Justin Medeiros’ Consistency Headlines Friday at the Rogue Invitational
The 2021 Rogue Invitational champ is en route to another title. Justin Medeiros turned in a consistent performance during the first official day of the Texas competition, and he put himself atop the points standings.
The details: Medeiros entered Friday’s schedule sitting fifth on the leaderboard after Thursday’s run. He proceeded to kick off the day by winning “Ski Bar,” an event where he chased down Patrick Vellner in the second heat, took the lead with mere reps remaining, and posted the fastest time of the day.
“I try to go fast with a low stroke rate and hopefully it pays off,” Medeiros said about his strategy in Ski Bar. “It was a great workout.”
This performance put Medeiros in a tie for the top spot with Ricky Garard. Both men had 180 points entering the second event of the day, “Back Attack.” They each had the goal of locking up an event win and taking the lead.
- Medeiros used the back squat/box jump over couplet to put himself well ahead of his fellow competitors. He finished second in his heat at 4:46.58, which was good enough for third overall behind winner Nick Mathew and runner-up Jeffrey Adler.
- Garard, for comparison, finished ninth in his heat and 18th overall. This finish dropped him to seventh in the standings with 195 points.
Medeiros entered the final event of the day, “DT with a Spin,” in first place with 270 points. He was 35 points ahead of Adler and Roman Khrennikov. He didn’t need to win to maintain his advantage; he just needed to turn in another consistent performance.
Medeiros almost did exactly what he needed to during the final event of the day. Khrennikov jumped out to a lead with his fast pace and strategy of going unbroken. None of the other athletes could chase him down. Though Samuel Kwant and Patrick Vellner gave it their best shot.
- Medeiros finished fifth overall in the event with a time of 8:08.12, and he continued his streak of consistency. He closed out the first official day without a finish outside of the top five at the Dell Diamond.
- The defending Rogue Invitational champ could have beaten Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson’s time of 8:05.50. However, he received two crucial no-reps on the final set of hang power cleans. The second no-rep forced him to stop midway through his first push jerk and reset into the hang power clean position.
Despite receiving the no-reps, Medeiros still ended the first official day with 350 points. He now has a 15-point lead over Khrennikov in second place and a 50-point lead over BKG in third.
What’s next: There are three events on tap for Saturday as Medeiros attempts to keep his momentum. However, the athletes only know the details of two of them. Event 6 is yet to be announced by the competition officials.
- The opening event on moving day, “The Turtle,” consists of three movements. The athletes will complete an Axle Bar lunge (155), a monkey bar traverse, a hill run bag pull (155), a monkey bar traverse, and an Axle Bar lunge (155).
The final event of the day is a test of strength. The athletes will do a one-rep max Log Lift. The last time Medeiros truly tested his strength and technique was the 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games when he finished fifth in the Sandbag Ladder with a 330-pound lift.
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