Hi everybody. Welcome to today's edition of the CrossFit Games Update Show.
I'm Sean Woodland, with Tommy Marquez and Pat Sherwood.
We are now more than halfway through the 2016 Open.
16.3 was one of those opportunities
where people had a chance to sort of flip the crazy switch,
and that is certainly what happened on the women's side.
And looking at how things kind of played out once the dust settled,
outside of a handful of performances from some up-and-coming athletes,
it was pretty much the usual suspects,
the athletes that have proven time and time again that they can flip that switch.
I like how you described the Open workout as an opportunity.
That's so wonderful.
When this one first came out, I think it was really deceptive.
Most of us set the bar a bit too high,
as to where we thought performances would be.
I called a couple Games athletes
and they're like, "Oh yeah, you'll see an outlier or two
around the 14 mark,"
but tons of Games athletes will be around 12-round mark,
and that wasn't the case. We only saw about one around the 12,
and it was really tough to get 10 rounds on this thing.
And that one woman who was at the 12-round mark
is the name that I think--her name came to everybody's mind
when this thing was announced, and that's Samantha Briggs.
She demolishes the competition.
158 total reps in 16.3.
That's 12 rounds and change.
11 better than both Michele Letendre and Jamie Greene.
A lot of familiar names up there as well.
Kari Pearce in fourth,
Annie Thorisdottir, Alethea Boon,
Kara Webb, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, Maddy Myers,
all up there
as far as good performances of 16.3 are concerned.
Sam Briggs. 158 reps.
She said her goal was actually 14 rounds.
I calculated kind of what was possible
physically for me to do the snatches and the bar muscle-ups.
I could do it in 27 seconds.
So I was kind of thinking like 30 seconds a round.
So I was actually aiming for 14 rounds,
but unfortunately the grip didn't allow that,
but I was able to sneak into the
just over 12 rounds.
When 16.3 was announced, Sam Briggs was the first name that came to mind
for a lot of people, and no shock that she smashes it.
The 2013 champ said at the end of the Games last year,
"Hey, I'm feeling good. I think I'll see what I can do in 2016."
Well, things appear to be going very well.
Not only am I impressed with Sam's performance compared to the Women's division,
but to the Men's field as well.
For this workout I thought just a guy would have an advantage.
The barbell's not that heavy, but then the just shear back strength, biceps, pulling power
that a man would put out the top score.
Samantha Briggs. "No," she's like, "I got this one guys."
What I love so much is that she didn't hide in this workout at all.
She got the workout done very early,
posted it early,
and just said, "Come and get me."
If you want to see the where the definition for the term "white knuckle" came from,
go to her Instagram. She posted a picture of her hands
after the workout
where just all the blood was gone from her fingertips,
just from squeezing the barbell and absolutely destroying those bar muscle-ups.
Then now, with this win, it puts her in elite company.
She has a seventh worldwide Open win,
Nobody else has that many.
That's impressive.
Well Sam Briggs gets the event win,
but she is not on top of the overall Leaderboard
after three weeks. She's close,
but the top honor belongs to Jamie Greene.
Sam Briggs sits in second place.
You have three champions in the top five:
Camille Leblanc-Bazinet and Annie Thorisdottir
are all there as well as Kara Webb.
11 of the top-12 women
on the Leaderboard have a Games appearance.
Jamie Greene is the only one.
So last week Jamie Greene has our curiosity.
This week she has our full attention.
And she's kind of blazing a path, Sean.
You know, one of the first athletes from Africa to be on top of the worldwide Leaderboard.
She's from CrossFit Yas in Abu Dhabi.
She's a transplant from New Zealand,
and I said on the show last week to Pat,
this is a huge opportunity for her. It's a turning point week,
and she showed up in spades,
and just absolutely destroyed this workout,
and I think she kind of answered the question
if she can hang with some of the big girls.
I would say so,
and before this very week, Sean,
in the history of the Open,
only one non-Games athlete
had been leading the Open after three weeks.
That was Dan Bailey.
You have to go all the way back to 2011 for that to happen.
This week it's happened a second and a third time.
On the Men's side, Frankenfeld
broke that record, and now
Jamie Greene as well from CrossFit Yas.
She is scheduled to be, as far as I know,
a member of her team trying to go to the Games,
but I implore you Jamie,
I'm sorry, your team's going to hate me,
please don't go team.
Leave them to the side. Break their hearts.
We want to see this girl show up to the Games
as an Individual, right?
I mean she's crushing it.
She's leading the Leaderboard.
Yeah, it would be interesting to see her in that competition,
and there's still time,
so maybe she'll listen to Pat's plea. Pat: I hope so.
Maybe that did not fall on deaf ears.
So she's certainly a surprise. Didn't see that coming
at the beginning of the season,
but when you look at the Leaderboard,
who else do you think is a surprise?
Either pleasant or not?
Well I have to go with Alexis Johnson on this one.
13th worldwide right now,
an absolutely incredible performance after three weeks of competition,
has yet to go to the Games.
She has some serious numbers. A 1:16 Grace,
7:51 Helen.
She's smart, she's got a--math student
working towards her Ph.D.
She's out of the South Central Region,
and if she keeps putting up the numbers that she has thus far,
she's going to shake things up.
Well for me, it's a young woman by the name of Maddy Myers.
She was 32nd worldwide in the Open last year
when we kind of--she came onto our radar
as an athlete to watch,
and I'm not too surprised that she's seventh worldwide.
I know she has the capacity, Sean and Pat,
but what's most impressive to me
is how she's balancing the lifestyle factors.
She just recently enrolled in college,
so she's balancing the college and student lifestyle
along with competing in two sports
at the highest level.
She's competing internationally as a weightlifter,
and she's at the top of the worldwide stage here in the CrossFit Open,
so to be able to balance that along with school,
all the long nights of studying,
and all that as a 19-year-old,
I'm extremely impressed.
Can't go to the Games and put on the "freshman 15."
(laughing)
Alright, well we're heading into week four,
and it's never too early--well, I guess it is too early sometimes,
but it certainly isn't now,
to kind of start talking about bubble watch as far as regionals are concerned.
Tommy will have that on Thursday as part of Inside the Leaderboard.
As well on Thursday,
we're going to have a Live Announcement from Schreiver Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.
Katrin Davidsdottir, the Fittest Woman on Earth
taking on Sara Sigmundsdottir,
the woman who finished third at the CrossFit Games,
and if you want to be part of the Cool Down Show,
get those questions in now. Tweet them to @CrossFitGames.
Use the hashtag #cooldownshow.
That's going to do it for us for today,
from Pat Sherwood and Tommy Marquez.
I'm Sean Woodland.
We'll be back tomorrow to break down the Men's side of the house
in 16.3.