Khan Porter has called time on his 2023 Games Season during Quarterfinals. Porter, who was making one last run as an individual this year withdrew from the competition weekend prior to attempting Workout 4, the row/GHD sit-up/V-up workout.
According to Porter, he has been suffering from a back issue since before Wodapalooza. Porter knew heading into Quarterfinals that his performance would depend on “how many GHDs we have to do and how heavy we have to squat.” And, unfortunately, this year’s Quarterfinals was packed full of heavy squats, deadlifts and numerous GHD sit-ups.
Khan had previously stated this was his year to go all in as an individual, having been on CrossFit Reykjavík’s team last year and finishing fourth at the Games. Before the release of the quarter final workouts, Khan said, “I’d say it’s 70/30 that I withdraw at this point, sadly,” and it turns out he had weighed up the outcome pretty accurately.
He had spoken to his coach, Jami Tikkanen of The Training Plan, throughout aiming to manage the pain and alter movement patterns to allow him to complete the workouts and aim to recover before the Torian Pro, the Oceania Semifinal. “I’ll be fine and then something will set it off and I’m just gone, can barely sleep it’s so painful and can’t even tie my shoes. The shuttle runs were the worst movement of the Open for me,” Porter explained.
Khan is planning to go to Iceland to assist The Training Plan athletes in any way he can as the season continues while he gets to the bottom of his injury with some hands on time with Tikkanen in Reykjavik. “I may actually head to London first, to see a physio based there. But, I guess, I’m going to take this week to pause, breathe and take a moment to process all of this,” he said.
Although this was slated as his last year all in as an individual, plans have changed in response to the set back, “Jami and I have been chatting and I’m 100% in on 2024”. So, thankfully, we can expect to see Porter tear it up on the competition floor in the near future.
