The 2015 Crossfit Games are in the books and there’s a new fittest Man and Woman in the world.
Luckily, Tracy and I were there to see it all go down. It was pretty unreal to attend in real life after years of watching and following online and from so far away. It’s pretty hard to describe what it’s like to be there but I know we’re both exhausted, thrilled, and so glad we went down.
The Games deviated significantly from years past in many ways. Firstly, there was an increased focus on teams and masters categories, and the new age category of Teens. This was underscored by Thursday, which is often considered the first “real” day of competition being programmed as a rest day for individuals.
We were thrilled to be able to watch our home-away-from-hometown favourite athlete Terry Peters representing CrossFit North Vancouver in the Masters 60+ Category.
Terry had an incredible performance with an event win in Amanda and a podium in the thruster workout, netting him sixth place overall. There was also an increased importance placed on the team competition by CrossFit HQ, and by the fans themselves as there were some big names competing on teams this year.
Watching Rich Froning compete on a team was both thrilling, and incredibly frustrating. With a much, much weaker female side of the team, we saw many events where the Mayhem Freedom men would win half an event, or open a huge lead, only to see the females place near the bottom or lose that lead. Rich would would have won the Clean and Jerk event by 15 pounds if he put this (365) up in individual competition.
After getting our bearings at the StubHub! Center on Tuesday and taking in some initial Mastets and Teens competition, we set out early Wednesday to Hermosa Beach for the (now predictably programmed) swim event, and our first look at the individuals that would be competing this year.
What we, and many athletes weren’t expecting, however, was a Paddleboard. As is usually the case with the unknown and unknowable, this caused significant chaos for many of the athletes, but made for a great spectator experience.
With such a long event, there was a surprising amount of close races to the finish, and there weren’t many bad seats at the beach to take it all in. Noah Ohlson chased down Chad Mckay for third place in this event with a gutsy come-from-behind sprint all the way up the beach to the finish.
By Friday, we were into the good stuff that everyone (including us) came to see: Long chippers and heavy barbells. The Soccer Stadium at StubHub was packed more full than it usually is for team final events for this one, and it didn’t disappoint. There were some incredible performances, and some notable casualties including Kara Webb, who was carried off the field unconscious, and Annie Thorisdottir, who DNF’ed. Both of them suffered heat injuries, but returned to competition after medical attention.
Saturday was also packed to the gills with great events. We managed to snag some front-row seats for the double sprint event. Canadian Joe Scali put up a sixth on the way down, and a second on the way back, but that would prove to be the peak of his 2015 campaign as he would go on to crack a rib in the very next event, forcing him to withdraw.
Every year, new challenges, equipment, and implements are introduced for the athletes to move, throw, flip, or lift and 2015 was no exception. “The Pig” was back this year in 2.0 form and most of the field had an incredibly difficult time with it, 156 lb. Brooke Wells included.
Canadian and Defending Champion Camille Leblanc-Bazinet finally got an event win in the Triangle Couplet under the Tennis Stadium lights Saturday night. Camille had been rattled ever since some horrible judging ruined her chances of a decent finish in the Speed Snatch Ladder Friday, so it was great to see her bounce back, even though by this point her chances of a repeat victory were slim to none.
The atmosphere in the Tennis Stadium (especially under the lights at night) is unlike anything else, and completely intoxicating. If you take a step back, it seems to be silly to be cheering on people exercising competitively, but I’ve always maintained that the difference is that every single person in the audience can relate to what the athletes on the floor are going through, and can even try it themselves.
Sure, you might be hyped up about the 4th quarter of the football game, but you’re never going to be throwing the ball down by 6 with 5 seconds left on the clock. You cannot have the same experience as a pro football player, you can have the same experience as a pro functional fitness athlete, and to be in the crowd with all those like-minded individuals is a pile of fun, and miles different than watching at home on YouTube.
Tracy and I both had a few favorite athletes we were cheering for all week. Kara Webb was one of those for both of us. Despite running a great campaign, and some great events Saturday, she didn’t accumulate points at the pace she needed to finish where we were hoping she would by the end of the week. That being said, she was awesome to meet, and took time to greet every fan she could throughout the week.
Super Sunday at the games was marked by more people, fewer open seats, higher temperatures, and a palpable increase in the excitement level of the fans (us included).
Unfortunately, the programming and spectator experience we got on Sunday couldn’t match up to Saturday. The Run/Yoke event in the tennis stadium that opened the day’s events was great to watch, but I feel the weight for the Yoke was mis-programmed as every single athlete completed their carries unbroken- it was merely a minor inconvenience on their run. We really wanted to see them struggle a bit. Things got a little more interesting when we got into the tennis stadium for the final events of the Games.
The pegboard in the first event was absolutely horrible to watch. Not because the athletes were failing, but because almost every athlete gave up, took the Cap+51 or 52 score, and took extra rest for the second event. I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about that apparatus. I think it’s a good test of fitness, and a great way to add an “unknown and unknowable” aspect into the games, but Sunday night was the wrong time for it. The pegboard should have been a Thursday or Friday event.
The final individual event was much better to watch, but I think many fans were disappointed that we wouldn’t be seeing our favourite athletes get their hands on a barbell on Sunday. This guy was also probably disappointed he didn’t get to throw around a bar on Sunday. Matt was electric to watch all week, and I’ll be rooting for him even harder next year. I don’t think it’ll take him seven years to stand on top of the podium like it did Ben, but the numbers say he does need at least another year.
All of those gripes aside, the atmosphere was absolutely electric and we got to witness the new King and Queen of functional fitness crowned, and that was, afterall, what we came to see.
Both Ben Smith and Katrin Davidsdottir are absolutely deserving champions. Neither of them really had a spotlight on them during the Games week. Katrin didn’t have a single event win until the last event, and Ben won in Rich-like fashion bouncing back from a 34th place finish in the second event and demonstrating fly-under-the-radar consistency throughout the rest of the events. On the teams side, I don’t think Mayhem Freedom deserved to win. The absolutely unstoppable trio of Rich, Matt, and James covered the significant weaknesses of Jackie and Kristin and then some. With NorCal competing with five athletes for the last half of the week, and the most lopsided team in CFG history chugging along, they managed to edge out Crossfit Milford for the win, but I don’t think they were the best overall team there, they just had three unstoppable guys dragging three women along with them.
Katrin only finished outside the top-20 once, and turned it on in the Stadium to secure her place on top. She handled her win with grace and style and I think she’ll have a great year as an ambassador for the sport. The bigger question now is, how long can Ben stay on top, and who’s coming for Katrin in 2016?
What a week. The games are so much more than just watching people exercise too. We enjoyed taking in the massive vendor village and seeing every big and small brand in the industry bring their new products, free samples, and booth-challenges to Carson. I think if we return next year, it’ll be as volunteers to see the other side of the whole thing.
Having said goodbye to Carson, we’re safely on our way back north now with a few days left in B.C. before finally setting the GPS destination point to “home” on the weekend.
Until next time,
-Rod