ALEXIS JOHNSON
“I’m going to be careful with my words here. In no way do I want to discredit any athletes this year— those who made it to the final cut absolutely crushed, and performed when they needed to! The tip top athletes are the top 95% in every aspect that is tested, and can survive any order of cuts.
But in the end, if #crossfit aims to reward the most well rounded athletes, and the top 20 spots are paid out, then the top 20 should be ordered in a way that reflects that.
In my opinion, this year, those 20 spots were not paid out in the correct order. With cuts made after each event, it permitted athletes to have (not yet tested) weaknesses or holes, yet they were locked into the top spots when they survived a cut. Maybe the 20th place person is a muscle up king ? and would have won the last event… but unfortunately, he’s locked into 20th place, with no chance to showcase this talent, SIMPLY DUE TO THE ORDER OF EVENTS. These athletes work hard year after year, and the order of events should not dictate how they get paid or ranked for the 2020 season.
What are your thoughts ?? Will we see changes next year?”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B02EuEmngIq/
BROOKE WELLS
“Heartbroken.
Keeping my head up knowing I am the fittest I have ever been in my life. Receiving a huge penalty for stepping on a line, and causing my CrossFit Games season to end from a cut does NOT define my performance or fitness. It’s been a hard pill to swallow that the only time I fell out of the top 10 was also the only time it mattered. But I’m accepting it & moving on. I’ll be back.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0vtA59jLi0/
ANNIE THORISDOTTIR
About the larger volume of athletes, qualifying as National Champions, Annie said “I’m hoping that it will do what it did for Iceland”.
She talked about the opening WOD, describing it as “a great event” and she liked the design of the Games “Honestly, I really like the programming…I’m kinda missing a little heavier barbell though”.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B01xJtwHqz7/
ANNIE THORISDOTTIR ON THE CUTS
“Its fair enough to do cuts…I think it was cut down to 10 people way too early, not just because I got caught. I should have never got myself into that situation.”
“I made a huge mistake, something happened in that ruck event and that cost me my Games. That sucks. I want to say too that it’s my own fault too that this happened.
However, with making that significant a cut after only 6 events now all of a sudden the order of events really matters, and the order matters a little too much in my opinion. I’m not going to take anything away from the girls that were in the top 10, they performed incredibly and they’re really good athletes and of course they earned their spots on the top 10.
However, I don’t feel like you should earn your spot top 10 at The CrossFit Games with only those 6 events. I think that’s too soon. You’re safe, your spot is safe as top 10 in the world for the start of Saturday and I think that’s too early.
I think, if its that necessary to cut it down to 10 people in only 6 events then its possible, but I feel like the programming needs to be a little more like we’ve done at Regionals where you make sure the programming is lined up so that you’re testing almost everything before you make that cut. So you touch on more things.
Honestly by not having the sprint event, having another event instead as that final event for the cutting would have been more ok. I do think it would have been even cooler to have everyone go through Saturday, the top 20 go through Saturday. I feel that would have been a better way.
It’s (the cut) exciting, I’m not going to say it’s not. So much can happen but its also not cool that you go into some of these events and you don’t really have to do that good to be top 3 or 4 just because you’ve got rid of all of that little bit bigger girls. It’s hard to look at.
The programming is cool, its been a lot of CrossFit. Pure CrossFit events are awesome but it’s hard man. I woke up a few times last night thinking this was just a bad dream, this should not be possible to happen and I don’t feel like this is real. I am not there, I’m better than this.
If I’d just crawled my way into the top 10 then I would be fighting my way onto that podium right now. I think that’s crazy. That’s a hard bite to swallow. That’s difficult, an empty feeling as well.
Yeah my CrossFit Games are over but I’m not going to celebrating anything, my body is still fine. I went to the gym yesterday because I didn’t know what to do with myself.
On the bright side, this is the best I’ve ever felt going out of The CrossFit Games…It means I’m going to ready for the Open right!?”
Rory: You made a huge mistake, what was that and how did it play out?
“Well I was pretty consistent through all the events except for that Go Ruck, which was a complete disaster for me.
It just felt bad from the very beginning. There’s a lot of things that happened during that event. Mentally it was the worst one. I felt really really warm and I’ve got used to the heat. It isn’t affecting me, it really isn’t. But it brings back memories, I’ve worked through them but it brings back memories of Murph.”
(In 2015 Annie suffered from heat exhaustion during Murph and had to withdraw from The Games)
“When I get to that stage I thought, well two more (athletes) going past me is worth it because I will be able to survive the rest of the weekend.
I’m the mentally strongest I’ve ever been. I’m physically in the best shape that I’ve ever been going into the CrossFit Games. I am one of the fittest women in the world right now. I am in a really good place and I don’t want it to sound cocky it’s just the truth.
I’ve worked my ass off and I’ve failed myself. In the Ruck Event I ended up taking 40th place and it’s outrageous that I started walking. That’s one of the things you never do. That’s mental give up.
I should never have got myself into a situation where the sprint is what takes me out. Yes, I know I hit a column and that cost me my top 10 spot but I should never have been in that situation in the first place.”
Rory: Is there a way to address that? The mental fear?
“I work through it a lot. I would like to say that I am fully through it but apparently not so that’s something I’m going to have to continue doing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0vqfWNjQza/
I’ve always lived knowing that my mind will give up before my body does. That’s been one of my superpowers. I don’t quit. I don’t give up. I know I can do it. I ran an ultramarathon in Iceland in Iceland without prepping for it. I know that I can do it…the pain is only temporary. I know I can do anything that I set my mind to.
