Teams Tustle on Day 3 of TYR Wodapalooza

January 15   |   POWERED BY

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• Canucks Brent Fikowski, Patrick Vellner and Jeffrey Adler heat up Miami
• Team BPN’s Laura Horvath, Jamie Simmonds and Gabriela Migala lead the women after first day of team compeition
• TYR Wodapalooza Day 3 recap video
• Cole Greashaber has arrived and he’s gunning for podiums

“Into each life some rain must fall.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Canadian PB&J Invasion Off to Hot Start at TYR Wodapalooza

The 2023 TYR Wodapalooza began on Saturday, January 14, for the stacked field of elite teams. Every group entered with the goal of taking the throne from The Boyz, but one from up north took care of business early with some consistent performances and some flashy flannel shirts.

One big thing: There was a major change early as Scott Panchik withdrew before the first event. He explained to Morning Chalk Up that there was something going on with his knee, so the competition moved forward with Tudor Magda replacing him on Team Panchik.

Event 1: Start Fast, Finish Faster – The opening event quickly took the athletes to the pain cave. The event featured a 13-minute time cap and two rounds with athletes taking on different challenges. Athlete A completed 42 handstand push-ups and a 420-foot shuttle run. Athlete B completed 42 pistols and a 420-foot shuttle run. Athlete C completed 42 chest-to-bar pull-ups and a 420-foot shuttle run.

The second part of the event featured the same reps of handstand push-ups, pistols, and chest-to-bar pull-ups. However, they had to complete a 240-meter sprint on the rower instead of the shuttle runs.

• The opening event quickly turned into a two-team battle. The Boyz – Travis Mayer, Noah Ohlsen, Chandler Smith – and Smith Bros – Ben Smith, Dane Smith, Alec Smith – jumped out to a large lead in the first round.
• These two teams had about a 10-rep lead over Canadian PB&J – Jeffrey Adler, Brent Fikowski, Patrick Vellner – while maintaining a blistering pace in the early movements.
• The Boyz had the lead, but a rare mistake by Ohlsen opened up the door for Smith Bros. He received a no-rep after starting his shuttle run instead of heading to the rower.
• This created one final battle between Mayer and Ben, who both went unbroken on the final set of chest-to-bar pull-ups before hitting the rower at the same time. Vellner was just behind them, but it was Mayer who ultimately crossed the finish line first out of this group.
• There was some controversy in the final round. King BK & Friends – Tola Morakinyo, Khan Porter, Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson – actually crossed the finish line first.
• However, the replay showed that BKG hopped on the rower at 9:30 and climbed off at 9:47, making for a theoretical 17-second 240-meter row.
• After several hours of work, the officials made some changes. They added roughly 22 seconds to King BK & Friends’ time, which dropped the team to sixth in the event. The Boyz took the event win while Smith Bros and Canadian PB&J finished second and third, respectively.

Event 2: Chasing Waterfalls – The second event of the day was a two-parter with 200 possible points. The first part was a 5k run that the members of the team completed relay style.

The second part was a three-round workout featuring 15 D-ball cleans (150 pounds), an open-water swim, and 21 D-ball squats. Each team member had to complete one round of the workout while someone else worked on the run.

• While Smith Bros battled with The Boyz in the first event, the situation changed during the grueling two-parter. This time, it was Canadian PB&J that went back and forth with the defending TYR Wodapalooza champs.
• Ohlsen and Smith led the way into the water during the first portion of the workout while Fikowski and Vellner were right on their heels. Fikowski was able to make the pass during his swim, but Vellner actually lost ground to Smith during his time in the water.
• The Boyz kept the strong start going by winning the three-round portion of the workout. Meanwhile, Team Training Program won the 5k portion in an earlier heat. Smith Bros finished third in that portion overall but first in their heat. Canadian PB&J finished 10th in the run and third in the three-round workout.
• One unfortunate storyline followed CrossFit Mayhem. The Rich Froning-led team finished 10th in the opening event and then it finished 34th and 11th in the Chasing Waterfalls workouts.
• The team ultimately withdrew from the competition ahead of the final event. Froning revealed in an Instagram post that Samuel Cournoyer suffered a bicep injury. The team decided it was a smarter idea to withdraw and let him heal for the full CrossFit season.

NOT ANOTHER SUPPLEMENT COMPANY?!

In the crowded sport supplement space where every other product is a copycat chock full of chemicals…

ATH is not like everyone else.

Performance supplements made from real ingredients:

• simple formulas
• clean ingredients
• third party tested
• no banned substances
• locally owned & operated
• official sport supplements of the north shore lifeguard association on Oahu, Hi

SPORTS NUTRITION, REDEFINED.

Switch over to ATH and snag 20% off with code “WODAPALOOZA” this week only!

