Athletes can do amazing things under the pressures of competition, and in front of thousands of screaming fans. In the second event this year, many athletes set lifetime PRs in the deadlift despite having to lift one rep every 30sec, and having run the 7km race about an hour before. Sixteen male athletes and one female athlete lifted all 20 bars.
Josh Wagner of CrossFit Apex set a 10lb PR, and just barely missed a 20lb PR at 485. Wagner's wife Tanya also set a PR, lifting 325lbs. She, of course, ended up World Champion at the end of Sunday.
Rob Orlando came to CrossFit from a strongman background, which shaped his game plan in advance. "There's about a thousand other things I'd rather do than a 7 kilometer run," he joked the night before the competition. The second event gave him more confidence. "We'll see if I did my homework," Rob mused. He did something right. Twenty bars, one every 30 seconds and culminating at 505lbs, failed to raise his heart rate.
Deadlift Event Video 1 ... [wmv] [mov]
Matt Chan from CrossFit Verve was considered a top contender going into the weekend. Last year he finished eighth overall. He won the Rocky Mountain Qualifiers, solidifying his reputation. Matt is also part of the CrossFit Level 1 Certification seminar training staff. He compares the past two years' Games, and sets a lifetime PR in the deadlift.
11 comments on this entry.
1. gaucoin wrote...
November 5, 2009 7:10 PM
The events could have been harder last year? Only someone who came 1st can make that claim, Matt!! Last year nearly put me in the frickin' hospital, it took me over two months to recover from those two days. This year for you guys was a long gruelling test (for those that got that far) but last years four WODs were the most horrible smashers I've ever seen in a less-than 48 hour time frame.
I get a kick out of watching Rob Orlando pick up 505 like it's a twig. No s$%t it wasn't hard, he's a beast. Mikko came 2nd in the run and just missed 505, that is just amazing to me...
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2. Ben W wrote...
November 5, 2009 7:13 PM
This teasers are killin my life Tony. I need this Dvd!
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3. grambo wrote...
November 5, 2009 10:58 PM
Is Matt using an alternate hook grip there? Heard of that but have never seen it before.
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4. anon wrote...
November 6, 2009 12:35 AM
World Champion? Really... come'on be serious.
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5. Aaron wrote...
November 6, 2009 7:02 AM
If Miko had locked out that 505 (he was very close) he would have had a score of 3 after the first two events. That's CRAZY.
How the order of events is decided I think is interesting. If we had started out with more traditional crossfit mixed modal wods, you would have seen some other people near the top. Once the field was thinned, then you may have tested how these crossfitters did in events at the margin of their experience, namely the DL and the run. Instead, the event set-up allowed some specialists to succeed on the first day (or part way until the couplet leveled the field) and then tested those people in more traditional CF workouts.
Did that make sense? So in the end we are testing how well a power lifter does at CF rather than testing how well a crossfitter does at power lifting.
I like that the first four events were events that require NO crossfit training and tested skills that could have just as easily been trained in other fitness programs. A runner wins the first event, a powerlifter wins the second event, a football player (just a guess) wins the third event, and firefighter wins the 4th event. But only a crossfitter survives all four.
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6. Clinton Canaday - 23/6'3"/210 wrote...
November 6, 2009 9:01 AM
I take it that the video of Mikko (if there is one) doing the DL's will be on the DVD (or whatever format), which will be for sale? With all of the talk about it, I'm surprised that it hasn't been posted unless that's the reason.
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7. Adam K wrote...
November 6, 2009 10:37 AM
I'm with Ben- these teasers are killing me, although I'm enjoying the burn!
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8. Bob CrossFit Cal City wrote...
November 6, 2009 11:15 AM
Interesting take Aaron. Something I hadn't thought of, though I'm sure many have. Your last paragraph makes a good point.
I, too, cannot wait for the release... WHEN? WHEN?
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9. cam birtwell wrote...
November 6, 2009 1:31 PM
Good points Aaron... except remember that the athletes who got to the games were already tested in "crossfit" type activities (the exact nature of which was dependent on the qualifier).
So we're not getting the pure runner, football player, or powerlifter at the games - we're getting crossfitters with varying degrees of bias.
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10. Joe M wrote...
November 6, 2009 1:54 PM
I don't think the talent pool at the regionals was quite concentrated enough that an elite runner, football player, or powerlifter who had the potential to win at the games wouldn't have placed at the regionals.
But I think the events at this year's games were eye-opening enough about how to test for broad inclusive fitness that this years sectionals/regionals will probably follow suit.
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11. Aaron wrote...
November 9, 2009 6:39 AM
Joe,
It will be interesting to see how the regionals/sectionals come out after the last year. Last year seemed to be split between regions that copied the previous year's format and regions that guessed there might be better ways to test for the unknown.
I am sure HQ will keep intentionally changing the format such that no region will ever copy the finals format. But I'll bet more regions start adding components to their qualifier that COULD be in finals and would disqualify people if they couldn't do it. For example, after 275lb DLs and 155lb squat clean and jerks, regions programmed some heavier events to make sure whoever got sent wouldn't DNF a heavier WOD. After last year I bet that several regions add more events and possibly a longer endurance effort because if you can't do that you risk having NO shot in Aromas.
I really liked the way NorCal did it last year, particularly the muscle up and heavy clean workout. You only had to be able to do 10 muscle ups or 10 heavy cleans so it set a minimum standard and insured that if those came up in Aromas the person wouldn't DNF the workout. But because the competitor could choose what to do more reps of after they reached ten, it didn't favor a big strong guy or a smaller gymnast.
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