Hello, welcome inside the Update Studio, everyone, for our special Invitational
recap show. I'm Tommy Marquez, joined at the desk by Pat Sherwood, and because of
the timing of the old Invitational down in Australia, we're gonna recap the whole
event for you guys, we're gonna jump right into it starting with event number
one. Event 1 was a chipper of rope climbs, rowing, Assault bike and cleans
with the Worm, and early on it was the USA that jumped into the lead behind
some blazing fast legless rope climbs from Panchik, Ohlsen and Pearce. They would be
the first team to the Assault bike and rower but that's where their lead
disappeared. The Canadians jumped to the front during the final row-bike combo
and would be the first team to transition to the final 30 Worm cleans.
Not to be outdone, the Pacific team, perhaps pacing themselves for the final
movement, pulled ahead with faster more efficient movement on the Worm implement,
and they would take the event and six points to kick off the competition on
their home turf. Pat, Pacific obviously starting with a win was a huge
development for them but what really stood out to you in event number one?
I think just the improper pacing from the USA team. This was one of the
frontrunners we had going in and the USA was the first done with everything that
awarded you no points whatsoever. Unfortunately, you have to get across the
finish line to earn some points, it all fell apart there, Pacific started off
strong and I was so impressed right from the get-go with Pacific. This is a team
that had to deal with a little bit of turmoil, Newbury was going to be their
coach, last second he realizes, hey, guess what? You're gonna be an athlete, hope
you've been training, and how how would that be? Would it be seamless? And they
looked like that had been the plan the entire time, cool, calm and collected. It
definitely showed on that event number one, unfortunately for the US, they would
settle for last place in that event and they would be in last place starting
event number two, and perhaps that would be the motivating factor for them.
Event number two was a handstand-walk course and from the get-go
Team USA looked like it was on a mission. Noah Ohlsen kicked it off for the men, he
would be the only athlete to do the entire course for the men unbroken, he
would give US a lead, and there each athlete on the USA team would
go on to win their respective heats. Keri Pearce would win her heat, Scott Panchik
would win his heat, and even Tennil Reed would win her heat taking methodical
breaks at each checkpoint along the way. USA would walk away with the win in the
event, and Pat, this is a pretty cool event that we saw announced to the teams,
the first time we're seeing a handstand-walk course, these athletes are
proficient on their hands. Is there anything that stood out to you from this
event in particular? Well first of all I loved the twist because yeah we've seen
the handstand walk so many different ways but never with the little obstacle
course, absolutely loved it. Director of the Games Dave Castro said that we will
see more so athletes should be training that. When Noah Ohlsen took off,
first of all USA had to make up some ground, when Noah Ohlsen took off and I
saw Pat Vellner whois a former gymnast, kick down and Ohlsen didn't, I was like
that risk is not gonna pay off, Olsen's gonna crash and burn, you know
the kid's just getting a little outside the box, but man he held on, set the tone. I
think the next three athletes for USA kind of fed off that, they crushed it,
they were clawing their way back, that's positive then on the negative side of
that event, I was shocked how much Pichelli and Sara Sigmundsdottir
struggled. And Sarah Sigmundsdottir was very vocal in the Cool-Down Show and
vocal on her own social-media pages that she doesn't know what she got,
showing up to Australia, got some sort of a bug, was feeling terrible, nauseous,
dizzy. Half the time I think when athletes say that it's BS, it's not true.
It's a convenient excuse for a performance that didn't go well, but I 100% believe
Sara, she was not herself and that's a huge impact on Europe. I'm with you there,
things clearly not right for the reigning Invitational champions in
Europe. Standings after two events going into event number three, Pacific, another
strong performance, sits in first place overall with 10 points, Canada and US
tied for second in points, US getting a much needed six-point boost from that
event win in event number two, and Europe in last place in fourth with just two
points going into event number three. And event three was a couplet, a six-round
couplet of synchronized bar muscle-ups as well as some synchronized hang power
snatches and from the get-go it was pretty much a two-horse race in this event.
