Coming into the 2014 CrossFit Games Day 2, reigning champion Rich Froning sat on top of the leaderboard for the men, and Australian Kara Webb was in the lead for the women.
By the end of the second day, one of the two was still out in front, while the other had dropped out of the top spot.
Here’s how Day 2 unfolded at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Triple 3
Event 3, the Triple 3, of the 2014 CrossFit Games tested the cardiovascular endurance of the athletes with a three-mile row, 300 double unders and a 3-mile run in the hot Californian sun.
While overall female leader, Webb, was first off the rower and fourth off the rope, her pace slowed on the run and she finished 21st.
Kristin Holte won the event with the winner of ‘The Beach’ Anna Tunnicliffe close behind in second.
As expected, Jason Khalipa was off the rower first for the men with Froning not far behind, but Australian Rob Forte took the lead on the double-unders and never looked back.
He went on to win the event by more than 15 seconds over Jordan Troyan who also, strangely enough, won ‘The Beach’ on Wednesday.
This was the first ever event victory for Forte in four CrossFit Games appearances.
Like Webb, Froning struggled on the run, walking at times, and was overtaken by the top finishing women and finished 37th – his worst ever placing in an Event at the CrossFit Games.
Sprint Sled
The Sprint Sled event tested the athletes’ brute strength, power and sheer force of will in a test of fitness that required little skill.
The athletes were simply required to push the sled from one point to another, but the weight and a lack of gas in the tank made it surprisingly difficult.
The men’s Sprint Sled saw the expected suspects post the fastest times.
In Heat 2 Neil Maddox, one of the strongest men in the field, smashed the competition to take first overall in both sprints with Jason Khalipa and Tommy Hackenbruck sharing the honours for second and third overall in Heat 3.
Khalipa took the first sprint by a long way, but Hackenbruck took the second sprint by a yard.
In Heat 1 of the women, Emily Abbott set the time to beat in the second sprint.
In Heat 2, Lauren Brooks claimed the fastest time for sprint one for the women, but was unable to beat the times set by Abbott.
While she wouldn’t win either of the overall event, once the final heat came out all eyes were on Australian Kara Webb and her outstanding hat.
Webb finished fourth in the first sprint and third in the second, but still clearly dominated Heat 3 with no athlete able to hit the paint close to her.
Lauren Fisher struggled for the first time in the competition with the sled and was the one of just three female athletes not to finish the second sprint.
21-15-9 Complex
21-15-9 Complex was fast and furious.
For the second time in the 2014 CrossFit Games, Rich Froning finished an event in first place.
There was a lot of talk in the crowd that the Complex would be Josh Bridges’ event, but the pocket-rocket was unable to beat the time set by Froning in Heat 3.
After a poor start to the day from the champ his victory has served to squash any rumours about injury or illness.
The final heat was a showdown between David and Goliath with Bridges and Khalipa going rep for rep until the dying stages.
With just the two bar muscle-ups to go, Bridges was able to get back on the bar quicker and claim a three second victory with Khalipa coming third overall.
There were no surprises in the women’s heats.
In Heat 3, all eyes were on a rep-for-rep battle between Annie Thorisdottir and Cassidy Lance, but it was neither competitor that won the heat.
2013 third fittest woman in the world Valerie Voberil snuck under the radar and snatched victory from Thorisdottir by two tenths of a second.
In the final heat gymnastics queen Camille Leblanc-Bazinet put on an impressive show on the rig to go unbroken on her sets of pull-ups, chest-to-bar pull-ups and bar muscle-ups.
Leblanc-Bazinet sent the crowd wild with each impeccable transition from chest-to-bar pull-ups to bar muscle-ups.
Current overall leader Kara Webb placed fifth.
Men:
1. (307) Jason Khalipa
2. (356) Noah Ohlsen
3. (352) Josh Bridges
4. (343) Rich Froning
5. (343) Tommy Hackenbruck
Women:
1. (405) Kara Webb
2. (398) Camille Leblanc-Bazinet
3. (339) Julie Foucher
4. (335) Anna Tunnicliffe
5. (325) Cassidy Lance
Teams
6-Mile Relay Run
The teams started Day 2 of competition with a 6-mile relay run.
The athletes demonstrated their elite fitness level with all six athletes in the top five teams to finish hitting six-and-a-half minute miles from start to finish.
CrossFit The Club claimed victory by half a minute with CrossFit Fort Vancouver in second and CrossFit Green Bay in third.
Frantasy Land & Big Bob 100
Just four teams were able to complete Event 3, Frantasy Land.
The event tested all modes of fitness with the standard nasty girl up first before heavier weight and lower rep more gymnastically challenging variations followed.
In their second victory of the day, CrossFit The Club won Frantasy Land by more than a minute over second placed Brick Nation.
CrossFit King of Island Park placed third and CrossFit Active rounded out the four finishers.
Big Bob, the giant sled, became the arch-nemesis of the teams for the remainder of the afternoon.
Just one minute after the athletes had struggled through Frantasy Land, they found themselves bent over the metal monster, tasked with pushing it 100-yards within a three-minute cap.
CrossFit Tegen was the only team able to complete the task, crossing the finish line with only three seconds to spare.
Deadlift & Big Bob 200
The Deadlift 1-rep-maxes wowed the crowd with all athletes pulling massive lifts, but it was Ayo Anise from CrossFit Invictus that sent them wild.
In the dying stages of the event she lifted an impressive 445 lb to lift the Invictus women to second, 40 lbs behind CrossFit Conjugate.
In the men, CrossFit Conjugate lifted a total of 1755 lbs to take the event, with CrossFit CDR Redlands in second and Backcountry CrossFit in third.
After smoking their lower backs and glutes, the athletes returned to Big Bob for a 200-yard sled push and CrossFit Tegen dominated again.
The team won the event in a time of 5.13, almost 30 seconds in front of second placed CrossFit Atlanta.
CrossFit Athletic chased down NorCal CrossFit with 20-yards to go to take third.
At the end of the second day of competition just nine points separates the top five teams and the standings are as follows:
1. (434) CrossFit Invictus
2. (430) CrossFit Syndicate
3. (428) NorCal CrossFit
4. (427) CrossFit Tegen
5. (425) CrossFit Athletic
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