The format was completely different, but the results were the same — with a few surprises.
Individuals
Mat Fraser left North Park at the Alliance Energy Center garbed in an all too familiar white leader jersey. The three-time champion swept the first two events, earning 200 points heading into Day 2 of competition.
Fraser’s training partner and reigning back-to-back champion, Tia Clair Toomey, is sitting in third after Day 1. Toomey’s lowest placing in an event last year was 14th in the excruciating Marathon Row.
In event 1, Toomey lapped multiple athletes in First Cut, taking first place in the event. She slipped up in Second Cut, but finished 12th overall.
American Kari Pearce is in first place with a second and third place finish, accumulating 194 of the possible 200 points. Sitting in second behind Pearce is two-time champion Annie Thorisdottir.
The Queen of CrossFit in Iceland surprised us all last year when she took fifth overall when it seemed that the 29-year-old was on the back end of her CrossFit career. It seems she is still proving us all wrong with a sixth and fifth place finish.
Thanks to the fans and a couple hashtags (#Ben11 & #EleBen), 11-time Games veteran and the 2015 Games champion, Ben Smith, is fourth overall. Smith underwent knee surgery in January, failed to qualify for the Games through a Sanctional or Open, but thanks to the fans he’s here and surprising everyone in the field.
Teams
Similar to Fraser, the man he’s chasing for individual titles, Rich Froning, and CrossFit Mayhem Freedom swept the first two events, then took second in the clean and jerk event.
CrossFit Krypton, which consists of Games veterans Cody Mooney, Alec Smith, Jessica Griffith, and 2014 Games champion Camille Leblanc-Bazinet sits in second, 63 points behind Mayhem Freedom.
Day 2 begins at 10 a.m. CDT with Event 4 for the teams.
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