Ellie Turner Wins ATHX Long Beach, Qualifies for Finals in Portugal
The final two events of the regular ATHX Games season took place last weekend in Long Beach, California, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. From these two competitions, the final wave of athletes qualified across multiple divisions for the Finals, which will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, at the end of the month.
CELSIUS, a brand partner of the ATHX Games, has supported athletes at each U.S. competition, and the brand’s competitors are now back-to-back-to-back champions.
Remind Me
Last month, Chandler and Jessi Smith competed in Miami Beach and won the Pro Mixed Pairs division. Although both had ATHX experience, they had not raced together before. They trained separately for the event, but their years of competition experience paid off.
Next up was Houston, where CELSIUS brought out Ty Jenkins and Janie Cheverie. While Jenkins had three prior competitions under his belt, Cheverie was new to the ATHX space. Not only did the two win the event, but they also swept the competition. They finished first in all three tests, claiming the Pro Mixed Pairs win with a perfect three-point event score.
Turner Wins Long Beach
For the season’s final U.S.-based competition, CELSIUS brought Ellie Turner to Long Beach for her first ATHX experience. Leading up to the event, she worked with coach Adam Neiffer to slightly tweak her training, honing the specific skills needed to excel at the California competition. She ran through different versions of simulations, a benefit of the “known and knowable” aspect of the ATHX workouts.
- “Having something to train for definitely makes it feel more approachable,” Turner told the Morning Chalk Up. “It takes some of the anxiety away because you can practice it all and know what to expect. It can make it feel less scary than signing up for a CrossFit competition where you don’t even know what you’re going to be doing. It also makes it easier to do progressions of those exact things in training.”
An ATHX rookie, Turner finished third in Strength, first in Endurance, and first in Metcon. Since this was a new format for her, Turner said she loved the event and would definitely do another. She saw it not only as a space for fellow elites like her but also for the broader community.
Turner shared that, in her opinion, if someone was nervous about taking on a fitness competition with diverse movements and tests, she would recommend starting with an ATHX. Knowing exactly what you’re training for well ahead of time can help immensely.
- “You go in with the confidence of knowing you are prepared, and you’ve done it in training. It is also just a single day and event, so once you start, the clock starts running, and then it’s all over. Whereas in a CrossFit comp it involves more time and a lot more ups and downs in terms of warming up, cooling down, doing different events, etc.,” Turner said.
The Big Picture
For CELSIUS, these victories achieved by its partnered athletes are the kind of moments their alignment in competitive fitness is built around. The brand remains at the center of the space, supporting its evolution and growth, from community gyms and run clubs to hybrid competitions. The landscape is gaining momentum, with athletes of all ages and abilities taking part.
- “I don’t think competitive fitness is going anywhere except continuing to grow. No matter what it is – CrossFit, ATHX, HYROX – it helps make people feel connected and part of a community. It also helps having options of different events to sign up for – training for something is much more inviting than just going into the gym and working out. Especially if you can train for an event with friends or people from your gym,” Turner said.
As the official drink partner of ATHX, CELSIUS is embedded in ATHX events through on-course branding, sampling, giveaways, and athlete-focused activations, all aimed at introducing new audiences to the format as ATHX builds its U.S. footprint.
As the season wraps up, the CELSIUS/ATHX partnership continues, with CELSIUS planning to activate in big ways at the Finals in just a few weeks. In conversations about their plans for the upcoming season, their presence will extend beyond logos, as they will continue to support athletes and the growing landscape of competitive fitness as a whole.
