Hi everybody! Welcome back inside the CrossFit Update Studios
as we continue to wrap up the 2018 Reebok CrossFit Games. I'm Sean Woodland
with Rory McKernan and Tommy Marquez.
Today we're looking at the women's side of things and we certainly did not have the
final event drama that we have become accustomed to in that competition.
There were still plenty of exciting moments on that side of the house.
-Yeah. It didn't come down to the final event, but it was still equally thrilling for me
the entire weekend–what was going on in the Women's competition. I was shocked, surprised, happy...
It couldn't have really gone better, in my opinion.
-Yeah. I still feel just as emboldened about the future of the Women's competition
and looking forward to next year as I was last year with that last event drama.
I think maybe even more so given some of the performances that we saw.
Let's revisit the top five where Tia-Clair Toomey wins her second-straight CrossFit Games championship
as she beats Laura Horvath who finishes 2nd. More on her in a second.
Katrin Davidsdottir back on the podium as the takes 3rd
and then Kara Saunders and Annie Thorisdottir rounding out the top five.
But first, Tia-Toomey just kind of taking a page out of Mat Fraser's book here
as she's a champion, but she continues to get better.
She was really impressive those four days in Madison.
-The arc of Tia Toomey, as far as we've seen her come in this sport—for me—is truly, truly
mind-blowing and I love that the first year that we ever saw her, I met her at the Invitational.
During an interview I had to beg her to say the words, "I am the fittest on Earth."
She was meek, she was a little bit embarrassed, she was shy.
This year in the competition, not only did she win but she wasn't waiting at the end, like you mentioned, Sean.
She blew the competition away. She went out there to win. It's not the largest points-margin we've ever seen
but you see her flexing after her CrossFit Total and you see her completely owning all of her victories.
Even in her championship acceptance speech versus last year where she couldn't even speak
because she's in tears. She's surprised that she's the name that's called this year.
She looked like she owned it. She wanted more and she looked like she'll be back again.
-It's crazy you have that story. I have a similar one. I did an interview with her here in the studio.
Chris Hinshaw was there as well and during that interview she said, "I want to be the Fittest on Earth."
And when looked over at Hinshaw and the rest of her crew they looked like they had seen a ghost.
Because they told me that she had never actually verbalized that before.
It was a big step for her.
Now we're seeing that manifest over time with the fact that she wore the white leader's jersey for ten events
this year. That ties her record from last year. There was so much different this year. It felt like she knew she
was in the lead. She wasn't trying to prove that she could get over the hump.
This time it looked like she felt like she was the Fittest Woman on Earth.
Now she's just showing it to the rest of the world for her second-straight year.
You mentioned the white leader's jersey.
In order for her to get that she had to take it off the back of Laura Horvath.
The rookie out of Hungary.
I know we're going to be talking about this woman for a long time, but to me she was probably
the biggest story of the Games. Just because that women's field is so deep and we really haven't seen
anybody kind of get in there with the usual suspects and now a 21 year-old kid out of Hungary
looks to be one of the big contenders now as we move forward.
-Without a doubt. You said we're going to be talking about her for a long time.
Literally the only thing I wrote on this piece of paper was, "The future."
This woman and her ability to come out and be completely unencumbered by
the fact that she was in the field with past champions and people who were the names in the conversation
leading into it. I saw her literally, on events, break some of those women, mentally.
To me, that was more impressive than the fact that she actually had the event wins and her performance
throughout the course of the weekend.
She was the story of the weekend as far as I'm concerned.
-Yeah. She wore the white leader's jersey for three events. She won three events, as a rookie.
Both those are phenomenal. Touching on what you said about her breaking some of the athletes–
I thought she did that in the final day and she sent a clear message to the rest of the women's field
for the future. It started with the Two-Stroke Pull. An event that's almost custom tailored for Katrin.
The sled dog mentality. Katrin comes up to a huge lead and Laura tracks her down in the final round
Katrin takes a slight lead off the bike and Laura, unfazed, just passes her on the transition
and just calmly pulls the sled to victory.
That same day to close out the weekend, she's obviously going to get 2nd.
It's going to be tough to take over Tia Toomey, but in that final yoke walk you could see Tia really wanted
that finish that she missed out on last year, in terms of shutting the door and stamping it with
a strong finish. Laura, unfazed by it, just walks right by her as Tia struggles on the yoke.
Takes another event and clearly let everyone know, "Hey, I may not have gotten it this year but watch out."
-I thought she was going to walk the yoke onto the podium. It looked like she was going to keep going.
When you look at spots 3 through 5, those are the women we expected to be battling with Tia Toomey
for the top of the Leaderboard. Kara Saunders, Katrin Davidsdottir and then Annie Thorisdottir
What stood out to you about those three?
