James Newbury and Maddie Sturt are the third pair of athletes to qualify out of a CrossFit Sanctional this season. The Australian CrossFit Championship, the third Sanctional of the 2019 Games season, sent two CrossFit Games veterans from Australia.
James Newbury held a comfortable lead over a field consisting of several fellow Games veterans and many more Regional athletes. Newbury finished with four event victories on his way to a 59-point win over Bayden Brown. Zeke Grove finished in 3rd place. For his efforts, Newbury earned $7,000 for 1st place and a ticket to compete at the 2019 CrossFit Games.
On the women’s side, Sam Briggs flew to Australia to compete after already qualifying for the CrossFit Games by winning the Dubai CrossFit Championship last month. Briggs, however, dominated the women’s field again as she won the first five events and eight of the 11 individual events. But because Briggs had already qualified for the Games, the invite to the CrossFit Games went to Maddie Sturt who finished in 2nd.
Sturt, at just 22 years old, qualified for her 4th appearance at the CrossFit Games. Sturt held off Simone Arthur and Marnie Sykes to take 2nd place, earn $3,000 and a trip to the CrossFit Games.
As for teams, the new team consisting of three CrossFit Games veterans (Khan Porter, Brandon Swan and Jessica Coughlan) and a top Regional contender (Harriet Roberts) took 1st place as Project X. They held off former CrossFit Games team veterans Torian Black and Reebok CrossFit Frankston.
