“Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.”- H. L. Mencken
NEWS
BREAKING: Dave Castro Returns to CrossFit
Dave Castro is returning to CrossFit HQ five months after being fired from his position as General Manager of Sport, the Morning Chalk Up has confirmed through two sources who attended an affiliate gathering with Castro on Monday with approximately two dozen attendees, many of whom are affiliate owners.
The news comes after several weeks of speculation surrounding Castro’s potential return that was first made public by The Real Sevan Podcast on May 24.
One big thing: Castro will be returning to work directly with affiliates, described one attendee who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity. No official title was given or shared at that time and CrossFit LLC declined to comment for this story or provide additional information about Castro’s new role.
“Dave Castro is coming back and that is a very good thing for Diablo and all of CrossFit,” wrote Craig Howard, the owner of Diablo CrossFit and host of the gathering, in a blog post.
“He knows that the affiliates are the life blood of CrossFit -we change lives, we cure chronic disease, we create fans of CrossFit and the CF Games, and we send our members to CF Certifications.”
“Dave will do everything he can to make sure that CrossFit promotes and defends the brand and provides and environment for affiliates to thrive. He is the leader we need and I’m pumped to know that he is back on our team!”
The big picture: CrossFit HQ came under harsh criticism on social media immediately after firing Castro just seven weeks before the start of the 2022 CrossFit Open, including more than a dozen current and former CrossFit Games athletes.
After multiple PR blunders over the past few months, there has been a growing drumbeat of calls for his return to fix issues specifically related to the CrossFit Games season, its scoring and judging inconsistencies.
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In case you missed it: Lauren Kalil, the host of The Bottom Line, caught up with Phil Toon, who gave eventual Granite Games winner Brent Fikowski, a serious run for his money.
In memoriam: Cyclist and CrossFit athlete Gregory Bachman, a 61-year-old teacher from Frisco, Colorado, was struck and killed by a car while riding his bike, and a GoFundMe page has been set up to help his family.
Signing alert: Reggie Fasa, who we just profiled, has signed with the HSTL. Made team and is competing in London’s Strength in Depth this weekend.
Rogue dropping dollars: The 2022 Rogue Invitational is once again going to be offering some serious cash to its winners. 🤑
CROSSFIT GAMES
2022 CrossFit Semifinals Preview: CrossFit Atlas Games
The fourth and final week of Semifinals is here, and with it comes the fourth and final North American Semifinal – The Atlas Games, in Montreal, Canada. Although it’s considered a North American Semifinal, a majority of Canadian men, women, and teams who made this stage of the season have been seeded here.
The only Canadian man not competing here is Brent Fikowski.
Every Canadian team other than one was also sent to Atlas (Undefeated CrossFit competed in the Granite Games)
With nearly all of the high-level Canadian CrossFitters in this field, the question is: how many will qualify for the Games in each division?
Men:
When it comes to Shoo-Ins in the men’s field look no further than reigning second fittest man on Earth, Patrick Vellner. In a format like these he’s as consistent as they come. In the four years of this kind of format in which he’s made the Games his Regional/Semifinal finishes were 3rd/2nd/1st/1st; and his respective Games finishes in those years were 3rd/3rd/2nd/2nd. Expect Vellner to be leading the way here too.
Close behind him will likely be Jeffrey Adler. He was second to Vellner in semifinals last year, and has a good chance to repeat that this year. Adler is not necessarily flashy, but he’s tremendously efficient in the Semifinal format. He had four top five finishes out of six workouts last year, and while he was 50 points or so behind Vellner, he was also about 50 points clear of the rest of the field.
Games Expectations:
This category this year in this Semi is reserved for a couple of Alex’s. Both Alexandre Caron and Alex Vigneault stand out against the rest of this field as the next most likely to qualify for the Games.
Caron had a pair of impressive second place finishes last year: first he took second place in the Last Chance Qualifier to earn the final spot at the 2021 NOBULL CrossFIt Games. The LCQ fields are stacked, and regardless of the workouts, it’s very notable to take a top two in that competition. He ultimately took 24th at the Games and did not make the final cut down to 20, however, at Wodapalooza in the off-season he finished second (to Vellner) beating a dozen Games athletes to do so.
