Last year, CrossFit announced a new competition, the CrossFit Liftoff, powered by Rogue. The inaugural competition awarded athletes with the highest snatch, clean and jerk and total in addition to an overall prize combining weightlifting results with a metcon. Additional prizes were awarded to the Best Pound-for-Pound lifters.
With $3,000 going to the athlete with the biggest of each lift and the total, professional weightlifters flocked to the website and put their name in the hat. Caine Wilkes, USAW’s strongest weightlifters, won the snatch, clean & jerk and weightlifting total prizes and took home $9,000. Sarah Robles, who just won the bronze medal in the +75kg weight class at the Rio Olympics, won on the women’s side.
Professional weightlifters took home all the prizes for the top weightlifting-only prizes, while the CrossFitters ended up winning the Overall Total. Rich Froning won the Men’s Overall Total while Samantha Briggs won the Women’s Overall Total.
In 2016, the prizes appear to be the same as last year and if Wilkes and Robles enter, the results will likely be the same as well. The remaining prizes will end up going to a CrossFitter who can perform chest-to-bar pull-ups or other movements that weightlifters are not accustomed to.
Should CrossFit create competitions that award athletes who do not routinely participate in CrossFit competitions? Let us know in the comments.
