December 12, 2018 // 15:00 UTC

Dubai CrossFit Championship

Dubai CrossFit Championship starts a new era in competitive CrossFit as it is the first CrossFit sanctioned event, where athletes can achieve places to the CrossFit Games. DXB Fitness Championship has drawn attention of the most dedicated CrossFit fans in the previous years but it is still relatively unknown for the masses. If the fans were upset that CrossFit inc. decided to stop Regionals events, which have been very popular especially in Europe, Dubai CrossFit Championship might provide treatment. The level of competition is higher than in the Regionals with names like Fraser, Gudmundson, Briggs, Sigmundsdottir, and a bunch of other Games-level athletes competing. We came to see the competition and will report the main events from Dubai.

The team competition is different than we have seen before in Regionals and CrossFit Games. Instead of doing group workouts, the teams are doing the same workouts as individuals. The result of a team is the combined result of the team members. Hence, the competition searches the team that consists of the fittest individuals but might not necessarily be the best team. And don't take this wrong, it is interesting to see a team competition that is so different from team competitions we have seen before and how this type of scoring method works in practice.

Wednesday:

Wednesday's events were closed from public. Both of the events included ocean swimming in pretty harsh surf. Matt Fraser took the win in event one but was left nineth in the second event. Greek Alex Kotoulas (3rd & 1st) and Australian Matt McLeod (2nd & 2nd) were consistent in both events and share the lead after the first day. Sam Briggs leads in the women's division with two second place finishes. She's followed by an Australian duo Harriet Roberts and Jamie Greene. Sara Sigmundsdottir, who won the first event, was left 16th in the second and stands on the 6th place after the day one.

Event 1:

For Time (15 Minute Time Cap)

21 - 15 - 9

Dual KB Snatch 24 kg / 16 kg
Dual KB Front Squat 24 kg / 16 kg
350m swim

Event 2:

For Time (15 Minute Time Cap)

800m Assault Air Runner
350m swim

Thursday:

Thursday's only event was 8k run. Doesn't sound like much, we're talking about the fittest people in the world after all. However, let's throw in soft sand terrain, up and down hills, and a weighted west for the first four kilometers and we have a test. One example, how unpleasant the sand terrain was to run was when we saw Laura Horvath finishing her run without shoes. She started with her shoes on but finished the run bare footed. So, if someone finds a pair of trainers from the Dubai desert, those are Laura Horvath's.

In the men's division Brendan Willis won the running event. The winner of European Regional this year, Roman Khrennikov, finished second and winner of this year's Meridian Regional Willy Georges finished third. The overal standing is very tight at the top as the top-6 stands inside 12-points. Georges leads, and he's followed by Gudmundson, Fraser, Mayer, Kotoulas and McLeod.

Mikaela Norman showed her endurance capacity by taking a clear win at the desert before Sam Briggs, who finished almost two minutes behind the Swede. Jamie Greene finished third over four minutes after Briggs, which tells something about the pace that the first two held at the desert. Sam Briggs leads the pack after two days. She's followed by Jamie Greene and The System athlete Karin Frey.

Event 3:

8K Desert Run

4K w/ 20/10 lbs plate carrier
4K without

Time Cap: 90 min.

Friday:

The third competition day started with an event, where athletes had 5 minutes to find their 1RM snatch. Mia Åkerlund took the event win in the women’s division with a 104kg lift.

In the men’s division we saw several over 135kg lifts. The event winner, who else but Matthew Fraser lifted 137kg.

At the end of the event we saw a 150kg snatch by CrossFit Pro 1’s Tola Morakinyo, which is the all time heaviest in the official CF licenced competitions.

The second event on Friday included heavy yoke carries in which some of the athletes seemed to struggle. Parallette HSPUs were also a slowing factor for some athletes. But when it came to the top athletes, those were business as usual. In the women’s division Jamie Greene took an easy event win. And in the men’s division, Matthew Fraser took the second event win of the day.

The third and the last event of the day was a brutal combination of SkiErg, RowErg, and BikeErg. Many athletes were seemingly in their pain after the effort. Event winners were Laura Horvath and Roman Khrennikov, both known for their endurance capacity.

Other consistent performers on Friday were Sam Briggs, who took 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the events 5 and 6. Sigmundsdottir, Frey, and Pichelli also placed in the top 10 in all three events on Friday. On the men’s side Willy Georges placed 4th, 3rd, and 6th and B.K. Gudmundson 6th, 2nd, and 5th in today’s events.

After the third competition day the top thee for men looks like this

Matthew Fraser
Willy Georges
B.K. Gudmundson

And for women like this

Samantha Briggs
Jamie Greene
Sara Sigmundsdottir

Event 4:

5 min to establish a 1RM Snatch

Event 5:

For time:

20m Yoke Carry @280/180 kg
15 parallette HSPU (regular for men / 20kg plate + abmat for women)

Then

3 rounds:

15 box jumps over (30 / 24)
10 Ring Muscle ups

Then

20m Yoke Carry @ 280/180 kg

Event 6:

For Time

7 Minute Time Cap for Women / 6 Minute Time Cap for Men

500m SkiErg
500m Row
1000m BikeErg

Saturday:

The final day started with three rounds of rope climbs and handstand walk. In the men’s division who else but Matt Fraser took the event win before the former gymnast Alec Smith. The star of the first day, Alex Kotoulas showed impressive HS walk skills, and took the third place in the event 7. On the women’s side Laura Horvath was missing from the starting line and apparently had decided to withdraw. Jamie Greene won the event in women’s division and as Sam Briggs finished 13th, Jamie Greene moved to the first place, but only for a while. In the event 8, Sam Briggs showed again what she’s been made of and took another event win and returned to the first place overall. Kara Frey, who’s starting to make a name for herself continued strong performances by finishing sixth and third in the first two events of the final day. The event 8 on the men’s side was again Matt Fraser’s cup of tea. Roman Khrennikov finished second and Paul Castillo from the earlier heat finished third.

The third event of the day was a heavy mixture of two famous benchmark WODs, Grace and Isabel. 15 snatches 90kg / 60kg and 15 clean & jerk 110kg / 80kg with six minute time cap. Dani Speegle was fastest finishing in only a bit over four minutes. Sara Sigmundsdottir was second and Swedish powerhouse Mia Åkerlund third. On the men’s side Matt Fraser had decided that he has stopped taking anything but wins. The rest of the pack could fight for the other places. Willy Georges and Ruan Duvenage were second and third in the event 9.

The final was extremely exciting especially on the women’s division as the top-4 was inside seven points before the event. Sam Briggs and Jamie Greene attacked the workout and went side by side to the wall balls, where Sam Briggs made the difference. Sara Sigmundsdottir came from behind and caught up Jamie Greene. Eventually they ended up sharing the second place. Matt Fraser followed his game plan and took the fourth event win of the day. Travis Mayer took second place and eight athletes shared the third place.

So, Matt Fraser and Sam Briggs are the first athletes who have secured their spots in 2019 CrossFit Games. Greene and Sigmunsdottir took the other two podium places on the women’s side and Gudmundson and Georges on the men’s side. The overall level of the competition was much tougher than in any previous Regional competitions. Many familiar Regional and even Games athlete found themselves from the early heats. It remains to be seen, are all the new CrossFit sanctioned competitions able to lure athletes of this caliber to compete, or was it the prize money that brought this many merited athletes to Dubai.