mal o'brien will become the youngest event winner ever at the crossfit games
one rep remains for mel o'brien
danielle brandon is separated from the field she is in the kobe protocol because two people
she's been in close contact with have tested positive and they've had to withdraw from
the competition that's bethany shadberg and carrie pierce danielle is getting tested daily
she has come back negative every time that's why they are still allowing her to compete but they
are keeping her separate from the rest of the competitors we've seen the same thing happen in
the olympics right they have athletes who have been in contact separated from the rest of the
athletes but still allowed to compete brandon's had two negative tests today so the games are
doing everything they can to keep it a safe but fair competition field for these athletes
mal o'brien right now is your leader through seven of those ten reps tia toomey once again
trying to become the first person to ever win the opening four events at the crossfit games
if you think of one thing in tia tumi's game where she's not the best i won't even say bad at but not
the best at would be a handstand one this is not quite the same thing this is less skill
and more strength i'm only trying to figure out a way to make her more human right
i'm running out of things to try to compare herself to but when you talk about a heavy
thruster major advantage for tia toomey now o'brien is more on the wall so you have two
athletes that have very similar skill sets and strengths flip flop between the wall walk and
thruster i'm curious to see how this shakes out once we get to the mid part of this event tia
tumi has pried the lead away from both danielle brandon and the woman on the right mall o'brien
now what male o'brien needs to do is you need to take a break you do not need to be sitting there
holding that bar above your head that long it's not necessary all right so i'm hoping
that maybe your coach can get in there get close say listen instead of hold a bar over
your head for five seconds just put it down on the ground and save your shoulders a little fatigue
brook wells comes into this event in 12th place overall she had that second place finish
by less than a second to tia tui in event three and for more on her let's go down to nikki brazier
i had a chance to catch up with brooks coach just before this event started and he said that
it was going to be difficult to determine exactly when and where to break up all of these movements
especially on the thrusters now you think she's a stronger athlete so potentially larger sets
could be in the plan and they'd originally planned on breaking it up into two or three sets up until
the set of six but honestly as they stride and tested things in the back the unknown was just too
strong they said they're gonna have to just go off the field which is pretty scary for these elite
athletes who haven't been able to prepare for this event brooke wells currently in the top three
in this heat laura horvath comes into this event in fifth place overall she is just 21 points
back of kristen holta for third now we know her biggest hole in her game is a handstand push-up
this is i would say more difficult in terms of effort and intensity
more so like a handstand push-up than a handstand walk so what i'm curious to see is how she
navigates the volume of these wall walls she's not gonna have an inability to do it i think
it just might be tough enough to slow her down and open the door for more athletes behind her
haley adams the woman in second place overall right next to tia tube he sees
30 points back of toby for the overall lead 18 points up on kristen holta and as you said if it
wasn't for tia tumi this is the story on day one she's only 30 points back tia has won every event
in dominating fashion from a long swim to a moderate distance eight to ten minutes of
classic games crossfit and then a sprint it's only 30 points back if you look at 21.1 as a
guide adams was eighth overall in the world tia tumi was six so they're very very similar to his
advantage though her strength on the barbell haley is good though haley is actually better at those
80 percent weights for multiple reps than she is at a one rep max airrosti has been a proud part
of the crossfit community for years they recently expanded their remote recovery program to over 40
states schedule your virtual consultation today at iraci.com crossfit recovery that's a-i-r-r-o-s-t-i
dot com crossfit recovery mal o'brien continuing to lead here she has been faster on the wall walks
but toomey has been able to make up ground on the barbell o'brien in the dark top and dark shorts
on the right of your screen she's next to brook wells 245 for the 110 total score repetitions
14 25.5 seconds of seconds is the time to beat and that belongs to another 17 year old
emma carey having a touch to go at wall walk we just saw that vamel o'brien on the right side
of your screen where she just got her chest it was like burpees inverted on the wall that's basically
the pace at which she was going on those wall walks now what i want to see is how does she look
on the thrusters what is her body positioning how's that lockout is it shaky or is it solid
mal o'brien on her round of eight see you to me getting back to the barbell this is where
tui has been able to cut into o'brien's lead and it's the pause overhead that's going to hurt her
that is going to add up so tia tumi on the left took a break now mal o'brien
is her goal right now is it's apparent that she's trying to go unbroken on everything
and touch and go on the wall the question is can she sustain them after watching what she did in
granite games i am going to say yes because there was many times when she would start an event and
would say too hot too fast too soon and she was able to hold on to it so now o'brien has proven
that she has the capacity to now the floor the crossfit games here in the coliseum for the
first time in two years might be a different story but we'll see mal o'brien through 56 of
the 110 total scored repetitions currently in her round of seven wall walks amanda barnhart
just moving her barbell on the left your screen she sits in fourth place fighting with brook
wells kathryn david's daughter who just dropped her barbell on the righter screen is in fifth
