The inaugural Vitruvian Games were held this past weekend at the Superdome Sports training facility in Waldwick, New Jersey. The one day competition featured three events with four scoring opportunities for elite, RX, intermediate and Masters 40+ divisions. On the men’s side, Colten Mertens made the trek from Iowa to compete.
The three-time individual CrossFit Games veteran was the only Games athlete in the field, but some Cuban food almost prevented that. On Friday night, Mertens went to dinner with Paper Street Coffee‘s CEO/Owner Gabe Maldonado.Â
Mertens’ dinner did not sit well with him and he woke up in the middle of the night with food poisoning. Mertens told Sevan on The Sevan Podcast Sunday morning, “I woke up at 2 o’clock and started puking and pooping.”Â
Despite this, Mertens showed up at the venue Saturday morning ready to compete.
The first workout was a two-part event beginning with a 1,000-meter row for time followed by one minute rest rest into gymnastics/sandbag carry couplet. The gymnastics component featured chest-to-bar pull-ups, bar muscle-ups and pullovers.
Mertens took 3rd in the 1k row with a time of 3:12. It would be his worst finish. Mertens would go on to win Part B and then the next two workouts to take 1st place overall.
Joey Rivelli took 2nd place and Matthew Carl finished in 3rd.
In the elite women’s division, 2023 CrossFit Games Semifinal athlete Samantha Pugh held off Brynn Kurlan in 2nd place and Bailey Meraviglia in 3rd place.
You can view the complete leaderboard here.
