CrossFit Games in California: Women And Men’s Division Champions Back This Year To Defend Titles

CrossFit Games have been around for less than a decade and are held to find the most physically fit in the World.  Perhaps the most exciting part about the Games is the thrill of the unknown, athletes training for events they don’t know they will be competing in up until right before they begin.  For spectators it’s like buying a plane ticket and now knowing what the destination is, exciting!

The Games take place at StubHub Center in Carson, California, July 19 – 24.

How they qualified for the Games:

1. Qualifiers are open to anyone and consists of five workouts over the course of five weeks that are submitted online and  then ranked taking into account age, gender, and region.

2.  Regionals are the fittest of the open qualifiers and CrossFit has broken this down into 17 regions around the world.  Ten regions in the U.S., two in Canada, one for each of Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and Latin America.  Only 20 women, 20 men, and 15 teams advance from the U.S., 30 men, 30 women, and 20 teams from Europe and Australia and 10 men, 10 women, and 10 teams from Latin America, Asia, and Africa.  At Regionals athletes compete over three consecutive weekends to determine who will go to the Games.

Last year there were unexpected events in the Games such as open-ocean paddleboard racing and pegboard climbing.  

Last year was the first year CrossFit Games included a teenage age group for 14 – 17-year-olds.  

Last year’s CrossFit Games Men’s champion was Ben Smith from Virginia who will be back to defend his title this year.  This will be his eighth Games at the tender age of 25.  Smith had top 10 finishes in 11 of the 13 events at the Games last year.  Safe to say he’s got some pretty decent genes.

For the men’s side Rich Froning Jr., Josh Bridges, Mat Fraser and Dan Bailey amongst many other top names will be back in 2016.  Fraser is a back-to-back second place finisher overall, and he is probably getting tired of second place and will be hungry for a first place finish this year.

The defending women’s champion was Katrin Davidsdottir from Iceland will be back for the Games this year.  She will be joined by Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, Annie Thorisdottir, Kara Webb, and Emily Bridgers to name a few.  

Director of the Games Dave Castro has announced the first event for the Games in 2016 is Murph.  Murph commemorates the fallen Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005.  Murphy used to workout wearing his body armor and Murph has been adapted in which athletes wear a 20-pound weighted vest while performing these exercises for time in this order: one mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, one mile run, but for the Games in 2016 competitors will be wearing the vest and that is all they know.

A picture Castro posted on Instagram showing competitors what’s in store is below.

Last year Samantha Briggs, a native of England, won the Murph event in the women’s division and qualified in Europe for the 2016 Games.

Twelve of the top thirteen finishers in Murph last year will be returning to the Games this year in the women’s division.  Pat Sherwood and Tommy Marquez from The CrossFit Games Update Show  say Australian Kara Webb has what it takes to win this event.  Last year during Murph, Annie Thorisdottir had to withdraw from the event due to heat exhaustion, and Kara Webb needed medical attention.

The Games is like a Herculean Cirque Du Soleil, where every year the competitors try to get faster, and lift heavier in hopes to be the most fit individual, but most will leave a little richer than when they came.  Each individual 18 – 39 years of age and team that qualifies for the Games gets anywhere between $1,000 – $5,000.  Top prize for both the men and women’s divisions at the Games is $275,000.  Only the top three masters competitors ages 40 and up will receive prize money.