Three years ago, Rich Froning finished 2nd on 16.2. He finished in 17:00, six seconds slower than Ben Smith’s time of 16:54.
Fast forward three years to this weekend where athletes around the world were doing 19.2, basically a repeat of 16.2. Everyone knew more athletes would finish the heavy clean ladder and many expected the fastest times to be beaten. And with Ben Smith not in the mix following surgery last month and Froning participating in the Open without trying to qualify for anything, most would have expected Mat Fraser to have the fastest time in the world (oh, Fraser finished 3rd in the world on 16.2).
But as the scores rolled in last night, Richard Froning Jr’s name was at the top of the list (excluding the 16 people who couldn’t enter their scores correctly). Froning was ahead of Mat Fraser, Patrick Vellner and everyone else in the world. Not only that, but Froning beat his score by over a minute finishing in 15:58!
CrossFit Mayhem also released the video of the workout at the same time. Watch as Froning DESTROYS this workout and makes the squat cleans look easy.
Oh, we should also mention that Froning has not been squatting heavy lately. Froning hit a 345-pound clean & jerk at Wodapalooza this year, which was the heaviest he had lifted in a year and a half!
Froning is participating in the Open this year, but teams do not qualify for the CrossFit Games via the CrossFit Open any more. Froning and team are scheduled to travel to Shanghai in April to compete at the Asia CrossFit Championship.
