French Throwdown Celebrates 10th Anniversary
Held over the course of three days, on the last weekend in June, the French Throwdown celebrated its ten year anniversary with 820 athletes, 350 volunteers and 8000 spectators, at the Velodrome of St. Quentin in Yvelines, France, just outside of Paris.
Remind me: Besides being one of Europe’s largest CrossFit competitions and hosting competitors from throughout the world, the French Throwdown is also a charity event, as it partners with the Aladdin Association, an organization that helps to send sick children on holidays and vacations.
In 2022, the French Throwdown was able to donate 12,000 Euros to the association, thus helping change the lives of over a dozen children. Event organizers hope to reach the same success with this year’s edition.
Over the weekend, spectators took to the sunshine as the set–up included a festival-like atmosphere and large vendor village, activities, challenges and demonstrations. Sponsors like FitAid, GOWOD, Rogue, Go Ruck and Northern Spirit were all in attendance. Fans could learn biathlon shooting techniques, combining cardiovascular endurance and shooting skills. They could practice how to properly lift and train with a Go Ruck sandbag, and they could learn how to master double unders and even double under crossovers from five-time world jump rope champion Molly Metz.
For competitors, the event hosted a multitude of categories including age groups, scaled, intermediate and RX individuals, and scaled, intermediate, RX and elite teams. Over three days, athletes faced between nine to ten workouts and up to 12 scores, including a 5K run, echo biking, rope climbs, sandbag lunges, handstand walking, l-sits and lots of barbell.
The final event, “OHS Amanda” saw athletes completing a 9-7-5 rep scheme of ring muscle ups and overhead squats at 70 kilos for the men and 50 for the women, with a time cap of 5 minutes.
Who was there: Individual elite competitors included familiar names and Games veterans.
- Enrico Zenoni, Kealan Henry, Luka Djukic and Giorgos Karavis were among those representing elite men. After a tight race and a grueling battle until the end, Enrico Zenoni took home the event win, with Victor Hoffer finishing in 2nd place and Giorgos Karavis in 3rd.
- The elite women’s roster included Games veterans Solveig Sigurdadottir, Karin Frey and Elena Carratala. Karin Frey finished the weekend on top of the podium, with France’s own Metty Freneron and Jeromine Geroudet taking 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
The team podium was topped by none other than the well-decorated Butchers Lab team out of Denmark. France’s CFC X Unlimited Fitness from CrossFit Caen finished in 2nd and Flaeck X, also representing CrossFit Butcher’s Lab, came in 3rd.
Get the Newsletter
For a daily digest of all things CrossFit. Community, Competitions, Athletes, Tips, Recipes, Deals and more.
"*" indicates required fields