-The fact that they were there. Right? Those were the names we thought were going to be in competition.
I'd venture to guess that anybody who played Reebok Pick Em had some variation of those four names
if we're talking about both Katrin, Annie, and both of the Australians were going to be in their top 5
in some way, shape, or form. One of them will probably be their "champion" that they named.
So just the fact that they were there. But then what they didn't do good at, as well.
That stood out for me.
I would have told you that going into the competition, if I had known the events, that 30 Muscle-ups fof time
backed up with a max deadlift wouldn't be great for Katrin. I was surprised by how well she didn't do
on the CrossFit Total. Then Annie Thorisdottir actually released some information that she–
during Chaos she had something I never knew about.
-Yeah. She had a heart arrhythmia that apparently she's had since she was a teenager and it's something that
has popped up in training in the past, but never during competition. It was a little bit of a grey area for her
in an event that was all grey area for everyone in that Chaos event.
But I think there were bits and pieces for each one of these athletes to kind of circle and hang their hat on.
Katrin looked like she had that competitive fire that she had in previous years.
Obviously there's still some holes that she needs to work on. Kara, another strong performance.
Inside the top 5. Just missed out on a podium, but it was well within her reach.
Annie. If there were any questions about her ability to come back and replicate the success
that she did last year. Even so far into her career, still being young.
I think she should take this top 5 with pride because it was the deepest field that we've ever seen
for the women.
I was just going to say that another big story for the women is the fact that Sara Sigmundsdottir
has to withdraw. What does this mean for her now, moving forward?
Because every year it seems like she's got to change this, she's got to change that.
We think that now she's finally gotten things corrected. How does an injury now affect that?
I'm really interested to see her statements after the Games, now, are finished.
One thing that it tells me–there's still a bit of a rumor mill as these things happen.
I heard that she came into the event with a prior injury, which–that speaks volumes just to her grit
and her ability to push forward and crush it. Even on the CrossFit Total.
I keep saying, "Imagine having something wrong with your ribs or your lungs while you're trying to push weight
"over your head or you're trying to pull weight off the ground or as you squat."
I'm really interested to see what she does because, like you said Sean, she's made a lot of moves
and none of it ever had to do with her physical capacity. She showed up on the scene and she dominated
her very first year. It's not about physical capacity. I wonder if she can get it together and come back
and claim the place that she really deserves.
-Yeah. And this injury–I'm not sure if it's the exact same thing she was dealing with
a rib injury to start the season. In December she had to take eight weeks off before going in to the Open
and basically starting the year fresh. Then obviously the somewhat similar injury with the rib
takes her out of the Games this year. Beyond that I'll be honest and frank here:
It never seemed like Sara was the same. -No. Agreed.
The same athlete that she had been in years past. One thing that always stood out to me about Sara
is regardless of what was going on, she competed with a level of joy that seemed authentic
and seemed to drive her in those tough moments. I didn't see that this year.
She was a little bit more closed off, a little bit more seemingly too focused and too intent on being that
serious competitor and I don't know if that's who she is. Not just as an athlete but as a person.
So maybe something was wrong from the get go but it just didn't feel like the Sara of old this year.
Definitely looking forward to seeing Sara Sigmundsdottir get back in action and hope that she recovers from that
and is able to get herself back in contention so we can start talking about her being healthy and doing what
we are used to seeing Sara Sigmundsdottir do.
Let's turn our attention now to the United States because all the athletes we've talked about are from
outside the U.S. but you have Kari Pearce in 6th, Brooke Wells in 8th, Eramo in 9th,
and Cassidy Lance-McWherter in 10th.
Are any of these women going to insert themselves into that conversation about
people who can take the crown from Tia-Toomey?
You know I think that the problem for most of them was a slow start, but I was surprised to have a discussion
with Cassidy Lance after her performance in the Marathon Row to where she said,
"No excuses. It's just not my jam. I'm not good at it and it could not have been a worse event for me."
All the odds were in her favor in terms of the Open win, the Regional win, and she seemed to be in
the best shape of her life. I certainly think she can hang with these women.
Whether or not she can button up a championship–if she's got holes that are that big, I say no.
Kari Pearce, Kristi Eramo I think they did fantastic. They just got off to such a slow start.
I don't think you can afford that in this competitive of a field.
-Obviously a top ten finish is fantastic for all of those four women, but if we're talking about
trying to take the crown off of Tia-Clair Toomey...
I'll be blunt and say I don't think any of them can do it right now.
You look at some of the holes and things in their fitness that have perpetually plagued them...
