In celebration of the tenth Crossfit Games, the first day of events for the Individual Men and Women divisions took place at the site of the first three CrossFit Games at the Ranch in Aromas, California. The competitors left Carson in the morning and flew into San Jose, California, in order to participate in the first three events. Unfortunately, on the return trip that evening, Southwest Airlines suffered a technical glitch grounding several flights and creating many delays. Some athletes reported that they did not return to their Carson hotel until after midnight Thursday morning.
Events 1 and 2: Ranch Trail Run to Ranch Deadlift Ladder
7 kilometer trail run
Followed by:
Deadlift ladder
Event 1 was a seven kilometer run was based around a similar event in the 2009 CrossFit Games. Mat Fraser and Samantha Briggs were the winners of this event. The second event was a deadlift ladder where the competitors had to lift in reverse order of finish in the previous event. The start of Event 2 had the last place finisher start the event first, ten minutes after completing the run. The men's weight started at 425 pounds and ended at 615 pounds while the women's weight started at 275 pounds and ended at 415 pounds. Sam Dancer and Brooke Wells both won the event by completing the ladder.
The last event was a "chipper," a workout involving multiple exercises done sequentially without returning for the fastest time. The competitors started with 50 wall ball shots, a squat into tossing a medicine ball 9 or 10 feet up to target on a wall. Once completed, they performed 25 sit-ups with the medicine ball on a glute-hamstring developer, a piece of equipment where the feet lock in and the sit-up is performed at a greater range of motion. The chipper was finished with a hill sprint while carrying the medicine ball. The men used a 30-pound medicine ball and the women used a 20-pound medicine ball. Brent Fikowski and Annie Thorisdottir won the event.
The only event of day two was an out-and-back ocean swim at Redondo Beach, California. Tia-Clair Toomey and Jonne Koski won with times of 7:28 and 6:54 respectively.
This specific workout was created in honor of US Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan on July 28, 2005. "Murph" is probably CrossFit's most famous "Hero" workout and Murph is usually performed by American affiliates on Memorial Day. The announcement of this event was controversial because it was also done in the 2015 CrossFit Games where a number of athletes suffered serious heat injuries. The weighted vests were 20lbs. for men and 14lbs. for the women. The exercises between the runs was broken up into five rounds of 20 pull-ups, 40 push-ups, and 60 air squats. Josh Bridges and Kari Pearce won the event.
Event 6: Squat Clean Pyramid
10 squat cleans at 245 lbs for men and 165 lbs for women
8 squat cleans at 265 lbs for men and 180 lbs for women
6 squat cleans at 285 lbs for men and 195 lbs for women
4 squat cleans at 305 lbs for men and 205 lbs for women
2 squat cleans at 325 lbs for men and 215 lbs for women
Squat cleans are a common movement used in weightlifting with the requirement that the competitor must squat below parallel on the clean. The athletes performed a decreasing number of repetitions at increasing weights. Alex Anderson and Kara Webb won the event.
Event 7: Double DT
10 rounds for time with a 155-pound barbell for the men and a 105-pound barbell for the women:
"DT" is a CrossFit hero workout named for fallen airman USAF SSgt. Timothy P. Davis, and usually performed for five rounds. In the 2015 Games, fans were given a vote for either or Double DT and the heavy version was chosen, so Double DT was programmed for the 2016 Games. Katrín Davíðsdóttir and Samuel Kwant won the event.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Event 8: Climbing Snail
Three rounds for time of:
500 meter berm run
2 rope ascents
40 foot snail push
2 rope ascents – except for the final round.
The event took place inside the soccer stadium and consisted of running across the field and through the rope climbing rig and then up the stairs and behind the jumbotron at the StubHub Center. On the return, the athletes then had to climb up a rope in the middle of the field. The rope was situated so that the bottom of the rope was above the heads of the athletes so that they had to jump up to grab the rope and do the first pulls without using their legs. The final movement was pushing what was called a "snail," a large heavy barrel that had to be rolled for 40 feet. The event was won Samantha Briggs and Brent Fikowski.
Event 9: The Separator
This event was performed in a different order for the Men and Women's competition. ;Men's Event 9
12 ring handstand push-ups
15 back squats at 225 pounds
20 burpees
9 ring handstand push-ups
18 front squats at 205 pounds
20 burpees
6 ring handstand push-ups
21 overhead squats at 185 pounds
20 burpees
;Women's Event 9
15 back squats at 165 pounds
20 burpees
6 ring handstand push-ups
18 front squats at 145 pounds
20 burpees
4 ring handstand push-ups
21 overhead squats at 125 pounds
20 burpees
2 ring handstand push-ups
The handstand push-ups were done with gymnastic rings and it was the second time the movement has featured at the CrossFit Games. It also had strict point penalties for any athletes that could not either finish the first set for the men or one push-up for the women. The event was won by Kari Pearce and Cole Sager.
On the same field that the handstand walk, the athletes ran one-third of the way down and back, two-thirds of the way down and back and then all the way down and back. Tia Toomey and Roy Gamboa won.
The event featured the return appearance of the peg board ascents that premiered one year earlier. Many competitors failed to complete the peg board ascents in the previous year, hence, the name of this event being "Redemption." A thruster in CrossFit is a combination of a front squat and push press in one continuous movement and the weights were 135-pounds for the men and 85-pounds for the women. Zak Carchedi and Alexis Johnson won.
Podium finishers
Individuals and teams
Masters men
Masters women
Teens
Guns controversy
In 2016, CrossFit announced that winners of the 2016 Games would receive Glockhandguns as prizes, which resulted in a backlash from some CrossFit members and other sponsors. The Facebook post announcing the decision attracted more than 4,000 comments, with many members drawing attention to the recent spate of mass shootings in the US. One Facebook user wrote "As a reward for fitness you can potentially shoot people?...After the worst mass shootings in USA, I hardly feel bringing a community together via guns is in the spirit of Crossfit. Shameful." Title sponsorReebok said in a statement: "While we understand CrossFit’s foundations are tied to military and first responders, we do not agree with this decision, particularly in light of current events in the United States." A Change.org petition gathered more than 19,000 signatures against the partnership with Glock. In response to the criticism, director of the games, Dave Castro said, “I am one of millions of people in the U.S. who own guns for recreational and legal purposes. I compete in competitive shooting events, and I have a lot of friends in the shooting industry. Glock offered up pistols as prizes, I agreed to it.” Castro later added, “Unless the state and federal laws regarding gun ownership in California and the U.S. change in the next week, then no, nothing is changing.”
