“The undertaking of a new action brings new strength.”- Richard L. Evans
COMPETITION
European Championships Secures Event Sponsorship, Promises to Pay 2022 Prize Purse Immediately
The plan for the European Championships has changed once again.
On Tuesday, organizer Carl Saville sent yet another email addressed to “podium athletes & crew” informing them that The European Championships—which has yet to pay the £40,000 GBP prize purse from its 2022 event—has secured “a large event sponsorship,” meaning the 2022 purse will be “paid with immediate effect.”
How we got here: After racking up a “large amount of debt” from the August 2022 event in Nottingham, England, Saville was left unable to pay out the athlete prize purse.
Saville later told the athletes he was seeking solutions, including finding more sponsors or investors, or possibly trying to sell the event to pay the debt. But when he was unable to do that, he proposed a new plan on October 31: Host another event in 2023 in hopes of raising enough revenue to pay the debt.
The proposal, however, was based on spectator attendance in 2023, thus it did not guarantee he would be able to pay 2022’s debt from 2023’s event. He then put it to the athletes to decide whether or not they supported his plan.
A few days later, Saville emailed the athletes again saying those he asked were “massively in favor of the proposal,”—something he reiterated in his most recent email on Tuesday—although five podium athletes told the Morning Chalk Up they did not support the proposal of a 2023 event.
What’s next: There are still more questions to be answered, including those this mystery sponsor is, but Saville promised more information is coming soon: “The details of this new sponsorship will be released in the coming weeks along with event updates but of course the top priority is to ensure your payments are made asap before we action anything else,” he said.
SPONSORED
Beat the Black Friday Rush with Early Deals from Spacer Mobility
Give the gift of recovery from the ground up.
Looking for the perfect stocking stuffer for the fitness enthusiasts in your life? Toe Spacers are a perfect option to pop right into their stocking.
The Ultimate Recovery Kit includes Toe Spacers, Rock Mat, and the EI8HTBALL for those wanting that extra mobility. Plus, the kit currently includes a Toe Mobility Band as a bonus FREE gift. Get it all in one perfectly wrappable kit.
In case you missed it: Lauren Kalil, the host of The Bottom Line, spoke to Dex Hopkins and Mike Halpin about if they think CrossFit’s new rankings system is a good step forward for the sport.
Grab a cup of joe: Tune in live tomorrow at 2pm CT (12pm PT) where Morning Chalk Up’s Preslie Hirsch will be joined by CrossFit Games athlete and entrepreneur Margaux Alvarez. She’ll be chatting about creating business opportunities off of the competition floor, exclusive to Rx members. (Not Rx? Join here!)
Amazing: Nick Mathew has Big Nick Energy T-Shirts, which come complete with a crop top cutline, and we want one so bad.
New podcast: Annie Thoridsdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir have a podcast together and there are some great insights on their first episode on what it means to be a professional CrossFit athlete, both good and bad.
Local love: Great story out of Hawaii about how some of their senior citizens are crushing it at a local CrossFit gym.
CROSSFIT GAMES
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
2023 Rulebook Review: Region Selection and the Two Appeal Rule
The release of 2023 CrossFit Games Rulebook has the community buzzing with anticipation for the upcoming season. The abundance of information can be overwhelming if you try to take it all in at once. Today we’ll take a step back and dive into two major things you should know moving into this season – region selection and the new “Two Appeal Rule.”
Region Selection – Planting Flags
During the registration process for the 2023 season, athletes will provide information to establish their competitive region. Citizenship will be the primary requirement used to determine an athlete’s competitive region. This will be decided at the close of the first Open score submission on Feb. 20. Athletes will remain assigned to this region throughout the competition season.
Athletes do not need to be living in the country in which they claim citizenship.
Athletes will still compete for the country where they hold citizenship, even if they live in a different country or are in the process of applying for new citizenship.
Should an athlete qualify for Semifinals, they may only compete at the specific Semifinal competition designated by their region.
When looking at CrossFit Games champions like Justin Medeiros and Tia-Clair Toomey, their weaknesses are few and far between. Recently at the Rogue Invitational, even with a 19th placement in the strict handstand push-up event, Laura Horvath was still able to take home the title and stand on top of the Podium.
Morning Chalk Up’s Lauren Kalil chats with Dex Hopkins and Joey Adduci to discuss how big of a margin a champion can have with their weaknesses and how changing the standard of a movement like the handstand push-up impacts an athlete when trying to narrow that margin.
How to Watch the 2022 Down Under Championship and Schedule
The next major off-season event is upon us and the whole gang has arrived in Australia. The Down Under Championship takes place November 18-20 at the Win Stadium in Wollongong, NSW, and a deep roster of over 350 men, women and teams are set to take the competition floor with a $125,000 AUD prize pool up for grabs.
The CrossFit licensed event is expecting many top-level athletes from around the world across elite individual, elite and intermediate team, adaptive, and masters divisions. A few notable names include:
Lauren Fisher, Ro Scott and Maddie Sturt on the women’s individual side
Jay Crouch and Jake Douglas on the men’s elite roster
Downunder Dogs: Khan Porter, Matt Dlugos, Ricky Garard
Men at Work: Chandler Smith, Noah Ohlsen, Saxon Panchik
Team HSTL. Made: Royce Dunne, Jack Jeffery, Brandon Swan
Many have been looking forward to seeing training partners Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr and Brooke Wells team up with Ellie Turner. However, on November 16, Toomey-Orr announced on Instagram that the team had to withdraw, saying in part “This is obviously very devastating news and I’m incredibly sorry…I feel like I’m letting so many people down, including my team.”
The trio will still attend and be doing meet and greet events.
Schedule: Events will be streamed live on the Down Under Championship YouTube page, hosted on-site by Annie Sakamoto and Jeremy Austin on the mic. There’s seven tests for both teams and individuals, and you can view the workouts and schedule in your time zone on our official competition page.
On the ground: If you find yourself in the coastal city down under, grab your spectator tickets here (single day and three-day tickets available).
If you are lacking rhythm in your toe to bars, no it doesn’t mean you are a bad dancer. It means you need to drill exercises like this to find the movement pattern and learn how to work with your momentum! Give it a try. We can promise your toe to bars get better… but maybe not your dancing.
For 24 hours only, inov-8 is discounting the Bare-xf 210 V3 from the regular price of $120 to $80, exclusively for Morning Chalk Up readers. Don't walk, RUN to get this deal on their natural fit training shoe before it's too late!
When you get to the grocery store late and half the food has already been purged from the store, what do you do? You find cool, easy recipes like this without the sought out holiday ingredients to bring to Thanksgiving instead of your “famous” pumpkin pie recipe. Easy to make and easy to enjoy.
What if we told you that you never had to chalk your hands again on pull ups? Element 26’s IsoComp Gymnastic Hand Grips are made to stick to any surface (whether it’s a speal bar, powder coated, plain steel, or if someone’s blisters are still on there) and help you save precious time in workouts without taking a break at the chalk bucket. Use code “MCU” for 10% off!
You feel super ready to do it. Everyone is hyping you up. You walk up to the box and think “wow did that get taller?”. You wind up and go to jump… only to find your legs have decided not to join you. Does this sound familiar? If so, watch this video.
This email may contain affiliate links. We make a small commision off of purchases made via our affiliate links to help support this newsletter. If you no longer wish to receive the Morning Chalk Up newsletter, unsubscribe here.