This year to qualify for the CrossFit Games an athlete must finish inside the top 20 worldwide or be the national champion in his or her country. And while the top 20 (outside of those who are not already national champions) is filled with CrossFit Games veterans, the format change provides a new opportunity for the sport of CrossFit in countries that are just finding CrossFit.
That is where Tanzania and Mozambique come in. Waleed Al Maskari will be the “last one in” to qualify for the CrossFit Games in the men’s division (pending validation and scores being finalized by CrossFit). Al Maskari competed for Tanzania and finished 87,652 in the world, but he is 1st in Tanzania.
Tanzania has only one affiliate, CrossFit Faru. Al Maskari, however, trains out of CrossFit One Peak in Abu Dhabi. He did not have any competition as Al Maskari was the only male athlete from Tanzania to register for the Open.
Could you have qualified for the CrossFit Games from Tanzania?
Let’s take a look at Tanzania for the men. Here is how Al Maskari did on each of the Open workouts:
- 19.1: 209 reps (just over 5 rounds)
- 19.2: 133 reps (1 round + some double-unders)
- 19.3: 95 reps (5 strict HSPU)
- 19.4: 85 reps (almost finished round 4…3 burpees shy)
- 19.5: 112 reps (did not finish round of 27)
How did your scores stack up against Al Maskari?
On the women’s side, Zaida Amade competed from Mozambique, a country with two affiliates. Like Al Maskari, Amade trains in a different country. In Amade’s case, she trains out of Super Set CrossFit in Luanda. Amada, 41, did have some competition, beating out five other women (although Amada was the only athlete to complete all five workouts Rx).
She will be the last one in for the women. Amade will be Mozambique’s national champion and is 66,445th in the world.
While Al Maskari and Amade are not the lowest ranking national champions, they are the lowest ranking champions to meet the criteria for qualify for the CrossFit Games – completing every workout and doing each workout RX. The men’s national champion of Mali and the women’s champions of Tonga, Djibouti and Tajikistan did not meet this criteria.
Could you have qualified for the CrossFit Games from Mozambique?
Let’s take a look at Mozambique for the women. Here is how Amade did on each of the Open workouts:
- 19.1: 2173 reps (just over 4 rounds)
- 19.2: 22 reps (22 toes-to-bar)
- 19.3: 73 reps (33 box step-ups)
- 19.4: 66 reps (no bar muscle-ups)
- 19.5: 36 reps (33 thrusters and 3 CTB pull-ups)
Amade was unable to finish the 25 toes-to-bar in eight minutes and could only get three chest-to-bar pull-ups on 19.5, but she has qualified for the 2019 CrossFit Games under the new format.
Obviously CrossFit is much newer in Tanzania and Mozambique than the United States and much of the world. The new qualification system was created to help spread CrossFit to the rest of the world, but it also lends itself to athletes ranked way down the leaderboard to qualify for the CrossFit Games and compete against the likes of Mat Fraser and Tia-Clair Toomey.
These athletes, along with plenty of others who have been crowned national champions, will have the opportunity to travel to Madison, Wisconsin, this August. It will be interesting to see how many of these athletes make the journey to the United States to compete.
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