Canada and Pacific transitioning together side by side from each round to
the next and it seemed like it was going to come down to the final round and the final
hang snatches, but during the transition from the bar muscle-up, you can see Brent
Fikowski signaling to his crew that they would have to break it up into three
sets on the final snatches, and that would be just enough for the Pacific
Team, who used superior communication and pacing once again to walk away with
their second event win out of three events. Canada would get beat to the
finish line by the US who came charging at the end, who would take second place
in that event, another strong performance from the US, and Canada would settle for
third in that event. Another event win, Pat, from the Pacific
Team, this is the same roster as last year, but clearly performance wise this
is not the same team that we saw. We say this frequently with regards
to the Invitational: Just because you have a group of incredible individual
athletes, that doesn't mean they're gonna gel in a very short period of time and
be this cohesive beautiful synchronized unit out there in the floor, but the
Pacific Team looked like they trained together year-round, it was ridiculous,
and in that loud environment with so many moving parts, watch all the other
teams, there has to be a team leader out there shouting commands making sure
everyone's exactly where they need to be for the synchronization to count. Pacific
was somehow pulling that off with complicated movements with no verbal
communication whatsoever. I've never seen anything like it and then at the end
when Rory McKernan interviewed Kara Webb, she said yeah there's more to
communication than just words and they've got some sort of Jedi Mind
Tricks going on but they were in the zone.
It was certainly working after three events, specific holding on to first
place with 16 points overall, another strong finish from the US moves them
into second with 10 points, Canada two points back in third, and Europe still
struggling in fourth with just two points going into the fourth event for
the evening. And the fourth event was a little twist on an implement we've seen
in the past with the heavy tire. It would be two minutes of max flips, the men would
go first and then the women. For the men, Patrick Vellner and Brent Fikowski
showcasing that podium-level fitness for the guys, they would pull ahead very
early on and kind of cruise to a victory there, all they had to do was
get the baton to the Canadian women despite Carol-Ann Reason-Thibault struggling
in the past with this type of implement, Alessandra Pichelli basically stole the
show in this event, not just doing once or twice, but three flips in a row at
times when her teammates needed it. Each athlete out on that floor is a beast, they
are incredible, they're the best that we have, which is why they're at the
Invitational, so when you see one of them look like they're you know struggling
picking up their tire that's because that tire is so miserable. Then you watch
Alessandra Pichelli flipping that thing like it's full of helium or I don't know
what was going on like we said, we've watched a lot of CrossFit, it takes a lot
these days to stop me in my tracks but I saw that happen, the cup of coffee went
down, I just stared at the screen, rewound it to make sure I saw it again, she
absolutely crushed those tire flips and that's why leading up to the Invitational,
we said the addition of Alessandra Pichelli for Canada cannot be understated,
it's a big deal. It was certainly a big deal in terms of points, the win for
Canada moves them into a little bit tighter points race with first place
Pacific. After four events going into the finale, Pacific is still in first with 18
points, Canada leapfrogs USA into second with 14 by another last
-place finish for United States team leaves them in third place at 10 points,
a far cry away, but an actual decent performance from Europe
gives them a little bit of boost points wise but still in fourth heading into
the finale. And the finale was a little bit of an announcement from Dave Castro,
we're bringing back out the Worm, a classic CrossFit rep scheme 21-15-9 of
Worm thrusters and synchronized burpees over the Worm. Early on it looked like
Canada might give the Pacific team a push, they would be the first team to
complete the 21 thrusters and move on to the synchronized burpees, but in the
round of 21 burpees the Pacific Team once again showcasing superior pacing
and superior communication would pull ahead of the Canada Team and for the
rest of the workout it was basically basically a victory lap. Pacific Team
would hold on to their lead throughout the rest of the workout, they would win
the event, secure themselves a win for the 2017 CrossFit Invitational.
