Mat Fraser looked like he might run away with the 2018 CrossFit Games after three events as he held an early lead over the competition. But 42,195 meters later, that gap shrunk to just 2 points.
Lukas Hogberg took 2nd in the full marathon row in a time of 2:44:33 while Fraser finished 11th in the longest event in CrossFit Games history. Fraser ends the hardest Day 1 in Games history with 298 points while Hogberg has 296 points.
The row followed three events earlier in the day with The Crit starting things off. Luckily on the men’s side there were no accidents (Michele Fumagalli crashed and withdrew from competition). Instead, Adrian Mundwiler showed his prowess on the bike as he rode away from the competition for his first career Games event victory. Fraser would take 4th in the event.
Shortly after the Crit, athletes headed over to the North Park Stadium to complete 30 muscle-ups for time. Questions about who might go unbroken were swirling ahead of the event, but the windy conditions and long straps for the rings, no one was able to finish all 30 reps without coming down. Cody Anderson was the closest, but failed his 29th rep.
Logan Collins’ time from the first heat would end up the fastest on the day. Collins’ time of 1:46 was six seconds better than Zeke Grove, who completed 25 unbroken before coming off the rings. In the final heat, Fraser would pace the event with a short break and a failed rep to win his heat and take 3rd in the event.
The third event veered away from the speed and agility on the first two events and instead focused solely on strength. For the first time since 2007, the CrossFit Total was programmed at the Games. With three four-minute segments, athletes had to put up their best lift in the back squat, strict press and deadlift.
Royce Dunne took 1st place with a total weight of 1,255 pounds. Patrick Vellner would ignite the crowd with a 595-pound deadlift. Vellner would take 2nd in event after a distastrous first event where his chain popped off during the bike ride. Vellner took 35th on Event 1. Fraser would put up a respectable 1,215 pound CrossFit Total, good for 8th place.
After four events and at the end of Day 1, here are the current standings:
Current Standings after Day 1
1) Mat Fraser (298)
2) Lukas Hogberg (296)
3) Cole Sager (268)
4) Lukas Esslinger (258)
5) Adrian Mundwiler (256)
6) Patrick Vellner (248)
7) Brent Fikowski (242)
The athletes have a rest day tomorrow and will be back on Friday morning with The Battleground.
