TYR Wodapalooza moved to Miami Beach for the first time in its 13-year history. A new venue can reinvigorate the programming, provide much needed space to accommodate growing crowds, but it also brings the challenges of a new set up.
Day 1 at the 2025 TYR Wodapalooza brought all that and more.
WITHDRAWALS
It all began last night when Bethany Flores announced she stayed home and would not be competing in Miami. We then woke up to news that confirmed the rumors that Jeff Adler would also be sitting out the individual competition (although he was on location).
More Games-level athletes would follow suit. Seher Kaya and Travis Mayer, while both in Miami, would not step onto the competition floor Thursday morning.
But outside of Flores’ video last night, none of the athletes who decided to not compete have shared why they aren’t competing.
Then there is Alex Caron and Andra Moistus who both withdrew after competing this morning. Caron told me that he had been dealing with a back injury since December and felt a ‘pop’ while warming up the dumbbell snatches ahead of Event 3. He was debating whether to actually compete ahead of Thursday so when he felt that he pulled out for the remainder of the competition.
To get these updates, make sure you follow me on Instagram.
THE SAND BOX
Just like we saw at TYR WZA SoCal this past September, the organizers brought the sand floor to Miami Beach. The first two events today were in the Reign Sandbox.
With no swimming this year, athletes instead headed out for a run on the beach for the first event. Then, the second event included heavy sled drags on the sand.
Watching the live stream it did appear that some of the lanes were more challenging than others. Sleds would get buried in some lanes while others seemed to glide smoothly across.
Watching Kyra Milligan try to pull the sled up and over undulations in the sand looked nearly impossible. Interestingly, Kyra was in Lane 4. Alex Caron was also in Lane 4 and Alex Kotoulas was in Lane 3. Both also struggled.
Now compared Kyra’s image above to the right side of the image below. That guy was moving with ease over sand that appeared much more flat that Kyra’s lane.
It appeared that there were people with rakes attempting to flatten the sand where there were large peaks and valleys in some of the lanes. However, I’ve been told that they did not fix every lane before the heats.
While that’s not enough evidence to prove the lanes materially impacted the results, it’s definitely not the first time a sled pull (or push) was affected by the surface.
JAMES SPRAGUE
James Sprague might have put on the most impressive performance of the day. Sprague came out and did what many expected to see on Event 1. Air bike, running and box step-ups were the perfect recipe for a great start.
He followed that up with a second place performance on Event 2. Maybe it was just his lane (just kidding), but he used his height to his advantage to pull the sled and paced the interval-style workout perfectly.
He originally took 3rd place on the event, but he appealed his time citing that he finished ahead of Aniol Ekai. Officials reviewed the footage and agreed with Sprague. He moved to 2nd in the event and broke the tie with Pat Vellner for 1st overall.
But what was most impressive was Sprague’s performance on Event 3. Filled with handstand walking and wall-facing HSPU, on paper it wasn’t a great workout for Sprague.
Sprague would prove everyone wrong and took advantage of the six legless rope climbs in the middle of the down-and-back chipper to take 2nd once again in the event.
Sprague now heads into Friday with a 27-point lead over Pat Vellner in 2nd place. He will also have to hold off hard-charging Austin Hatfield who won Event 3 and looks to be one of the favorites for all three events on Friday. Austin sits 69 points behind Sprague.
WOMEN’S RACE
Heading into Event 3 it looked like Laura Horvath might run away with the title. But once again, handstand push-ups were Laura’s Kryptonite.
Horvath struggled on wall-facing HSPU’s and would get time capped in 19th place.
Lucy Campbell and Alexis Raptis took advantage of Horvath’s misfortune. Raptis won the event and moved up to 3rd overall. She’s behind Lucy Campbell and Emma Tall in 1st and 2nd, respectively.
Horvath will need to start off strong on Friday with the strength-based “Worth the Weight” event featuring a Clean + Hang Clean to put pressure on those ahead of her.
Both the men’s and women’s races for the podium are heating up. I fully expect to see some pretty large shifts from event to event today. It should be interesting.
Link to leaderboards on Competition.
Watch Friday’s live stream: