2014 Crossfit Open Update: Rich Froning is Dominating

We’re officially past the halfway point of the 2014 Crossfit Open now and in just two short days Dave Castro will again step to the microphone and announce 14.4. We’ll take a look at the live throw down matchup between Scott Panchik and Josh Bridges tomorrow, but today I wanted to pass along some thoughts so far on the Open, mostly concerning how the leaderboards are shaping up.

• First and foremost let me announce that Rich Froning will be crowned the Fittest Man Alive until he decides to no longer compete. I wondered if he’d limp into the Open after flirting with retiring or going “team” in the off season but he’s been absolutely dominant in the first three weeks of the Open. In true Froning form, he hasn’t won a single event but he’s placed fourth, second and eighth. Seriously. With tens of thousands of men competing against him he’s been in the top eight of all three WODs so far. While you might think that’s not particularly impressive for an elite Games level athlete, consider that no other male athlete can even boast two top-10 finishes. Froning’s average finish so far, is 4.7 and no other male or female athlete has an average lower than 11 (Jason Khalipa and Samantha Briggs both have an average finish of 11).
• On the women’s side, (surprise, surprise) Samantha Briggs holds a healthy lead with an event win in week one and a fifth place finish in week three. She’s one of only two females (Camille Leblanc-Bazinet being the other) with two top-10 finishes. Sitting in third place overall right now though is Annie Thorisdottir who’s on the rebound track this year after sitting out last year with a back injury. She finished 35th overall in 14.3 and perhaps more importantly reported no issues after the deadlift intensive WOD.
• In an eerie coincidence both of this year’s redemption stories, Josh Golden and Danielle Sidell, sit at 16th overall on their respective leaderboards. Sidell announced herself in a big on 14.3 by winning the week and destroying the box jumps that got her booted from the competition last year. Despite posting such a high score though, Sidell wrote her blog (another good read if you’re wondering) about some minor missteps that cost her a couple extra reps:

  First, I stopped jumping for a split second after 10 reps and headed back to the deadlifts, wasn’t thinking! Then, I got my jumps mixed up and totally missed the box, haha, ugh those two things are going to haunt me for a while. I am never 100% satisfied with the end result of my workouts. I always look back and think shoulda/woulda/coulda… I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help myself.

• One note on the negative side, two time Games athlete Daniel Tyminski is currently 716th in the North East region after injuring his shoulder during 14.2. He rebounded nicely on 14.3 but the damage has already been done. It’ll be interesting to see if Tyminski resurfaces as a member of his boxes’ team or if he’s one of the “celebrity demonstrators” that HQ has used the past couple of years at the Games. I didn’t see any other notable Games’ athletes who are currently in danger of missing a trip to regionals though.

Open WOD 14.4 is right around the corner so stay tuned the next two days as we'll take a look at the live throw down matchup and take a blind stab in the dark at guessing the WOD.

Crossfit Games 14.2 Continues to Take the Open in a Different Direction

Dave Castro and Crossfit HQ unveiled the Open WOD 14.2 tonight live from Miami, Florida at I am Crossfit and the live throw down between Talayna Fortunato and Camille Leblac-Bazinet didn't disappoint. I was wrong about the WOD, the movements and the winner of the throw down but, two weeks into the Open, one thing is becoming very apparent; the Crossfit Open isn't for everyone anymore. I wrote leading into the Open that it had two goals, to get the fittest to Regionals and to also be inclusive so that athletes from all different ability levels could participate. Through the first two weeks though, I think the second goal no longer exists.

First let's talk about the workout, it's an overhead squat and chest to bar pull-up ladder where you have 3 minutes to complete two rounds of 10 OHS at 95/65 pounds and 10 C2B pull-ups. If and when you complete that, you have another three minutes to complete another two rounds of 12 of each and so on until can't complete them within the 3 minutes. It's a brutal combination and although the weight is relatively light, both the OHS and the C2B pull-up are a step above basic movements.

While an athlete of my stature generally approaches every WOD with the only goal being survival, I do think I'll try to mimick Talayna's plan. She said afterwards that she wanted to do the OHS unbroken, then break up the C2B as needed. That will be my plan as well, for as long as I can manage. OHS are certainly not a strength of mine and anytime I'm gasping for breath, which will certainly happen after some C2B pull-ups, they are particularly awful.

Crossfit Open WOD 14.2: Talayna Fortunato vs. Camille Leblanc-Bazinet

The matchup for the live announcement of 14.2 has been announced and you can bet that these two headliners will not disappoint. Together these two boast six appearances at the Games, five of which ended with top 10 overall finishes including one podium. Talayna Fortunato and Camille Leblanc-Bazinet are no strangers to the Crossfit spotlight; in fact both of them were also a part of last year’s live announcements. Fortunato was teamed against Kristan Clever in 13.3 (150 wall balls, 90 double unders and 30 muscleups) and despite jumping out to an early lead, Clever got the best of Fortunato by four reps. Leblanc-Bazinet was pitted against eventual 2013 Games Champion Samantha Briggs in 13.5 (wicked Fran ladder) and she destroyed Briggs when she was able to advance to the 12 minute round, winning by 69 reps. With two very solid veterans like this, we are sure to get a great throw down.