Just two weeks removed from the CrossFit Games, Uldis Upenieks returned to the competition floor at the 2022 European Championships. The three-day competition in Nottingham, England, featured athletes from all across Europe competing in 17 different categories from Teens to 50+ Masters, RX male/female and Teams.
On top of the RX leaderboard at the end of the weekend was three-time CrossFit Games veteran Upenieks (Latvia) and two-time Semifinal athlete Aimee Cringle (UK). Both walked away with £6,000.
Upenieks showed consistency throughout the weekend against a field with only one other CrossFit Games veteran, Bronislow Olenkowicz. While Upenieks failed to record an event victory, he finished with four top 3 events and was never worse than 9th in an event. That consistency paid off as he bested 2nd place finisher Tom Watson by 19 points.
On the women’s side, up and coming Cringle started off the weekend strong with a event win. From there she never looked back. Cringle had two more top 3 finishes and, like Upenieks, never finished an event outside the top 10. Cringle finished with 35 points, ten ahead of 2nd place finisher, Jennifer Muir.
Cringle appears to be one to watch heading into the 2023 CrossFit Games season. She has competed in the Open since 2018, but over the past two years she has been showing significant improvement. Cringle has now won two consecutive European Championships and made it to the CrossFit Semifinals as an individual this past season where she finished 12th at the CrossFit Strength in Depth. At just 24 years old, she might just be one of the rookies hit the Coliseum floor in Madison next year.
Full leaderboard can be found here.
