“I’m the underdog, and I’m right here to reclaim my crown.”
These have been the phrases of seven-time CrossFit Games champion Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr on Friday on the 2024 Rogue Invitational in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Although it’s not possible (nearly laughable) to think about Toomey-Orr — the simple G.O.A.T. — an “underdog,” Hungary’s Laura Horvath is the reigning Rogue Invitational champion, in any case.
Remind me: Final 12 months, Horvath beat the six-month postpartum Toomey-Orr and have become the primary athlete to high the Australian legend for the reason that 2016 CrossFit Video games.
But when Day 1 in Aberdeen is any indication, Horvath, who at present sits in third behind Gabi Migala, has an uphill battle to climb to repeat as champion this 12 months.
- Toomey-Orr went three for 3 in occasion wins on Friday, the primary time an athlete has completed this on the Rogue Invitational.
With an ideal 300 factors, she leads Migala by 25 factors, whereas Horvath rounds out the highest three with 210 factors.
As for the boys, the weekend continues to be younger. With six occasions to go, it’s the 2023 CrossFit Video games champion, Jeff Adler, who leads the way in which by 50 factors over Ricky Garard.
After that, it’s an in depth race for the rostrum, with Dallin Pepper and Jayson Hopper each 5 factors behind Garard in third and fourth, respectively. Chandler Smith, because of quiet however constant performances, is 10 factors behind them.
Right here’s a full recap of the motion from the primary day.
Occasion 1: Fast Sand
The day began with an extended 10-round exercise of a sandbag carry and a 400-meter run (with a ruck on the athlete’s again throughout the first 5 rounds).
Fast Sand
10 rounds for time:
- Sandbag carry
- 400-meter run
The Males
The boys’s facet was all about two males who’ve lengthy confirmed themselves to be nice runners: Adler and Garard.
By the third spherical, the pair had already separated themselves from the pack, and so they solely continued to elongate their lead from there.
Their back-and-forth battle continued via to the ultimate spherical, the place it got here right down to a photograph end within the ultimate dash, with Garard edging Adler out by two-tenths of a second.
- “I wished to have a dash end and I used to be ready for it…give the gang one thing to cheer for,” Garard mentioned after his win.
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Hopper additionally put in a robust efficiency, ok for third, though he was greater than a minute slower than both Garard or Adler.
James Sprague, the reigning Fittest Man on Earth, who simply recovered from pneumonia in time to compete, was ok for fourth. Brent Fikowski, competing for the final time before retirement, completed fifth.
The Girls
Haley Adams set a time to beat at 21:37 within the first warmth, the one athlete in that warmth to go sub-22 minutes. Her time wouldn’t maintain, although, as Toomey-Orr did what at all times does in Occasion 2…dominate.
- That being mentioned, this 12 months’s CrossFit Video games silver medalist, Migala, hung tight with Toomey-Orr throughout the first 4 rounds. However as quickly as Toomey-Orr dropped her ruck, she pulled away from Migala and snagged her first occasion win of the competitors.
Emily Rolfe, the 2024 Third Fittest Girl, put stress on Migala your entire race however wasn’t in a position to do sufficient to go her. Rolfe completed third, whereas the 2023 CrossFit Video games champion Horvath completed fourth. Adams’ time from Warmth 1 rounded out the highest 5.
Occasion 2: North Sea Tiger
Friday’s second occasion was all about ring-muscle-ups and heavy snatches, however it required a 32/26 calorie Echo Bike buy-in and completed with a shuttle dash.
North Sea Tiger
For time:
- 32/26 energy Echo Bike
- 16 ring muscle ups
- 8 squat snatch, 225/160-pounds
- 6 shuttle sprints
The Males
Gui Malheiros set the time to beat in Warmth 1 (4:44), the one man to interrupt 5 minutes.
In Warmth 2, Pepper took the early lead after the Echo Bike. It was a lead he hung onto throughout the 16 muscle-ups, with Garard shut on his heels.
- Pepper was in a position to pull nicely forward of Garard (and the remainder of the sphere) throughout the six squat snatches. He cruised via the shuttle sprints and went on for an occasion win, six seconds forward of Malheiros’ Warmth 1 time.
Fikowski completed third, 15 seconds behind Malheiros, whereas Garard, who struggled on the squat snatches, dropped to sixth. In the meantime, Hopper put up one other stable efficiency, ok for fourth.
The Girls
Occasion two was a good battle between Toomey-Orr, Migala, and Horvath, however it was, as soon as once more, Toomey-Orr with the sting, ending the 16 muscle-ups simply earlier than Migala.
Then it was Horvath’s time to shine. She began to shut the hole on Toomey-Orr throughout the squat snatches till she was hit with a no-rep, permitting Toomey-Orr to rebuild a cushion.
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Horvath, although, caught Migala, and the 2 hit the shuttle runs on the similar time. It was finally Migala who was in a position to win the foot race, besting Horvath by three seconds.
Occasion 3: Braveheart
The ultimate occasion of the day was a descending ladder of wall walks/strict wall-facing handstand push-up complexes, coupled with heavy again squats.
Braveheart
For time, 8-6-4-2 reps of:
- Wall stroll complicated
- Again squat, 375/260-pounds
The Males
Heading into the occasion, there was a three-way factors tie on the high of the leaderboard: Garard, Adler, and Hopper all had 175 factors, with Fikowski simply 5 factors behind them.
This time, it was Adler, recognized for his energy, who took the early lead, adopted by the two-time Video games champion Justin Medeiros.
In the long run, Medeiros was no match for Adler, who went on for a simple occasion win, 37 seconds forward of the time to beat set by Malheiros in Warmth 1.
The opposite three athletes who went into the occasion within the high 4 — Hopper, Garard, and Fikowski — all shortly fell off the tempo set by the leaders. They completed twelfth, eleventh, and 18th, respectively.
Value Noting: The reigning males’s champion Pat Vellner, anticipated to contend for a podium place, went into the occasion in ninth total. He completed seventh on Occasion 3, which means he heads into Saturday in sixth total, 30 factors away from the rostrum.
The Girls
Two massive questions going into the third occasion of the day have been: How will Horvath deal with the wall-facing handstand push-ups, and would Toomey-Orr go three-for-three on Day 1?
The reply: Horvath struggled on the handstand push-ups from the beginning, whereas Toomey-Oor continued her dominance.
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Toomey-Orr was already again, beginning her second set of wall walks and handstand push-ups earlier than Horvath had even completed her first set of eight.
- She lengthened her lead on the sphere because the occasion wore on, wrapping up her third consecutive occasion win to complete Friday.
Migala continued her sturdy efficiency, choosing up a fourth-place end and solidifying herself in second total. Brooke Wells and Dani Speegle (Warmth 1) completed forward of her with the second and third quickest instances.
Horvath completed 14th, sufficient to maintain her within the high three on the general leaderboard with two days of competitors remaining.
Value Noting: Like Smith on the boys’s facet, Wells quietly sits in fourth total after racking up a sixth-, 14th-, and second-place end on Friday. She is simply 5 factors behind Horvath.
The Massive Image
With two-thirds of the occasions left to go in Scotland, loads of shuffling continues to be seemingly. That being mentioned, traditionally, when Toomey-Orr takes the lead, she stays there. It’s arduous to think about she gained’t “reclaim the crown” once more this weekend.
The boys’s story is far much less predictable. Whereas Adler has a 50-point lead over Garard, solely 35 factors separate Garard in second and Vellner in sixth. And if Vellner does what he usually does (come from behind), the boys’s story is way from over.
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Featured picture: Seb Vallejo, @vallejo_media_ / Instagram