Before the Marathon Row on Wednesday, it looked like Fraser was on his way to building another insurmountable lead once again. Lukas Hogberg, however, had other plans with his 2nd place finish on the 42,195 meter row. After that Fraser only held a slim 2-point lead over Hogberg.
On Friday, Fraser started to increase the lead with a 2nd place finish on The Battleground. Hogberg took 3rd keeping himself within 8 points of the 2-time reigning CrossFit Games champion.
In the afternoon, Fraser failed the final 310-pound clean & jerk during the semi-finals twice. The two misses pushed him down to the 7th fastest time and he did not qualify for the final. The good news for Fraser was that Hogberg finished 10th, so his lead grew a little more.
Then this evening, Fraser showed his dominance on Fibonacci. Last year, Fraser took 2nd on the Fibonacci although he did not finish the event. This year Fraser left no doubt as he smoked the previous best time set by Noah Ohlsen. Fraser’s event win gave him 100 points while Hogberg settled for 7th.
Fraser now holds a 48-point advantage over Hogberg who was able to hold 2nd place throughout the day. Patrick Vellner is in 3rd and Brent Fikowski is in 4th, both of whom finished on the podium alongside Fraser last year.
Current Standings after Friday:
1) Mat Fraser (564)
2) Lukas Hogberg (516)
3) Patrick Vellner (474)
4) Brent Fikowski (462)
5) Cole Sager (418)
Saturday begins with the Madison Triplus, a swim, paddleboard and run chipper. After that the athletes will take on Chaos, which has yet to be announced, and the two Bicouplet events that night in the Coliseum.
With four scored events on Saturday and likely three scored events on Sunday (or there are at least three separate time slots for individuals), we are halfway or almost halfway in scoring opportunities. Can anyone catch Fraser?
