The top athletes at the 2009 Games were remarkably consistent in their placings, even on Day 1 when they were competing against 70+ other athletes.
The events were extremely varied. There was a 7km run over widely varied terrain, a max deadlift event, a 170m hill sprint with sandbags, a row/sledgehammer event, and a traditional CrossFit couplet (wallball and light squat snatches).
Amazingly, Tanya Wagner's (1st overall) worst placing on Saturday was 11th (Run). Her best was 5th (Couplet). Tanya's affiliate is CrossFit Apex.
Carey Kepler from CrossFit Central (3rd overall, pictured) finished 42nd in the deadlift, but finished no worse than 3rd in the other four events. She dominated the couplet, finishing a full minute faster than second place (Sarah Dunsmore), and nearly three minutes faster than anyone else.
(Perhaps of interest in the picture is the very slight time delay from live action to what appears on the Jumbotron screen in the background. On the screen, she is slightly above parallel on her way down, whereas you can see live that she is below parallel. You can also see Jeb Smith and Denise Serrano from CrossFit Marina operating the camera.)
No other woman in the top 7 overall finished below 35th in any single event on Day 1. The men's competition was tighter (average score for the top 7 women at the end of Day 1 was 56 compared to 73 for the men). The most consistent man was Tommy Hackenbruck from Ute CrossFit. His worst placement was 24th (deadlift). He won the Row/Sledgehammer event (4:36).
Jason Khalipa from CrossFit Santa Clara had the most dramatic performance on Saturday. He finished 72nd (third from last) on the run and earned his way into the top 16 with two first place finishes (deadlift and couplet) and two 13th place finishes (sandbag and row/sledge). On Sunday, he finished 2nd in all three events.
The worst placements from the other top 7 men was 44th (Blair Morrison on the deadlift and Peter Egyed from CrossFit Fury on the sandbag sprint). If Khalipa had finished 44th in the run instead of 72nd, he would have tied Mikko for 1st overall.
Mikko Salo's (1st overall) worst placement was 32nd in the row/sledgehammer. He finished 2nd in the 7k run on Saturday and 1st in the chipper on Sunday.
10 comments on this entry.
1. Kris Kepler wrote...
August 2, 2009 1:27 PM
that's my girl!
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2. steve wrote...
August 2, 2009 7:29 PM
next please. honestly. this is about who performed the best that weekend; not what would have happened if someone would have come in 44th instead of 72nd. We get it. He had a bad run. He lost. Get over it. Honestly. Cover someone else. Find someone else who actually performed really well throughout the games but missed the cut because of a tie in points... Like Heather Keenan... She finished 17th and missed the final day due to the a tie-breaker situation. Khalipa was lucky to make it through the run... It exposed a serious weakness in his ability in Crossfit. Crossfit covers every modality. Not just a simple few and hope they come in the right order... just saying.
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3. Randy Jenkins wrote...
August 2, 2009 8:21 PM
I politely agree with Steve - not to mention the 17th place male - Jerome Perryman - who basically got screwed on the DL event.
Be nice to read more about the 3rd place finishes too - Moe and Carey (who by the way, amazing performance, girl!)
Respectfully,
Randy
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4. Alex wrote...
August 2, 2009 9:34 PM
I'm pretty sure the article was about multiple athletes, not just Khalipa. Khalipa had to play catch up right after the first event but he never quit even when he had no chance of winning. I think that embodies the spirit of a Crossfitter more than just being the winner. Mikko Salo deserved to win because he was the most well rounded athlete at the games and no one should question it. Im sure they will continue to tell the story of the games and the other amazing athletes that competed.
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5. mark wrote...
August 3, 2009 6:16 AM
is any1 else gettin bored of khalipa this, khalipa that?? he is an incredible athlete but he didnt win, yet he has more coverage than any1, for the sheer fact he came back from a poor run. i wod much rather see more on Mikko Salo, what he does, his trainin, his diet etc. More on the top 3 please!!
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6. badnews wrote...
August 3, 2009 6:57 AM
I don't get this negativity towards khalipa stories. I think it's amazing what he accomplished and obviously it is the most dramatic story of the weekend. I don't think anyone is trying to take anything away from other people's amazing performances, even the second place finisher tommy hackenbruck qualified on the last chance qualifier and then smokes the games. Is he a loser Steve because he had one bad performance?
good stories are good stories, and all of those guys put out super hard. And personally I like to see what people do when things aren't going perfectly.
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7. Zach wrote...
August 3, 2009 8:41 AM
I'm with Badnews, the guy busted his ass. That's what crossfit is, busting your ass. Jason had a shitty run, but it was the best he could do on that given day. He ran as hard as he could that day. That was his max effort on that WOD. He gave it his all on every workout. I think it's a cool story if you don't like it don't read it. I'm sure there will be other stories on the other athletes to come, and I cant wait to hear those either. The games are only one weekend out of the year. We have along time to hear about everything before next year. Just my two cents.
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8. JoeM wrote...
August 3, 2009 10:24 AM
I've never seen so much negativity over FREE content. Want to see more coverage of Mikko? Write a polite email to HQ and the guys putting out this stuff.
I used to read user comments because I always found positive comments, great stories, and good links but unfortunately I'm about to start skipping this part.
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9. Jake replied to comment from steve...
August 3, 2009 12:11 PM
Hey Whiner(Steve),
We're lucky to get the vid's and articles we get. I'm sure there's plenty of stuff coming soon about Mikko. Go do a Fran and take whatever's eating you out on the barbell.
Thanks to Sevan, Carey, Tony, Dave and the rest of HQ for putting all the the information and videos out there for us. They owe us nothing, yet they give us a ton.
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10. Kim Malz~FitMom wrote...
August 3, 2009 2:27 PM
How inspiring to watch these athletes give it everything they own on Sunday- well done by all!
Great media coverage-thank you!
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