Camille Leblanc-Bazinet has confirmed that she will compete in her first Sanctional. The 2014 CrossFit Games champion will be travelling to Shanghai, China this April to compete in the Asia CrossFit Championship.
With the new Sanctional format this year, top athletes must win one of the 15 CrossFit-Sanctioned competitions or qualify via the Open. (Technically, CrossFit HQ has the right to invite four individuals to compete at the CrossFit Games.) For athletes in countries like the United States, that only leaves one qualifying spot. The rest of the athletes in that country must travel to a Sanctional and win the event.
So far, Mat Fraser has traveled to Dubai to win the Dubai CrossFit Championship while Sean Sweeney made the trek to South Africa to win the Fittest in Cape Town Sanctional. It appears that athletes will be flying around the world more and more to get a shot at qualifying for the Games.
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Historically the Asia region has not been competitive on the world stage. This has led athletes from around the world to give this Sanctional a shot. Alessandra Pichelli, Hayley Murillo, Eik Gylfadottir and Alethea Boon have qualified via the online qualifier. With only several Games veterans confirmed, it will be one of the easier paths to the Games. Of course there is still time for more athletes to be invited.
Leblanc-Bazinet is also competing in the CrossFit Open. However, after 19.1 she is out of contention to earn an invite via the Open. She sits in 952nd worldwide heading into 19.2.
