Day 2 of the 20th CrossFit Games offered not only a whole lot of close finishes and leaderboard shuffling, but also a healthy dose of never-before-seen movements at the CrossFit Games and a big splash of nostalgia. 

Individual Top-10 Leaderboard, End of Day 2

Men	Women
1) James Sprague — 752	1) Aimee Cringle — 826
2) Jay Crouch — 740	2) Lucy Campbell — 739
3) Justin Medeiros — 732	3) Emma Lawson — 734
4) Dallin Pepper — 718	4) Maddie Sturt — 652
5) Ricky Garard — 675	5) Alex Gazan — 636
6) Jayson Hopper — 647	6) Paige Rodgers — 583
7) Roman Khrennikov — 592	7) Danielle Brandon — 580
8) Colten Mertens— 559	8) Arielle Loewen — 580
9) Jeffrey Adler — 520	9) Elisa Fuliano— 561
10) Victor Hoffer — 514	10) Haley Adams — 529

Here are five of our favorite moments:

The Hopper Moment

You could feel the anticipation as the demo team carried the refurbished hopper onto the competition floor on Friday morning, marking one of the day’s most feel-good and nostalgic moments.

As someone who has been doing CrossFit since 2008, being there in person at the SAP Center, seeing the hopper at the 20th Games, can only be described as a truly special moment, one where it felt impossible not to feel intense gratitude for the CrossFit Games and, ultimately, for how this community has changed the face of fitness. 

Alex Gazan Cruises Through the Legless Climbs

Alex Gazan has long been known for her upper-body strength — a quality she reminded us of when she shoulder-pressed 170 pounds on her way to an event win on Wednesday — and she showcased it again in Friday’s first event:

IE08: Climbing Snail ‘26

For time, with a weighted vest:

• snail push
• 3/2 legless rope climbs
• 30 toes-to-bar
• 5/4 rope climbs
• snail push

Gazan finished the first snail push slightly ahead of the field and then hit the rope. Not only did she not look like she was wearing a weighted vest, but she looked like she was sprinting up stairs.

While others rested between reps, Gazan went right back to work and knocked off 14 toes-to-bar before the next athlete, Maddie Sturt, completed her first rep.

After that, Gazan cruised through the second set of rope climbs and the snail push, earning her second event win of the weekend. The win also helped her move from sixth to fifth with three events left on Friday. 

Race to the Finish for the Men in IE10

The final heat of Men’s “IE10: Run Hang Squat Clean” — 4 rounds for time of a 660m run and 10 hang squat cleans at 225 pounds — delivered the entertainment.

In the first three rounds, a handful of men, including Roman Khrennikov, Jeff Adler, Justin Medeiros, Ricky Garard, and Jay Crouch, were in the hunt, and it was anyone’s game.

• But it was Crouch who pulled himself away from the group after the third set of cleans, giving him a decent edge heading into the final round.

Crouch held onto his lead and knocked off a handful of reps before Adler and Medeiros stepped up to their barbell, the crowd calling out each rep to encourage him to hang onto the barbell.

He hung on, and scooped his second event win of the weekend, helping him creep closer to podium position (fourth). Meanwhile, Medeiros finished second, just one second ahead of Adler in third, and Khrennikov was fourth.

Women Follow it Up

Just moments after the men finished, the top heat of women put on an even tighter race than the men’s.

It was Ellie Turner who took the early lead, but like the men, a pack of women was close on her heels: Emma Lawson, Aimee Cringle, and Lucy Campbell.

On the third run, Lawson made a charge, passing Turner and taking the lead. Campbell also made a move, and it now looked like it would be a race between Lawson and Campbell.

Lawson returned to the venue in the lead, but Campbell was right behind her. Because of where her lifting station was situated, Campbell began her final 10 hang squat cleans a couple of seconds ahead.

• But Campbell stumbled and took a moment to regather herself, while Lawson kept a smoother, slightly faster pace and finished the 10 reps as Campbell started her final rep. 

Lawson took the event win, Campbell second, Turner third, and Cringle fourth.

The win brought Lawson closer to the podium. With two events left on Friday, she sat five points behind Maddie Sturt in third.

Victor Hoffer’s Circus Act Sprint

We knew France’s Victor Hoffer, a former elite gymnast, was likely to win Event 11, the Handstand Sprint, but we had no idea how easy he would make it look.

• The technical event featured an obstacle, freestanding handstand push-ups, topped off with a parallette press to handstand followed by a parallette traverse, all performed upside down.

His untouchable time of 1:05.62 put the audience on their feet as the arena erupted in the loudest cheers we had heard all day.

Honorable mention: Though not as blazing fast as Hoffer, the final men’s heat was as close as it could be. 

• Three men — Medeiros, Crouch and Mertens — all found themselves pressing up to handstand and traversing the parallettes at the same time. But Medeiros was just a tiny bit quicker (2:05.49), less than two tenths ahead of Mertens (2:05.66) with Garard just two seconds behind that.

Photo Finish Final Women’s Event

In case we hadn’t seen enough close races all day, the women’s final event might have been the closest of all.

The Hopper 2026

3 Rounds for time:

• 21 toes-to-bars
• 7 unbroken power snatches (95/65 pounds)
• 7 unbroken hang snatches
• 7 unbroken squat snatches

The fight was between the three women who occupied the top three spots going into the workout: Cringle, Lawson, and Campbell.

Initially, it didn’t look like Campbell would be in the fight, as she was near the back of the pack after the first round. But after that, Campbell slowly crept into the picture.

For most of the workout, Lawson held a slight lead, but then all three women finished their final set of 21 toes-to-bar at pretty much the same time, before sprinting to the other end of the area for their final snatches. The three women went rep-for-rep during the first two sets of seven snatches, but Campbell was the quickest and was the first to the final set of seven snatches. 

Campbell crossed the line first, just ahead of a photo finish between Lawson and Cringle, won by Cringle.

The win for Campbell meant she passed Lawson on the overall leaderboard. Heading into Saturday, Cringle still leads all competitors and has an 87-point buffer over Campbell, but only five points separate Campbell in second from Lawson in third.

The Big Picture

Day 2 had everything that makes the CrossFit Games special: gritty efforts, razor-thin finishes, and moments that moved anyone cheering the athletes on. With the leaderboard tighter than ever heading into the last two days, we can only expect more of this.