Every Second Counts: Missing the Cut at the 2023 CrossFit Games
In a sport like CrossFit with 40 total competitors and 12 events throughout the week, every second, rep, and pound truly matters.
At every stage of the season so far we have seen athletes move on or miss qualification due to a single score being one second too slow or 5 pounds too light.
This year at the CrossFit Games, with two rounds of cuts, the significance of every second has become even more important.
Below we have highlighted 5 athletes who unfortunately were on the wrong side of the cut line, but could have changed their fate if they were simply just a handful of seconds faster in previous events.
- If Jayson Hopper had finished “Ski-Bag” just 1 second faster, he would have survived the first round of cuts
Hopper finished “Ski-Bag” in 14th with a time of 5:10 (61 points), but if he would have finished with a time of 5:09, he would have finished in 12th (67 points) and with those extra six points he would have had enough to jump into 30th place over Fabian Beneito.
- If Feeroozeh Saghafi had finished Helena six seconds faster, she would have made the first cut.
With a total score of 196, Feerozeh Saghafi missed out on the 31st position by just three points to the last athlete to make the cut, Kelly Baker, with 199 points.
In “Helena,” Saghafi finished 28th overall with a time of 9:30 which awarded her 24 points, but if she would have finished just 6 seconds faster with a time of 9:24 she would have finished in 26th place and would have been awarded 28 points.
These additional 4 points would have given her a total score of 200 points, beating out Kelly Baker by 1 point and letting Saghafi make it through the cuts.
- If Matilde Garnes would have finished Test 3: Inverted Medley six seconds faster she would have made the first cut.
Matilde Garnes finished in 33rd overall and got cut with a score of 195 total points, just four points behind 31st place Kelly Baker (199 points) who moved on thanks to Ellie Turner’s withdrawal. But if Garnes would have done just 2 more squats in “Ski-Bag” she would have survived the cut and moved on with the competition.
In “Ski-Bag” Garnes finished in 35th with a score of CAP+22 (10 points), but if she would have done just two more squats she would have had a score of CAP+20 and finished in 33rd place (14 points). Those extra four points would have tied her with Baker at 199 total points and Garnes would have likely won the tie break since she placed higher than Baker in Test 1: “Ride.”
- If Ella Wunger had gotten just two more reps in Test 3: Inverted Medley and finished Helena just nine seconds faster she would have made the first cut.
Wunger was behind Kelly Baker’s score of 199 by just nine points (190). Wunger finished 40th in Inverted Medley and got 0 points with a score of CAP+33. If she had gotten just two more reps she would have finished in 38th with a score of CAP+31 and received four points.
Along with that, if she finished Helena nine seconds faster she would have jumped from 29th (22 points) to 26th (28 points) and would have gotten a combined 10 points in those two events to have a total score of 200 and take the 31st position from Kelly Baker, which qualified due to Ellie Turner’s withdrawal.
If Moritz Fiebig would have lifted just three more pounds in the Olympic Total and finished “Helena” just one second faster he would have survived both rounds of cuts.
Fiebig was cut in the second round of cuts at the end of Day 3 as he finished in 21st place (382 points), just five points behind Uldis Upenieks in 20th (387 points)
In “Helena,” Fiebig took 35th (10 points) with a time of 9:06, but if he would have finished just one second faster with a time of 9:05, he would have finished in 34th (12 points) That would given Fiebig two additional points.
In the Olympic Total, Fiebig placed fourth (88 points) with 642 pounds, but if he would have lifted just three more pounds he would have beat Nick Mathew’s weight of 644 and Fiebig would have finished in third (92 points). That would given Fiebig four additional points.
These additional six points would have been enough to put Moritz Fiebig ahead of Uldis Upenieks in 20th overall on the leaderboard and he would have survived the second round of cuts.
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