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Ten Big Things from Individual Day One at the 2023 CrossFit Games

August 3, 2023 by Nicky Freymond

Photo Credit: Jonathan Ortega @j_tega_

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Day 1 of the Individual Division has come to a close, with 39 men and 40 women having completed three tests: “Ride,” “Pig Chipper” and “Inverted Medley.” Of the many dramatic, surprising and inspirational moments that occurred, here are 10 of the biggest:

Male winner of Test 1, Jonne Koski, had an unofficial time of 5:49 on his last lap.
Finishing in 17:59 with an 18-minute cap, Jeffery Adler gutted out the Pig Chipper test until the literal last second. He finished ahead of 14 men that failed to complete the test under the cap.
Female winner of the Pig Chipper, Laura Horvath, not only beat every female with a time of 13:50, but she also beat every male competitor. She was the only athlete to finish under 14 minutes. (Roman Khrennikov won on the males’ side, with a time of 14:28.)
Making her debut as an individual this year, Olivia Kerstetter took a heat win and 5th place overall on Test 2, with a time of 15:49.
The Pig Chipper seemed to utterly destroy the athletes, as the men’s heats ended in complete carnage. Both Nick Mathew and Colten Mertens needed assistance leaving the field, Samuel Cournoyer limped to the finish line, and both Dallin Pepper and Jayson Hopper all but collapsed in front of the fan. In an act of true sportsmanship, after finishing in 2nd place, Lazar Djukic set out to find water bottles, ice and cooling cloths for those in need.
Individual rookie Shelby Neal nabbed a heat win on Test 3, the Inverted Medley, with a 4th place overall and a time of 3:57.
With his first ever win at the Games, Cole Greashaber finished Test 3 with a time of 3:47.
Two women, Elisa Fuliano and Danielle Brandon, went unbroken on their handstand walk during Test 3, but it was Brandon, who raced through the handstand walk portion in 44 seconds and finished the test in 3:12 taking the test win. Like Horvath’s time on Test 2, Danielle’s victory beat not only the other female competitors, but every male athlete as well.
Two men, Roman Khrennikov and Jay Crouch, end day 1 with three top-ten finishes.
On the female side, only Alexis Raptis concludes the day with three top-ten finishes. This puts Raptis in first place, with 270 points.