When the leaderboard filled up after scores were due on Monday evening, Jessica Griffith had posted a time of 13:30 for 20.4. That was good enough for 21st in the world. She also moved up to 50th overall.
But because Griffith is not competing under an affiliate (she is listed as Unaffiliated), Griffith has to submit a video with each workout submission. Her linked video appeared to show that her barbell was loaded incorrectly on Round 3.
After the 85-pound barbell, the video showed those helping her load the bar with 10-pound plates, increasing the total weight to 105 pounds. The problem was that the prescribed weight was 115 pounds for the barbell.
Each subsequent round, her team added 30 pounds to the bar but because it was under the prescribed weight, every barbell from then on was 10 pounds lighter than it was supposed to.
Following her submission, Griffith reached out to CrossFit to tell them she had misloaded her barbell and asked how to proceed. It appears that Griffith has received a response from CrossFit and that her score has been invalidated.
According to Griffith, her plan this year was to get back to the CrossFit Games as an individual, but this will now eliminate her from qualifying via the Open.
To further complicate matters, Griffith was on the team roster with Dani Speegle, Alec Smith and Cody Mooney to qualify for two Sanctionals – CrossFit Strength in Depth (CFSiD) and Dubai CrossFit Championship (DCC). According to Griffith, the DCC submission deadline for 20.4 is next Monday. Griffith can use her second attempt, which she did not finish because she wasn’t going to beat her original time, so that she has a valid score.
Griffith is unsure how CFSiD will handle her invalidated score at this time.
Griffith will now have to turn her focus to Sanctionals in order to get back to the CrossFit Games. At the end of her Instagram post, Griffith hints that she will be looking to the Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge and the West Coast CrossFit Classic Sanctionals. Both of these Sanctionals are not tied to the CrossFit Open as their online qualifier.
Griffith has competed at the CrossFit Games four times, once as an individual and three times on a team. Last year she was on 2nd place team CrossFit Krypton.
