With the Meridian Regional splitting into two separate regional competitions this year, more athletes from Europe and Russia were able to showcase their talents in the second stage of competition. The Europe Regional was held in Berlin, Germany, and a first-time regional competitor, Roman Khrennikov, stole the show.
From the outset, Khrennikov showed he had the ability to compete with the best in Europe. A 2nd place finish on the Triple 3 followed by a 3rd place finish on Linda. From there, Khrennikov’s worst finish was 15th on the snatch/burpee couplet. The first-time regional athlete would finish in the top 5 five times on his way to 500 points and an impressive Europe Regional victory.
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Khrennikov was joined by fellow Russian, Andrey Ganin, in the top 5. Ganin finished 4th overall. Khrennikov and Ganin are the first two athletes from Russia to compete at the CrossFit Games.
Joining them in Madison, Wisconsin, are three CrossFit Games veterans – Adrian Mundwiler, Lukas Hogberg and Bjorgvin Gudmundsson.
For practically everyone, this is the first time anyone has heard of Roman Khrennikov. This is his second season competing in CrossFit. Last year Khrennikov finished 111th in the Europe Region during the 2017 CrossFit Open.
During the offseason, Khrennikov reached out to former CrossFit Games veteran Adrian Conway about following Brute Strength’s Games prep programming. Since then Khrennikov has been racking up hardware in offseason competitions in Russia and Europe.
There is little about Khrennikov on the Internet. We were able to find a few things. It does appear that Khrennikov has a background in competitive swimming.
Here are a couple videos from the CrossFit Open.
