Saturday did not start out well for Patrick Vellner. The day started out in the water and one of Vellner’s weaknesses. Vellner would struggle on the 500-meter swim and even more on the 1,000-meter paddleboard. He would end up taking 21st on the event, dropping him out of the top 3.
A few hours later Vellner would look like his old self on Chaos, an event where the athletes did not know the workout prior to getting on the field. Vellner cruised through the SkiErg, burpees, single-arm dumbbell overhead squats, pistols, box jumps and a 400-pound tumbler pull. Those 100 points put him back into contention.
And then tonight, there were two scored events in the back-to-back Bicouplet 1 & 2. Vellner would end up taking 5th and 10th in the two events. And while not enough to gain ground on Mat Fraser, it was enough to pass Lukas Hogberg for 2nd place. Hogberg finished 11th and 34th in tonight’s events. Hogberg had been holding on to 2nd place overall since Wednesday.
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While Patrick Vellner was moving up the leaderboard, Mat Fraser was extending his lead. Fraser entered the day with a 48-point advantage over Hogberg. After four scored events on Saturday, Fraser now holds a 138-point lead over Vellner in 2nd place.
Fraser did not win an event on Saturday but walked away with a 2nd, two 4th place finishes and a 9th. Fraser was the only men’s athlete to finish all four events in the top 10.
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With one more day remaining, Fraser looks like he will win his 3rd consecutive CrossFit Games title. Patrick Vellner is on pace to podium for the third year in a row. Behind him, Hogberg holds a 26-point advantage over Brent Fikowski for 3rd place.
There is still plenty of time for some leaderboard shakeups. Stay tuned!
Current Standings after Saturday:
1) Mat Fraser (890)
2) Patrick Vellner (752)
3) Lukas Hogberg (704)
4) Brent Fikowski (682)
5) Bjorgvin Gudmundsson (656)