Those are things that if they haven't necessarily completely shored them up by now
it's going to be hard to completely close that gap on an athlete like Tia-Toomey
who just seems to be getting better each and every year, with fewer and fewer weaknesses.
Each one of them had moments where they did exceptional, whether it was Kari Pearce
in some of the gymnastic stuff–the muscle-ups and the handstand walk, Eramo on the swim event,
Cassidy Lance-McWherter did great on the Clean & Jerk Speed Ladder.
They just still just had a couple of those bad finishes that you just can't have
if you want to be at the top of the sport. Especially on the women's side.
With that being said, it's a little early but we're going to do it anyway:
We'll look ahead to 2019. Just broad brush stroke it here. What do you expect to see?
Is it going to be the usual suspects again, or are we going to have some surprises possibly?
I thin kit's fun to see a new name in terms of the rookie Hungarian coming into the field
but I have no reason to believe after these performances this year that we're not going to see
the usual suspects. It was really interesting to me to hear Kara Saunders' interview after
she performed so well in the Bi-Couplets. She was like, "I'm getting older. I've been doing this game
"for a long time. You have to shift things around."
Even though that may be true, a top five finish and all the women that finished within the top five
gave me no reason to pause, including Annie Throisdottir. I was one of the people who was like,
"Man she's been doing this thing since 2009. I'm not sure if she can keep it up."
I think even she continues to dominate. But the presence of Laura Horvath does give me some hope
because I love to see new names and new faces.
They will be pushed and they will have to work for it.
-I think that Kara's mentality may be starting to shift gears and look towards other family aspects
whether it's starting a family or anything like that. Maybe the only thing that's stopping from this topp five
from maybe repeating. You look at the podium this year. The ages of them are 24, 21, 24.
Three podium athletes underneath the age of 25.
They're really just starting to get their legs underneath them, I feel like.
It's something that we could see these battles play out in the next five to six years. Ten years if Laura stays in it.
Not to mention a healthy Sam Briggs comes back from Masters competition.
Let's talk about top moments really fast.
Ro, we'll start with you.
I've been talking a lot about grit. I've been talking about big comebacks and even though this wasn't
the Spirit of the Games moment, this for me shows the spirit of an athlete.
That was Alessandra Pichelli when halfway through a marathon row–let's be clear.
21,000 down, 21,000 to go. She starts having cramps.
She told me they radiated around her body. It would be ab, then go out to the arm, then down to the forearm.
You can only imagine what you would do. Put yourself in her shoes. There's no comfortable situation.
There's no way that you can make yourself not feel this pain and still she gritted out the rest of the 21,000m.
To me it's one of the coolest things I saw. It just shows you what these athletes are capable of mentally.
To sit there and grind through that and not even get time-capped. To still pull through.
One of the gutsiest performances, I think I've ever seen on the female side of things.
My top moment comes from the same event as well, but from the athlete that won it: Margaux Alvarez.
Her marathon performance was just phenomenal. It was the fastest marathon row done by a woman
so far this season. In the world indoor rowing championships back in February, it would have won.
-What?! -For the women's open division as well.
It's the 2nd fastest marathon rowed in the last two seasons. Not just a good performance
for a CrossFit athlete, but a good performance across the board.
To me, it was very symbolic of how her career has been.
It's just a long kind of grind that slowly works her way towards the top. That's what she's done.
She hasn't been flashy. She hasn't necessarily been one of those athletes that's always
in the top ten, but she keeps working, keeps working, and finally got a big payoff with that event.
And she prepares herself well. This was a test of preparatoin and I saw her the night before
and she was like, "Sam Briggs does this every Christmas, so I've given it a shot a couple of times."
She's the only athlete who I knew who said, "I've tried a marathon before."
My biggest moment was the final heat of the Speed Clean & Jerk Ladder when
Cassidy Lance-McWherter was the last woman on the floor. Wasn't going to improve her positioning.
She had 5th place locked up. She made one go at the final weight, didn't hit it, and was going to say I'm done,
then Tia Toomey and everyone else was like, "no no no, you get back out there and you do it."
And she hit it and the crowd went bananas. It was awesome. She had no reason to make that lift.
It didn't help herself out, but that to me is in the CrossFit spirit. You finish. It doesn't matter how long it takes.
You get across the finish line.
That's it for us for today, but before we go I want to remind you that registration for
the Team Series is live now.
The first workouts get announced on September 19th. Ro is available to be your partner.
I saw that Elliot Simmons posted a picture of Jamie Greene sleeping on the airplane back
but was already registered for the Team Series.
Registration live. games.crossfit.com.
That's it for us. Back tomorrow to break down the Teams side of the house for Tommy Marquez and
and Rory McKernan, I'm Sean Woodland. We'll see you then.