Maddie Sturt and Peter Ellis came into Saturday at the Down Under Championship. After three more events in Wollongong, both Sturt and Ellis extended their lead over the rest of the field.
Sturt, who won the first two events on Friday, started off slow on Saturday when she took 11th place in Event 3, Full Send. But she would quickly bounce back with a 2nd and 4th place finish to close out the day.Â
While Sturt remained at the top of the leaderboard, there was quite a bit of movement behind her. Grace Walton, Anikha Greer and Daisy McDonald each had an event finish outside the top 10 Saturday, making for an up-and-down day. Taylor Williamson, however, showed more consistency on Day 2 by taking home an event win and never finishing worse than 6th.
With one day remaining and 200 points up for grabs, Sturt holds a strong, but not insurmountable 33-point lead over Walton in 2nd place. From there, there are four other women within 25 points of Walton.
Standings after Saturday:
1. Maddie Sturt – 445
2. Grace Walton – 412
3. Anikha Greer – 405
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4. Daisy McDonald – 404
5. Taylor Williamson – 400
6. Marnie Sykes – 387
In the men’s competition, Peter Ellis continued his assault at the top of the leaderboard. An event win and two more 3rd place finishes on Saturday extended his lead to 66 points over Jonathan Dunlop in 2nd place. Zach Thomas moved up into 3rd followed by Zane Shellabear-Healey in 4th.
Standings after Saturday:
1. Peter Ellis – 470
2. Jonathan Dunlop – 404
3. Zac Thomas – 402
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4. Zane Shellabear-Healey – 394
5. Luke de Jonge – 370
Switching over to teams, Ombre Hombres slipped down to 3rd place after some confusion on Event 5, Crikey. Chandler Smith received a no-rep during the 2-rep Squat Clean after clarking his second clean attempt. The rules stated that two consecutive successful lifts were required for the 2-rep lift to count so Smith’s second attempt nullified his first successful lift. After his missed second attempt, Smith successfully lifted his next squat clean, but he was unable to get the next thereby giving him a score of 0 for that portion of the event. Ombre Hombres took 18th on the event.
That same event saw fireworks between CrossFit Games veteran Royce Dunne and 19-year-old Johan Roberts. In the closing seconds, Dunne squat cleaned 180kg (396 pounds). Roberts, not to be outdone, loaded the bar with 182.5kg (401 pounds) and stood it up.
Standings after Saturday:
1. Team Frog Grips – 480
2. A Coupla Dawgs – 465
3. Ombre Hombres – 436
And in the women’s elite team division, Dani Speegle’s California Gurls team is all locked up in a tie with Nextelica Gold. While California Gurls have won three of the first five events, a 5th place in Event 4 opened the door for Christee Hollard, Briony Challis and Amy Alessi to stay deadlocked with the girls from Invictus heading into Sunday.
Standings after Saturday:
1. California Girls – 475
2. Nexletica Gold – 475
3. Starr Strength Fitness Alley – 443
