Ant Haynes Receives Backfill Invitation to 2023 CrossFit Games
On Wednesday night, third-place finisher in the 2023 Far East Throwdown (the Asia Semifinal), posted to his Instagram account that he would be competing in the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games in 12 days.
One big thing: If Haynes is in, that likely means one of the two men who finished ahead of him–either Arthur Semenov or Morteza Sedaghat–is out.
- Prior to receiving the official invitation, Haynes received an email from CrossFit Games Support (which he also posted on Instagram), that read “An athlete from your region had to withdraw because of visa reasons.”
Remind me: The Far East Throwdown took place June 2-4 in Busan, South Korea and qualified two men, two women and two teams to the CrossFit Games.
- On the men’s side, Semenov took first place, amassing 612 points, while Sedaghat took second with 573.
- Haynes just missed out on qualifying, despite a valiant effort on the final day of competition, taking fifth in Test 6 and winning Test 7, he only earned 560 total points.
- Haynes made his rookie debut in Madison in 2019, when he received the National Champion spot from China, but was cut after the fifth event. He placed 27th overall.
- The COVID pandemic disrupted his 2020 season. He again secured the National Champion title and was well on his way to his second Games appearance but instead completed the first stage of competition online, where he again finished 27th. In 2021, he took ninth at the CrossFit Asia Invitational Semifinal, missing the big stage again.
- In 2022, Haynes placed fourth at the Far East Throwdown, narrowly missing a qualifying spot. He came up short again in the Last Chance Qualifier, taking 24th.
The bottom line: Haynes will be making his second appearance in Madison, WI on short notice. That said, it has not yet been revealed whether it will be Semenov or Sedaghat sitting on the sidelines, but Semenov has been training in the United States, so it’s not likely that he would be having visa issues, as cited in the CrossFit Games Support email Haynes received.
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