Canada would settle for second and once again USA Team would finish a
distant fourth in this event. Pat, we saw this with this workout in particular,
that Worm, getting some no reps at any point in this workout can prove costly
and there's no real nice way to get a no rep on the Worm. And and that's why
we see the Worm so frequently in the team competitions, it just has this
unique ability to be a massive monkey wrench, it forces communication, it forces
teamwork and if you have any holes in that game it will expose them to the
entire crowd. The Worm fails are dramatic, they're frustrating, everybody can
see them and then you get a little snippy with whoever was out of sync and
cause the warm Worm to fall down, so it really is a unique implement that serves
very very well out there on the floor. Your final standings for the 2017
invitational, the Pacific Team gets the monkey off their back and doesn't just
break into the top two but they win the event first place with 26 points overall.
Another strong performance from Canada in the event, they can walk away with
their heads held high, second place and 19 points. USA, disappointing performance for
them, I'm sure in third place with 10 points and Europe despite a couple of
issues with some of their members being sick, fourth place with eight points
after winning the whole entire event last year. Looking at these final results
Pat, what really stands out to you in terms of performance? I just have to
celebrate Pacific, first place on their home turf I mean, I can't even imagine the pride
their team has, the whole country has, I mean just well done and this is—the
Pacific has never finished within the top three at any of the Invitationals, now
they take the whole thing on their home turf. Canada, what a comeback after last
year, you know we gave them some grief as to how their performance in 2016 was,
they should be very proud, hold your head high with that second-place finish. USA,
disappointed understandably so, move forward focus on 2018, and Europe the
winners from last year, no one expected them to take fourth, but you've only got
four members on the team so if somebody as capable as Sara Sigmundsdottir is
not performing at one-hundred percent, you're down 25 percent of your team,
that's a huge deal, so I kind of discard what happened.
It's a new Europe next year as far as I'm concerned. Yeah clearly it was too
much to overcome for her having a sick athlete on your team. One cool
part about the Invitational seeing the celebration at the end was the Aussies
put their own spin on celebrating the win. We saw them pull out not a cup but a
shoe for them to enjoy a little bit of champagne. We heard Jeremy Austin
calling it a "shooie," leave it to the Aussies to bring in a new type of
celebration to this particular format. But beyond the competition, that wasn't
the only exciting thing happening. During the Cool-Down Show, after Director of the
Games Dave Castro made some very important announcements concerning the
2018 season, and specifically the Regional format. We've broken them down
here for you guys in one graphic. In 2018 for the Regionals, Affiliate Cup
teams will drop from six athletes to just four athletes competing, the West and
California Regionals will combine into one big Western Regional, Europe will
split into two Regionals, they'll have a North that will get five spots and a
South that will get four spots to the Games, that includes Africa. Latin America
will now get its own Regional, being able to send one athlete guaranteed to the
Games. Pat, some big changes on the horizon for 2018, what are your
thoughts? Man, it's still a lot for me to wrap my head around but, Europe, they
deserve more spots for the Games, no doubt about it, there's so many
tremendous athletes out there, they needed a bigger representation the Games,
they're gonna get it, that Regional that's gonna combine all of California and the
Old West, oh man, there's a ton of talent competing for those spots and
then I'm just very happy for Latin America, I mean you know that one man and
one woman is gonna represent that entire region of the world and go to the Games,
and I've spent a lot of time down there everyone is fired up and pro-CrossFit, so
I just can't imagine representing all those fired up CrossFitters, they're
gonna bring it at the Games. Oh man, they are gonna bring the heat no doubt and I
love upping the ante competition-wise with just four athletes competing on the
team. That's gonna do it for us today, we hope you guys enjoyed the
Invitational. Up next we have the CrossFit Liiftoff, powered by a Rogue. For
Pat Sherwood, I'm Tommy Marquez, we'll see you guys
next time.