Vigneault seems to often fly under the radar, but he’s been performing at a high level for a long time and is a threat until we see him do otherwise. Vigneault placed 11th and 9th at the Games in 2015 and 2016, then last year he secured an 8th place- a career best finish. He was third at Semis last year, but for Vigneault the Semifinal finish isn’t too important, he just needs to get to the Games, that’s where he really shines.
The “Sheriff” has recaptured his spot atop the HYROX pecking order. Hunter McIntyre took on the HYROX World Championships in Las Vegas on May 14, and he used some personal changes to hit the gong for the second time in three years.
The details: McIntyre, who won the 2020 HYROX World Championships, was not able to repeat in 2021. He finished fourth overall while Tobias Lautwein won. McIntyre came back with a fury in 2022 after switching up his training and regaining his focus.
There were some athletes that sprinted out ahead of McIntyre on the opening run, which the commentators said was a strategy to get in his head. However, only one of them remained ahead of McIntyre during that segment.
The Sheriff stuck to his strategy during the early portions of the competition before hitting the sled push. Once he hit this point, he knew that he could keep ahead of every other competitor. McIntyre proved this to be true by finishing with a time of 58:05, 2:21 faster than runner-up Ryan Kent.
McIntyre: “I know that when I get to a certain movement beyond that point, no one can ever catch me again. And I was really confident in that, because I had never lost a race for the past four years of doing this.”
The CrossFit crazy fans of South America finally get a live competition to celebrate their favorite athletes when the CrossFit Copa Sur Semifinal takes over the coastal city of Vitória in Brazil this weekend. Six invitations for the 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games will be up for grabs on the outdoor competition floor set up outside the Shopping Vitória Mall.
Last season the Brazil CrossFit Championship was set to host the Semifinal for the South American region. However due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was switched to a virtual competition with CrossFit taking the reins of the programming.
South America’s 2021 Games performances were a mixed bag. On one hand Brazil CrossFit Champion Guilherme Malheiros placing seventh, the highest placing ever by a South American athlete, and electrifying the CrossFit fans with his youthful enthusiasm and raw strength was a banner moment for the region. On the other hand, he was the only South American, individual or team, to finish in the top-20.
Agustin Richelme placed 32nd, Sasha Nievas finished 31st and fellow Games qualifier Larissa Cunha was unable to compete due to testing positive for a banned substance prior to the Games. The two teams that qualified, EttoCrossFit and Q21 CrossFit, placed 33rd and 36th respectively.
2022 CrossFit Semifinals Preview: CrossFit Strength in Depth
The fourth and final weekend of Semifinals action brings us back across the pond to Europe and London, England for the CrossFit Strength in Depth.
For the third time in its nine year history the event will play host to a qualifying stage of CrossFit Games competition at the London Excel arena, and considering that Strength in Depth was not one of two European events chosen as Semifinals in 2021, it will have the distinction sending five women, five men, and five teams to Games for the first time in this new qualifying era.
This year Strength in Depth will play host to multiple Semifinal champions from last season, one in each division, in addition to a collection of established Games veterans and podium hopefuls. Before we dive into each division, a quick overview of the field.
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Celebrating a PR, hosting a fundraiser, this, that, or otherwise. Send us a highlight.
🥇 CrossFit Games teen athlete RJ Mestre from Franklin, TN hit a 259 pound/117kg clean and jerk for an Event 6 win, first place overall in the Boys 14-15 division of Age Group Semifinals, and an invitation to the 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games.
Congratulations to Kevin Johnston from CrossFit Saraland in Saraland, AL on recording his third PR in three weeks with this 235 pound/107kg snatch.
Congratulations to Xio Chirinos from CrossFit Soul in Miami, FL on the 154 pound/70kg snatch PR.
Games teen Rafael Candeias from Montijo, Portugal hit a new snatch PR of 209 pounds/95kg.
💪 Strong like mom: Masters athlete Jimena Delamer and her daughter enjoy a lifting session together.
We’re not sure if this is a real challenge or not, but CrossFit Invictus athletes Joshua Al-Chamaa and Dani Speegle got some laughs out of tortilla-slapping each other in this video.
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