“The Boys Interrupted” Take on Quarterfinals
Many community members were excited to see Quarterfinals return after a year off. It motivates us to push a little harder through the Open workouts, and it’s another way to challenge ourselves in a new stage of competition.
For athletes at the elite level, it’s just another hurdle on their way to the Semifinals.
- Due to this year’s season structure, many athletes have already secured their Semifinal invitations and only need to finish the Quarterfinals in the top 2,000. For most, this is a relatively easy step, unless they face major penalties.
To take on this phase of the season, the four Boys Interrupted – James Sprague, Jayson Hopper, Dallin Pepper, and Justin Medeiros – arguably four of the top men in our sport – gathered in Boise, ID, to tick off the workouts under the same roof.
In addition to working out together, The Boys added extra challenges, fulfilled Open punishments, and livestreamed their workouts on their YouTube channel in collaboration with the CrossFit Games account, featuring live commentary from Josh Bridges, the Buttery Bros., and others.
Highlights from the Weekend
Workout 2: Draw for Strategy
Workout 2, (80 dumbbell hang squat cleans, 40 bar muscle-ups for time), the strategy to complete the workout is “athlete’s choice” – as long as the reps are completed, they can be done anyhow.
With many strategies for tackling this workout, the four boys each brainstormed a game plan and tossed it into a hat. They all then drew their fate and had to attempt whatever was written on the paper.
In the end, all four approached the workout very differently.
But they still managed to finish roughly within ten seconds of one another.
Workout 3: Deads and Dubs
During a workout that everyone knew would be incredibly fast (before The Boys started, they heard about Tudor Magda’s sub-four-minute finishing time, unofficially now the seventh best time on that workout), it still shocked everyone to see the men blitz through the deadlifts so quickly.
Judges Scott Freymond and Matt Torres raced to keep up as the athletes flew through the workout. When they compared score sheets afterward, they had both scribbled everywhere except inside the margins.
Cowboy Comedy
If you followed The Boys throughout the Open, you know that every workout involved a bet, which included punishments each week.
- Medeiros had to run a milk-mile, Hopper sported a henna tattoo on his lower back while competing at Gymreapers Wodapalooza, where he was also pelted with eggs on the final night of competition.
The overall loser of the Open had to take on an even bigger punishment – five minutes of live, stand-up comedy.
Medeiros lost, and while the four were in town together, Boise’s Western Collective Cowboy Comedy night hosted five minutes of Medeiros on the mic, sharing stories from his DMs while shirtless.
Now that QFs are over, the boys will all be heading to separate semifinals, in different states and possibly on different continents.
They agreed that at this point, things get pretty serious, with this being the last weekend to spend time together before the Games. And while they’re there, they’re not just friends for the weekend – they’re competitors, three of whom are competing for a repeat title of “Fittest on Earth,” and one who is hungry for the top of the podium for the first time.
In case you haven’t yet, tune into their weekly podcast to keep up on all the Boys’ bets, boasts, and BS.