In case you missed it: Morning Chalk Up’s Lauren Kalil recapped both the first and second day of competition, plus she has some amazing interviews with the likes of Ricky Garard, Paige Powers and Roman Khrennikov.

Also, in case you missed it: Sara Sigmundsodottir is back, and we have the exclusive interview, on a boat nonetheless, plus a recap analysis, to welcome the Icelandic superstar back in proper fashion.

Finally, in case you missed it: Morning Chalk Up’s Emily Beers has a great piece on how the women of CrossFit continue to raise the bar when it comes to clean and jerk numbers.

Interesting read: These four diets are linked to longevity, according to a new study that was published.

Team BPN's Laura Horvath, Jamie Simmonds and Gabriela Migala Hold Off The Dottir's Ft. MOB at TYR Wodapalooza

The overwhelming favorites to win the Women’s Elite Team competition at TYR Wodapalooza in Miami, FL has to be the team made up of two CrossFit Games champions—Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir—and recent podium finisher Mal O’Brien.

But after Day 1, it became obvious that the title will have to be earned, and their biggest challenger might just be Team BPN, a team of Games veterans Laura Horvath, Jamie Simmonds and Gabriela Migala.

Heading into Day 2, Team BPN leads the way, with The Dottirs FT. MOB close behind in second.

Event 1: Start Fast, Finish Faster – The day kicked off with a two-round relay-style event, where each athlete did a different movement (either handstand push-ups, pistols or chest-to-bar pull-ups) before a shuttle run in Round 1 and a 240-meter row in Round 2. The name of the game was just as the name of the workout suggests: speed, speed, speed.

• Heat 2 featured a ton of big-name athletes, including a team of Emma McQuaid, Jaqueline Dahlstrom and Solveig Sigurdardottir—The GOWOD Girls. They were fast from start to finish, taking the heat win.
• Not to be outdone, Heat 3 came out fast and furious, but the two teams who led the way were The Girls—a team made up of two 2022 CrossFit Games rookies Christine Kolenbrander and Alexis Raptis, and 2019 Games competitor Fee Saghafi—and A.K.A Humble Killers (Alex Gazan, Kari Pearce and Arielle Loewen).
• Meanwhile, for the majority of the workout, The Dottirs FT. MOB—found themselves back in fourth or fifth. That is, until O’Brien hit her second set of chest-to-bar pull-ups and made up a ton of ground before crushing the 240-meter row, passing A.K.A Humble Killers and nearly passing Kolenbrander, too.
• In the end, it was Kolenbrader who crossed the line a few strides ahead of O’Brien, giving The Girls the event win, while The Dotters FT. MOB settled for second, and Misfits with Lady Bits (Paige Semenza, Caroline Conners and Erin O’Donnell) edged out A.K.A Humble Killers by three seconds to take third.
• Team BPN had what would be their lowest finish of the day—sixth.

Event 2 and 3: Chasing Waterfalls – The second event of the team competition was a two-part one worth 200 points, that included a relay-style 5 km run (Part A), that had to be completed at the same time as Part B: one round each of 15 D-Ball cleans, an open water swim and 21 D-Ball squats.

• No surprise, the All American Girls—a team of CrossFit Games veterans Brooke Wells, Amanda Barnhart and Kristi Eramo-O’Connell—came out hot, with Barnhart, a former collegiate swimmer, giving her team an early lead on the swim event. Wells went second and did more than hold her own. In fact, when she finished her round, no other teams were even close to being out of the water yet. This allowed Eramo O’Connell, known for both her running and swimming prowess, to cruise through her round and lock up a dominant event win for her team. This performance was much needed as they placed ninth on the first event.
• The Dottirs FT. MOB also fared well on the swim. And although they were nowhere near The American GIrls, they did enough to lock up a second place finish. Factor in the fact that they had a solid performance on the 5 km run—third place with a time of 15:45.41—they were able to snag the overall lead.
• The fastest 5K relay run time, however, belonged to Invictus Chicks (Lauren Stallwood, Emily Rethwill and Allie Weiss), while Team BPN placed second. They were also third on Part B, helping them vault themselves into second overall after a slow start on Event 1.
• Another team who held their own on both portions of the event were the A.K.A Humble Killers, who were coming off a solid fourth place finish in the first event. They finished sixth on the run and fourth on the swim, doing enough to put them in third overall heading into the final event of the day.

Event 4: Sync Up and Squat – The final event of the day was a classic team-style event that asked the athletes to complete 30-20-10 synchronized reps of ring and bar muscle-ups and synchronized squat cleans and squat snatches.

