We have covered a lot of topics on The Barbell Spin in 2017. In fact, we published over 800 articles this year. As the year winds down, here is a look back at the year and the top 10 stories featured on The Barbell Spin.
10. Ricky Garard’s Girlfriend Blames Herself for Failed Drug Test
News that Ricky Garard had failed an in-competition drug test at the 2017 CrossFit Games was huge news when CrossFit made the announcement in early October. After the fallout, Garard’s girlfriend took to social media blaming herself for Garard getting busted.
9. Chandler Smith Loses Tip of Ring Finger Over Weekend
The 2017 CrossFit Open started off with some bad news after 17.1 score submissions closed. Fan favorite Chandler Smith lost the tip of his finger during a military drill and had to withdraw from competing this year. Smith is now overseas serving our country and will miss the 2018 season as well.
8. Trevor Bachmeyer of SmashweRx Disqualified from CrossFit Regionals
While it’s hard to police over 300,000 participants’ movement standards and workouts during the CrossFit Open, when you’re a masters athlete on top of the NorCal region it’s a bit easier to catch cheating. Bachmeyer made headlines after he was caught looping his video during 17.5. Can you blame him though? Who really wanted to do 10 rounds of those thrusters and double-unders?
7. CrossFit Calls Out Internet “Coach” on Twitter
Be careful what you say around CrossFit’s social media team. Never shying away from controversy, CrossFit called out an Internet troll for criticizing Annie Sakamoto’s movement during an OG CrossFit video.
6. Adidas’ New CrazyPower TR Shoes Targeting CrossFit Market
Last December Adidas announced it was entering the CrossFit shoe market. Competing against the Reebok Nano and Nike Metcon, Adidas’ CrazyPower TR attracted a lot of attention.
5. Brooke Ence to Have Surgery on March 31
Along with the same lines of bad news with Chandler Smith, Brooke Ence also announced after 17.1 that she was going to miss the 2017 CrossFit Games season. But unlike Smith, Ence had a herniated disk that required surgery. Six months later it looks like Ence is back to full speed and ready for 2018.
4. 17.5 CrossFit Open Announcement Live Blog
There might not be more excitement than the live Open Announcements. We all wait until Dave Castro finally reveals the fate of hundreds of thousands of CrossFitters all over the world. The last week of the Open we did a live blog throughout the announcement. Keep an eye out for more live blogs during the 2018 CrossFit Open.
3. Rich Froning, Mat Fraser Top CrossFit Games Lifetime Earnings List
When you win the CrossFit Games multiple times you are bound to be near the top of the CrossFit Games lifetime earnings list. Add to that the discussion around who is the best CrossFitter ever and this becomes a popular article. Will Mat Fraser be able to catch Rich Froning?
2. Christmas Abbott is Engaged to Geoff Kercher
This article was technically written in October 2016, but it received a surge in popularity as Christmas Abbott was on CBS’ Big Brother tv show. Not only were CrossFit fans interested, but the article gained traction outside of the CrossFit community.
The biggest story hands down of 2017 was the pec tears at Regionals this past year. The final count that we could add up was 36. Week after week the pec injuries piled up making it a controversial topic for weeks after regionals had subsided. Let’s cross our fingers that we don’t see anything similar in the future!
We here at The Barbell Spin want to thank you for your support over the course of the past year (and beyond). We look forward to covering the sports of CrossFit and Olympic Weightlifting in 2019 and hope we can keep you up-to-speed on the hot topics.
