Team USA Wins Inaugural CrossFit Invitational

Team USA has won the first ever CrossFit Invitational, beating Team Europe 20-6 over the weekend.

In front of a packed crowd at the ExCeL Center in London, Team USA, made up of Rich Froning, Jason Khalipa, Kristan Clever, Matt Chan, Julie Foucher and Rebecca Voigt, showed their CrossFit class to claim a runaway victory.

Things didn’t go to plane for Team Europe from the start, with Frederick Aegidius forced to pull out of the event at the last minute due to injury. Tuomas Vainio from Finland was his replacement.

Coached by Annie Thorisdottir’s personal coach, Jami Tikkanen, Team Europe consisted of: Thorisdottir, Vaino, Numi Katrinarson, Samantha Briggs, Mikko Aronpaa and Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir.

Unlike the CrossFit Games where athletes had to expect the unknown and unknowable, both teams actually got to choose the workouts for the CrossFit Invitational.

Here are the final workout results:

Stage 1:

Event 1: 12-9-6 Thrusters and box jumps

• Thruster weights: 95/115/135 pounds for Women, 135/155/185 pounds for men
• Box jump heights: 20 inches for women, 24 inches for men
• Team USA: Voigt/Khalipa
• Team Europe: Thorisdottir/Vainio

Winner: Team USA: Voigt/Khalipa

Event 2: 9-7-5 Muscle-ups and squat snatch

• Squat snatch weights: 43 kilograms (95 pounds) for women, 61 kilograms (135 pounds) for men
• Team USA: Foucher/Froning
• Team Europe: Briggs/Katrinarson

Winner: Team Europe (Briggs/Katrinarson)

Stage 2: Women

Event 1: Three minutes to establish max snatch

• Team USA: Clever – 160 pounds
• Team Europe: Davidsdottir – 175 pounds

Winner: Team Europe

Event 2: Three minutes to establish max clean and jerk

• Team USA: Voigt – 200 pounds
• Team Europe: Thorisdottir – 205 pounds

Winner: Team Europe

Event 3: Women’s team event for total repetitions with one member working at a time

• 75 Handstand push-ups
• 50 Bar muscle-ups
• 50 Front squats (70 kilograms/155 pounds)
• 75 Kettlebell swings (32 kilograms/70 pounds)

Winner: Team USA

Stage 3: Men

Event 1: Three minutes to establish max snatch

• Team USA: Froning – 285 pounds
• Team Europe: Vainio – 235 pounds

Winner: Team USA

Event 2: Three minutes to establish max clean and jerk

• Team USA: Chan – 335 pounds
• Team Europe: Aronpaa – 290 pounds

Winner: Team USA

Event 3: Men’s team event where each team member completes one round of each movement with one member working at a time, adding a shuttle run before the next teammate begins his set.

• 15 Front squats (185 pounds)
• 15 Hang power cleans (185 pounds)
• 15 Push presses (185 pounds)

Winner: Team USA

Stage 4: (Team chipper)

• 120 Pull-ups (20 per athlete as a relay)
• 120 Synchronized overhead squats (20 per athlete)
• 240 Double unders (40 per athlete as a relay)
• 120 Synchronized deadlifts (20 per athlete)
• 120 Box jumps (20 per athlete as a relay)

Winner: Team USA

Overall Scores:

Team USA – 20

Team Europe – 6