Many people saw the lunges in the final workout when the Semifinals workouts were ‘released early’ and thought “classic finale, how bad do you want it? Lunge to your ticket.” Even the most romantic of us surely didn’t expect such a topsy turvy leaderboard shake up on Sunday afternoon in Lyon.
A lot of people also saw the stacked field in Europe, filled with perennial Games athletes and wondered how a rookie would break through. They duly delivered with seven of the 20 spots going to newbies.
The day started with Jelle Hoste in first place on the men’s side and Gabi Migala on the women’s. Jonne Koski and BKG were nowhere to be seen inside the top 10 and Elisa Fuliano wasn’t inside the qualification line either. After strong starts to the weekend Harry Lightfoot and Aniol Ekai found themselves in contention for their first ticket along with home favorite Claudia Gluck.
The snatch ladder caused a major shake up. First, Lucy McGonigle, just 17 years old, beat Kara Saunder’s (it was Kara Webb at the time) old record to vault herself up into the 20s. Then, Elisa Fuliano came out and stomped all over the old and new records and set a new time to beat, propelling herself into the top 10 before the final. Emma McQuaid and Jaqueline Dahlstrom were tied in 9th and 10th and there was a pack of hungry wolves sniffing at their heels heading into the final.
The men followed and also delivered another statistician’s dream with records broken early doors by Kevin Jurs and Bronislaw Olenkowicz. Moritz Fiebig and Calum Clements finished 3rd and 5th with Aniol Ekai between them and BKG continued his resurgence finishing 6th. Victor Hoffer pushed his way inside the top 10 overall with a 10th place finish on the ladder and it was anyone’s guess who the final top 10 would be heading into the final.
Moritz Fiebig surely thought his dreams were within reach when Victor Hoffer was sent back on a segment of the lunge as they both entered the last section. Fiebig had blitzed the bike and rings, ignoring the excellent commentator Lucy Campbell’s advice not to go full send. “Yep, they’re sending it” she chuckled as the men cranked up the rpm on go.
As close as his dream finish felt, reminiscent of his 2022 lunge to glory in The Netherlands in his rookie season, Fiebig must have felt he had entered a nightmare when his right dumbbell slipped from his hand on his final lunge and he too was sent back.
Everything was to play for on both sides in the final heat. For the women, McQuaid and Dahlstrom did what they needed to do along with those ahead of them to secure their places in Fort Worth. Calum Clements won the workout overall and set up a tense wait as the calculations were done after the final.
In the end Colin Bosshard missed out again, a nightmarish final length of lunge of his own knocked him out of contention. Victor, Calum and BK had done enough to make it in. Uldis Upeniks looked crushed as Moritz Fiebig’s name rang out over the tannoy in Lyon, missing out by one solitary point.
Lazar Djukic, Jelle Hoste and Henrik Haapalainin stood on the podium for the men with Laura Horvath, Gabi Migala and Emma Tall (who had a fantastic weekend) took the female medals.
Final Standings (Europe)
The top 10 men and 10 women all qualified for the 2024 CrossFit Games.
Men
1. Lazar Djukic (516)
2. Jelle Hoste (504)
3. Henrik Haapalainen (477)
4. Aniol Ekai (441)
5. Luka Djukic (407)
6. Victor Hoffer (397)
7. Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson (384)
8. Harry Lightfoot (379)
9. Calum Clements (378)
10. Moritz Fiebig
***
11. Uldis Upenieks (367)
12. Luka Vunjak (364)
Women
1. Laura Horvath (570)
2. Gabi Migala (540)
3. Emma Tall (522)
4. Karin Freyova (504)
5. Aimee Cringle (495)
6. Claudia Gluck (447)
7. Linda Keesman (444)
8. Elisa Fuliano (438)
9. Emma McQuaid (405)
10. Jacqueline Dahlstrøm (396)
***
11. Emelie Lundberg (355)
12. Jennifer Muir (327)
And in Asia, the top 2 men and top 3 women advanced to the CrossFit Games.
Final Standings (Asia)
Men
1. Ivan Kukartsev (549)
2. Arthur Semenov (513)
***
3. Ilyas Kuliev (510)
4. Anatolii Borisenko (462)
Women
1. Seher Kaya (579)
2. Seungyeon Choi (567)
3. Dawon Jung (516)
***
4. Anna Ivanova (495)
5. Anastasiya Dodonova (489)