• Once again, the GOWOD Girls were in a class of their own in Heat 2, easily winning their heat and becoming the first team to finish the event before the time cap.
• In Heat 3, Team BPN took the early lead and never looked back. They went on to lock up an event win. The question then became would enough teams squeeze between them and The Dottirs FT. MOB for Team BPN to take the lead?
• Things played out well for Team BPN, as the All American Girls—who went into the event in fourth—put forth an impressive performance, finishing second and helping their quest for the podium. Three other teams also managed to squeeze in between Team BPN and The Dottirs FT. MOB, meaning Team BPN was able to gain 25 points, just enough to take over the lead. They head into Day 2 with a five point lead.

The top-five teams after the opening day:

• Team BPN – 360 points
• The Dottirs FT. MOB – 355 points
• All American Girls – 337
• A.K.A Humbles Killers – 330 points
• GOWOD Girls – 305 points

The big picture: After Day 1, it might look like the race for the top spot will be between Team BPN and The Dottirs FT. MOB, but with half the points still on the table, any one of the top five teams still has a chance to take the title. And it will be especially interesting to see what the GOWOD Girls—a team of Games veterans—can do when they’re placed in the final heat tomorrow. This show is far from over.

TYR Wodapalooza Day 3 Recap: Elite Teams Take the Floor

Morning Chalk Up’s Lauren Kalil gives a full breakdown of the biggest moments from the elite team event of TYR Wodapalooza.

Cole Greashaber: Dark Horse of TYR Wodapalooza

The talk of the weekend on the men’s side of the competition at TYR Wodapalooza was the exciting budding rivalry between Ricky Garard and Roman Khrennikov. Several of the big names that we expected to see rise to the top did not disappoint, but one of the more overlooked athletes was the 22-year-old Cole Greashaber.

Greashaber had a big first day of competition that made it clear he was a real threat for the podium. The question became if he had the breadth of fitness to stay amongst the top through a full competition. After the dust settled, Greashaber held strong and finished fifth overall in a stacked field of competitors.

By the numbers: Greashaber was extremely consistent across the weekend, only finishing outside the top 10 twice and winning the free-standing handstand event.

• Rings and Squats: Fourth place
• Back to the Future: Fifth place
• Start Fast, Finish Strong (A): Fifth place
• Start Fast, Finish Strong (B): Seventh place
• We Have Lift Off (1RM Clean and Jerk): 18th place
• We Have Lift Off (Free-standing Parallette HS): First place
• Double Shot with a Splash: Eighth place
• Miami Meat Market: 15th place
• Dirty Isabel: Fourth place

Performance history: Greashaber may seem like he came out of nowhere, but he has CrossFit Games experience in both the teenage and elite individual divisions.

• 2017 CrossFit Games (Boys 16-17 division): He finished third behind Angelo Dicicco and Gui Malheiros.
• 2022 Syndicate Crown Semifinal: He finished third behind Justin Medeiros and Jayson Hopper.
• 2022 CrossFit Games: He finished 33rd and had two top 10 finishes (6th place in Elevated Elizabeth and 8th place in Rinse ‘N’ Repeat).

The bottom line: His performance history and current placing at Wodapalooza make it clear that Greashaber has been working to get to this point for quite some time. As we head into the 2023 CrossFit Games season, be sure to keep Cole Greashaber on your list of up and coming stars.

...LEARN

The Most Underrated Way to Squat Deeper

We’ve all been there… you’re about to hit that heavy squat… you are super confident… you think you hit depth… and then see the side eye from your coach. If this sounds familiar, you need to watch this video on squat depth.

SPONSORED

...GET

Free Access to the "Nutrition for 'Functional Fitness' Masterclass"

Whether your goal is to lose weight or be at the top of the white board...the information in this course will get you there. The Nutritional Coaching Institute "Functional Fitness" Masterclass launches on March 1st and they're giving one winner access for FREE. Winner gets announced January 20th.

...PRACTICE

Strict Butterfly Pull-Up

You’ve probably heard the phrase: “do a strict pull-up before a kipping pull-up” but have you tried a strict butterfly pull-up? Build the strength to crank some butterfly pull-ups out.

...BUY

WOD Bottoms During Their Deal of the Week

You need to check out this deal. WOD Bottom is doing buy one get one half off on their sale merch. We’re talking tees, shorts, pants and leggings. Whether you're hitting the gym or just lounging around, this deal will help take your style game up a notch. Don't miss out on this amazing bargain - shop now before it's too late!

...EARN

Some Free Morning Chalk Up Swag

You can earn exclusive rewards like stickers, patches, and mugs (all the way up to a barbell) by simply referring people to subscribe to our free daily newsletter. Grab your exclusive link and start sharing the Morning Chalk Up with your friends, family, and people you met one time on a Saturday morning WOD to get started.

See all upcoming events