Week 1 of the 2020 CrossFit Open is already in the books. And while registration numbers are down, the stakes are as high as ever. For athletes looking to qualify via the Open, a mistake on workout can be costly.
Last year, the 31st man and 38th woman in the world qualified via the “Top 20” route. Tim Paulson, 31st last year, finished with 501 points, basically 100 points per workout. It was a little easier on the women’s side as Cheryl Nasso, 38th, finished with 733 points, or 146 points per workout.
A slip up on workout can potentially eliminate one from contending for one of the Top 20 qualification spots. Last year, Noah Ohlsen finished 790th on 19.1. He battled back up the leaderboard with four top 50 finishes, but the damage had already been done. He ultimately made it to the Games as the Wodapalooza CrossFit Festival invite, but most athletes won’t want to risk trying to win one of the Sanctionals.
So with that, here are some athletes who got off to a slow start on 20.1. Most of the athletes are still in it, but it will require near flawless performances the rest of the way in.
Men
- Saxon Panchik (9:29 | 107th)
- Will Moorad (9:31 | 113th)
- Jason Carroll (9:33 | 127th)
- Lukas Esslinger (9:35 | 134th)
- Ben Smith (9:38 | 151st)
- George Sterner (9:41 | 161st)
- Nick Bloch (9:41 | 161st)
- James Newbury (9:53 | 242nd)
- Dan Bailey (10:00 | 275th)
- Zach Buntin (10:04 | 298th)
- Ryan Sowder (10:08 | 330th)
- Joshua Wichtrup (10:17 | 381st)
- Elijah Muhammad (10:19 | 394th)
- Guilherme Malheiros (10:21 | 405th)
- Lucas Parker (10:27 | 461st)
- Bronislaw Olenkowicz (10:29 | 479th)
- Cody Anderson (10:38 | 571st)
Women
- Amanda Barnhart (9:46 | 102nd)
- Maddie Sturt (10:01 | 145th)
- Colleen Fotsch (10:02 | 147th)
- Danielle Brandon (10:06 | 160th)
- Haley Adams (10:22 | 215th)
- Eik Gylfadottir (10:26 | 230th)
We excluded some of the big names who competed on a team last year or are expected to compete on a team this year since the Open does not have direct Games implications (some Sanctionals are using the Open to field the team competition). Also, athletes from countries where it is not as difficult to qualify as National Champion were excluded since a higher point total is not as detrimental.
It is definitely an interesting start to the 2020 CrossFit Games season. Last year, Amanda Barnhart scored a total of 117 points throughout the entire 2019 Open. Week 1 and she already has 102 points. The same is true for Zach Buntin. His 298 points in Week 1 are close to the 360 points he accumulated in 2019.
Did we miss anyone? We ran through the leaderboard, but there are a lot of names and we might have stopped looking too early. We don’t expect a contender to fall below 600th place worldwide. Let us know by commenting on Instagram or Facebook if we did!
Must Watch: Interview with Will Moorad
https://youtu.be/hgDSb1N9mWc