barnhart ninth overall after three events looking to stay inside the top ten and maybe move inside
the top five after this event she's strong strong athlete good conditioning has that swimming
background had a good event too a little off the pace at events two and three finding herself in
the position she is now but this barbell shouldn't really be an issue but it's the compounding effect
it's not just the wall walk itself it's not just a thruster but that give and take
between the two of them it adds up there's a lot of redundancy that just means the same
movement pattern and muscle groups being used in back to back movements for this coupling
both barnhart david's daughter are locked with brook wells for that third place spot
in this heat mal o'brien continuing to hold off tiatumi as mal o'brien is closing out her
round of seven one rep to go there tia toomey wow it's seven reps back mal o'brien back to the wall
for her round of six we saw the same thing that happened to emma carey now emma carey was breaking
up her thrusters but what's the what's the harder part of the movement that that no wrap so we got
to make sure is that your hand cannot move off of that tape line until both feet are touching the
wall that's where she got called back on and that's just a product of trying to move fast
all right and she's moving extremely fast here's the scary part for tia tubey if she wants to
win four in a row to start the day is that she's gonna have to make a move now because the hardest
part of this event for mal is those thrusters it's not the wall walks so tia's running out
of real estate which is that heavy thruster if she wants to keep pace with mel o'brien
has gained a little bit of ground here now just two reps back of mal o'brien
those are yeah but those are big reps right we talked about that two reps on a wall walk 20 to 30
two reps back of her taking a big break
now here's what you don't want to do just because you're going unbroken does not necessarily mean
you're going faster if you're resting more time between the wall walk and the thruster
so that you can go unbroken it's almost better to run to the bar hit a set maybe half the reps
rest another 10 seconds and go you'll save more time and actually more energy that way by getting
to the bar first so i hope mal is not resting more because she thinks going unbroken is faster
mal o'brien the first woman to advance to the second wall and start her round of five she got
another callback and that's just the first rep of every set she's trying to go fast she gets
her rhythm afterwards so but she needs to get rid of those right if your advantage is the wall walk
you cannot give it back to tia tumi who's running you down in the middle of the competition floor
see it's really still in second place it's not the time to beat as it's the kids who are taking
over here in event four emma carey the 17 year old along with mal o'brien 14 25.5 is your time to be
now o'brien this is her third career appearance at the games on her first as an individual
she competed twice in the teenage division she was fifth in the 14 to 15 year old division in
2019 and then fourth in 2018. gotta pick up that bar gotta pick up that bar five reps you've been
holding on up to this point it's only 15 left to go but the 40 you've already done up into
this point you got to have some confidence getting under that bar your wall walks are
fine just pick up that bar try to break spirits so they're not going to try to chase you down
five reps down for mal o'brien 20 reps to go
now into a round of four still ahead of tia toomey
catherine davis amanda barnhart brookwell still fighting for third
i think this could be the round where mal can separate herself just off not breaking spirits
is what for tia tumi but just deterring her for wanting to chase her down if you can get off
this wall right before she starts that might be enough to not want or have not have tia want to
run you down but she's got she's got to get here she's got to pick up the bar now if she's moving
back to the wall before t is done i think tia won't run her down at the end fourth rusher's
now for mal o'brien she's hung on for every set at 135 pounds that's it that's what i wanted to see
it's almost like being on a foot race but there's a there's a blind corner sprint to the corner as
fast as you can and then you can start slowing down as long as they don't see you they're not
going to run you down now o'brien 12 reps to go she is ahead of tiatumi who has won every event so
far here at the crossfit games now o'brien looking for her first career event win as an individual
if she hangs on here and is able to get it inside that 14 25.57 mark now o'brien will become
the youngest event winner ever at the crossfit games nine reps remain she's on a round of three
thrusters the crowd knows it everyone's getting on their feet they know it
val o'brien took a look at where tia toomey was
and she is right back to work
set a two here for o'brien
about a minute and a half less than a minute and a half before we hit emma carey's top time
one rep remains for mel o'brien
and as han solo once said you're all clear kid let's blow this thing and go home
score one for the youngsters mel o'brien will win event four
13 41.22 seconds for mal o'brien
tia tumi
is looking at a second place finish
and she will remain in the overall lead when it's you chasing down the most dominant other
female competitor that we've ever seen here uh in crossfit i saw you kind of looking over at her
but then at the end you guys also had a hug what's going through your mind when she's the person that
you're trying to catch uh i got out in front and i was like oh no i was like we still got like
nine more rounds but i just kept that consistent pace had my same strategy and it i mean obviously
i looked over to see where she was at it wasn't supposed to be like an aggressive or mean look but
yeah just to see where she was and it was really cool now you're one of the youngest competitors
that we have out on the field to play but you are not the only one and when you see
your counterpart in the first heat do incredibly well too does that light a different kind of fire
in you moving forward nope i'm always just paying attention to what i'm doing staying in my lane and
focusing on what i can do to do my best so congratulations thank you thank you