2022 CrossFit Games Preview: Adaptive Divisions
For the second year in the row the NOBULL CrossFit Games will host six divisions for adaptive athletes. A total of 30 athletes will compete across those divisions to be crowned the Fittest. Four of the six champions from the inaugural season return to defend their titles.
There will be three adaptive categories each with a men’s and women’s division with the top five athletes in the Semifinals of their respective divisions receiving a Games invitation to Madison, WI.
- Upper Extremity Division
- Lower Extremity Division
- Neuromuscular Division
The first day of competition for the adaptive divisions will start on Thursday, August 4 and will end on Saturday, August 6.
The top-three finishers of each respective Semifinals are listed below.
Upper Extremity Division
Men: The top two podium finishers return to the Games. Casey Acree continued his run of dominance through the division, following his second-straight Open title–sweeping all three workouts – he won four of the six Semifinal workouts. Counting last year’s Games, Acree has won 14 of the 20 workouts during the last two seasons.
Josue Maldonado turned heads at last year’s Games when he deadlifted 525 pounds to earn the only event win that Acree did not claim. Not surprising it was Maldonado who once again won the deadlift event in the Semifinals with a pull of 495.
France’s Alexis Fiorucci placed third in the Semifinals after finishing second in the Open. This will be his Games debut.
Samuel Pera won the opening event of the Semifinals and ended up tying Spain’s Xabier Osa Mendes for fourth place. For Pera this will be his first Games appearance. Mended returns after placing fifth last year.
Top 3 in Semifinals:
- Casey Acree
- Josue Maldonado
- Alexis Fiorucci
Women: This is the only division that doesn’t return their inaugural champion. However American Eileen Quinn and France’s Anne-Laure Coutenceau return after podium finishes. Quinn was the runner-up while Coutenceau finished third.
Coutenceau will try for the season clean-sweep at the Games. She won the Open and followed that with a Semifinal win.
Quinn tied for third in the Semifinals with newcomer Camille Vigneault. Vigneault won three events during the Semifinals including a deadlift pull of 395 pounds in the final workout, which was 94 pounds more than her closest competitor. At the Games last year, champion Sabrina Daniela Lopez won the deadlift with a pull of 300 pounds.
Elizabeth Bride makes her return to the Games after placing second in the Semifinals after a runner-up finish in the Open.
Top 3 in Semifinals:
- Anne-Laure Coutenceau
- Elizabeth Bride
- Camille Vigneault
Lower Extremity Division
Men: The division will see three new athletes making their Games debut however eyes will be on returning champion Ole Kristian Antonsen. The 30-year old Norwegian won three events at the Games enroute to the 55-point victory. In the Semifinals he tied Kiwi Rogan Dean for third.
American Charles Pienaar won the Semifinal despite not winning a single workout. His consistency – no finish outside the top-5 – led to a 35-point win over Brit Elliott Young. This will be Pienaar’s first Games appearance.
Young placed third at the Games last year and is considered the strongest athlete in the division as evidenced by him winning both the deadlift event at the Games and the max clean and jerk event in the Semifinals.
Top 3 in Semifinals:
- Charles Pienaar
- Elliott Young
- Rogan Dean
Women: Just like the men’s division, the women’s field will have three new athletes participating in Madison. Valerie Cohen dominated the field at the Games last year, winning by 285 points. The 27-year old continued that dominance through the Open and once again in the Semifinals, winning four events.
Amy Bream has a full season of CrossFit training under her belt and it showed as last year’s fifth place finisher placed second in the Semifinals.
Forty year old Natalie Rovirosa placed third in the Semifinals, just five points behind Bream, to earn her first invite to the Games.
Top 3 in Semifinals:
- Valerie Cohen
- Amy Bream
- Natalie Rovirosa
Neuromuscular Division
Men: Four countries will be represented in this field which means that the United States will not have a sweep of the podium like last year. Defending champion Brett Horchar is the only returning athlete from last year. Horchar had the largest margin of victory in the adaptive division at the Games last season with a 310-point win. He won six events and missed out on a sweep of the events by just five pounds as he finished second in event 3 with a lift of 275 pounds.
Fellow American Benjamin Fallon won two events in the Semifinals to place him second overall.
France’s Jeremie Perera placed third in the Semifinals followed by Australian Bart Walsh and the Netherlands’ Kevin Maijer respectively.
- Brett Horchar
- Benjamin Fallon
- Jeremie Perera
Women: A new champion will be crowned in this division as last year’s winner, Shannon Ogar failed to qualify out of the Semifinals. Last year’s Runner-up Letchen Du Plessis is the lone returning athlete from last year’s field.
Alyssa Kobela leads the group of Games rookies for the division as she won the Semifinals by 50 points over South African Du Plessis. Kobela had two event wins and no finishes outside the top-3 during the Semis.
Morgan Johnson won the division’s Quarterfinal with all finishes in the top-3 and followed that with a third place in Semis.
Top 3 in Semifinals:
- Alyssa Kobela
- Letchen Du Plessis
- Morgan Johnson
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