Vigneault generally does well at the Games with three of his four appearances being of 11th or better (the only exception was 2019).
The final spot was the hotly contested one for the men. The legless rope climbs can prove problematic, and big point gaps can easily be overcome. However, when the man in the fifth place position finishes third overall in the event behind the two overall leaders there’s nothing anyone else can do about it. That’s exactly what day one sensation Nycolas Joyal did, and as a result he is going to the CrossFit Games for the first time in his career and as lone rookie amongst these five Canadian men.
Games Spots: Jeffrey Adler, Patrick Vellner, Alexandre Caron, Alex Vigneault, and Nycolas Joyal
LCQ: Austin Spencer, Connor Duddy, Jeremy Vigneault
Women
No real change in terms of the top five today for the women, but it was a back and forth battle for the win in Montreal.
- Emma Lawson and Paige Powers exchanged blows all weekend. Lawson got Powers on events two, three, and six; while Powers got the better of Lawson on events one, four, and five.
- There were only four points between them heading into the legless rope climb finale, anda it was Lawson who took the lead early and never relinquished. She earned her third event win of the weekend, and the title of Atlas Games Semifinal Champion. She also qualifies for the Games this season while still being eligible for the teenage division matching that accomplishment from Mallory O’Brien and Emma Cary from last season.
- Powers showed this weekend that she has made tremendous strides. Last year she was 21st at Granite Games with no top ten finishes. This year she’s second at the Atlas Games with all top ten finishes, including two event wins.
- Finishing third is 2021 Games rookie Caroline Conners; she was in that same Granite Games field last year and took fifth place. This weekend she was more comfortably in a Games position throughout with five of six finishes between 3rd and 6th place.
- Another young Canadian qualifier, Freya Moosbrugger, was also near the top the entire weekend. Her worst day was the last day and it dropped her to fourth, but the excitement at the achievement of making the Games for the first time is far more important than that.
- And finally, the most veteran of this qualifying group is Carolyne Prevost who has now qualified for three of the last four Games while also holding down a full time job as a teacher. She struggled on event five, but remained steady in the final to secure the fifth spot by 27 points.
Games Spots: Emma Lawson, Paige Powers, Caroline Conners, Freya Moosbrugger, and Carolyne Prevost
LCQ Spots: Callista Lang, Tori Dyson, Hattie Kanyo
Teams
The top five coming into Sunday are the top five at the end of Sunday. The only thing that changed was the order for some of them.
- CrossFit Omnia Black holds on for the Atlas Games Team championship. Their only finish outside the top five was a seventh on the lifting. They have now won their Semifinal two years in a row (Granite Games). They’ll be looking to improve upon a 16th place finish at the Games last year.
- The big winner on day three amongst this group was CrossFit Pro1 Montreal who outdueled Omnia for the second time this weekend for the event win. They also beat Omnia, and every other qualifying team, on the final workout to bump themselves into second place.
- CrossFit Taranis Lifetree backed up an impressive day two with back to back third place finishes on events five and six. That’s five of six finishes fourth or better for the weekend. And that means they’re going to the Games as the third place team from the Atlas Games.
- If someone climbed up, someone had to fall down. In this case it was CrossFit Milford Team Conquer. Though they fell down two spots after going fourth and tenth on the final two events, they will be more than happy to be heading back to the CrossFit Games as an affiliate for the first time since finishing seventh in 2017.
- And finally, CrossFit East Woodbridge, who held a thirty five point lead to begin the day, might not have had the greatest performances (11th and 9th), but they won’t be too concerned about that since they did enough to get the Games- a place they have not been since 2016.
Games Spots: CrossFit Omnia Black, CrossFit Pro1 Montreal, CrossFit Taranis Lifetree, CrossFit Milford Team Conquer, and CrossFit East Woodbridge.
Get the Newsletter
For a daily digest of all things CrossFit. Community, Competitions, Athletes, Tips, Recipes, Deals and more.
"*" indicates required fields