But in 2015 I hit that barrier where mentally I was going to continue, I dug that hole deep and I don’t even remember the end of the workout. Seeing footage of me stumbling around was weird and my body took really long to recover. I had to withdraw from the Games because I couldn’t straighten my arms, I couldn’t lift my arms over my head.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0tdKhhnQmY/
It took me about a week/10 days to be able to straighten my arms. It took me two months to be able to do push ups again. I really thought that I had destroyed myself.
That fear of making a mistake in an event made me not want to dig a hole that deep that I would not be able to get out of it. But, I decided I was going to take one event at a time and I wanted to leave it all out there and I didn’t in that Ruck event. I did not leave everything out there.”
Rory: How do you process this experience and move forward?
“I don’t think I’ve fully processed it yet. Like I said, I still have this empty feeling inside. I don’t feel like the Games are over. I’m hoping that once the games are over, I’ll get over it.
I don’t want to sound cocky but I knew I was going to be top 5 in the world. As long as I would perform.
I’m supporting Bjorgvin, I’m supporting Katrin, I need to get closure on the 2019 Games, I’m not done by 11am on Saturday!”
Check out the full interview with Rory here:
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BRENT FIKOWSKI
Brent Fikowski was a top contender for challenging Fraser and taking a podium spot at The 2019 CrossFit Games. Over the last few years Brent has finished 4th, 2nd and 4th but unfortunately things didn’t go his way this year and he ended 23rd. Here is his account of what happened. Check out his website for more info.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0ufLbap855/
SPRINT COUPLET
“So, got out on the floor. 3 – 2 – 1, go, push the sled. It stopped dead in its tracks and the front of the sled pitch dug in and the back came up. Then I pushed it again and grabbed it a little lower, trying to feel like I was lifting the front off as I pushed. It was a pretty big grind to get to the other end of the floor. My legs were pretty lactic, but trusted that they would recover a bit on the bar muscle ups (as you obviously don’t need your legs on bar MUs).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0rPNe4JURO/
Dropped down and immediately went to my sled which I turned around after my first lap. I thought that was the right thing to do because turning it around doesn’t take too much juice and it would give me a little bit of a break before going to the bar. But as soon as I finished that part I knew I’d want to get started again on the sled and finish the event fast.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0qc4QlJ_wE/
Sled was set up nicely for me, went to push it, the front dug into the ground a bit. Went to push it again, dug into the ground a bit. Push it again and it got caught on the tape marker that was on the turf field. So then I got really low, put my hands on the handles probably 12 inches off the ground, locked the arms, kept the core tight, cycled the feet as fast as I could. Started at 100% effort and trusted that I wouldn’t have to stop, and just push as hard as I’ve ever pushed knowing there were a lot of men just in front and behind me. Just gave a 100% effort on that sled push. Was really happy with the workout as a whole, pushed until the last inch.
I just thought based on my efforts and my execution that it would have been a pretty solid score. It wasn’t until about maybe 20 minutes later that I was conversing with another athlete and I think I checked the leaderboard. I realized I was in 27th in that workout. Honestly, it took me by surprise.”
MARY
“…they said they’d be cutting the field again from 30 down to 20 at the end of Mary. Immediately I was a little concerned and I checked which place I was in. I was in 15th. I didn’t bother looking at points, but I obviously knew this could be a do or die situation because the gap between 15th and 21st was likely very small in the points standings.
I was excited for the opportunity, and made sure in the back of my mind there was a lot of intensity, a lot of focus, knowing this could potentially be my last workout at this year’s CrossFit Games. Was really pushing the pace and trying to race against my own potential. As the workout dragged along, it became apparent that I would likely be last in the heat, or close to last.
As the workout drew on, started to feel my hands tear in a few spots. Each round, a little new spot might emerge and by the end my hands were fairly red with a decent amount of blood.
I probably got only two no rep’s on my pull ups, and maybe one on my HSPU. Otherwise, was really happy with my effort… I finished in 23rd place overall. In that particular workout I finished 28 out of 30 athletes. So very close to the bottom of the pack of men. I think two men in the previous heat I was able to beat by a few reps.”
BRENT’S REACTION TO BEING CUT
“Obviously this isn’t the placement I was hoping for after coming 4th, 2nd, 4th in the world the last three years. I put pretty high expectations on my own performance and you probably won’t find a more harsh critic of this weekend than myself. However, I finished the day in good spirits. After the last event there were no tears, and really not much frustration, it was really just a submission to the result.
It’s so far been a really quick weekend. Its felt a little different than the other years, each event has had a cut and any slight weakness in the capacity that these events tested has cut athletes. I’ve come away from this weekend with 5 workouts. I probably executed perfectly to my potential on I would say 3 of them. The run, I could have maybe gone a little faster for a few more points. Obviously I’ll look back on the handstand walk workout in Event 2, falling near the finish line, was pretty detrimental, lost quite few points there. However those mistakes, I can’t really dwell on them as I’m sure by the end of the weekend every athlete will have just as many, or more than that.
There’s still athletes sitting near the top that have made a fair number of mistakes already this weekend, and they’re doing just fine. It doesn’t mean I can take away from the competitors ahead of me as they’re having great runs this weekend, all showing their fitness and their capacity, and their ability to perform in what has been so far a very unique CrossFit Games. And a very challenging one, both mentally and physically.”
Read the full article here on Brent’s Blog
SEAN SWEENEY
“I already miss being out on the competition floor. Time to get back to training to earn my spot back here again. But next year… goal is to fill up some gaps in my fitness and be able to compete the whole weekend. .
Everyone has their opinions about the cuts, but I’ll tell you what- I don’t have any control over the system. But I damn sure do have control over my progress and making sure that no matter what the process / cuts are I can still hack it. It’s up to us as athletes to rise to the occasion no matter what. That’s my plan for next year. Rise.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B01MaWXA3Pu/
