Ben Smith received a wildcard invite to compete at the 2019 CrossFit Games just a week before the start of the competition. Smith, who underwent knee surgery this past January, failed to earn a bid to the Games via the Open or through Sanctionals. But once Smith received his wildcard invite, he made the best of it finishing in 28th overall.
Now a week removed from competition, Smith has shared his opinion on the cuts at this year’s Games. “I like the idea of cuts, they did it in my first games in 2009. It makes things exciting and also puts some pressure on each event as an athlete (which I don’t mind),” said Smith in his Instagram post.
Smith, however, thought the cuts went a little too deep and should have stopped at the top 20. He commented, “They could have cut to 10 after sat night going into Sunday. Or i’m fine with just leaving it at 20 or 30 and see what happens. There are a lot of really fit people out there now…”
Smith also said he thought the monostructural events should have been tested after all of the cuts had been made. Out of the first six events (where there were cuts), two could have been considered monostructural – Ruck and Sprint Course.
Not all athletes would agree with Smith’s monostructural comment. Heppner shared his thoughts yesterday and felt that the programming this year reflected the CrossFit Pyramid.
Later, Smith shared his thoughts on the new National Champion format, hoping that it leads to a much more competitive international competition. “I also HOPE 5 years from now you will see good competition coming from all over the world. The bigger field and more representation seems like a long term move (or a business move possibly?) but my hope is that it only grows the sport in the long run!”
Smith concludes his caption by saying he is looking forward to next season, “I left this games with many positives and am going to be rolling into next year with some strong momentum!”
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