Get to Know 2024 HYROX World Champs, Megan Jacoby and Alexander Roncevic

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• We got a chance to chat with 2024 HYROX World Champions Megan Jacoby and Alexander Roncevic and learned about the growth of the sport and how they transitioned from other elite athletics to fitness racing.

• There may have been beasts in the East, but when it came to breaking Semifinal event records, the West was best for North American men. Learn more as we break it all down below.

• Daisy McDonald, a first-time Games qualifier from Australia, planned to graduate from university this year, but a third-place finish at Torian Pro changed that. The youngster put her final year on hold to train for Fort Worth this summer (and then back to school, of course).

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’m looking forward to a swimming event or something really Gamesy. Something that you’re never going to see at a Semifinals. I want to have lots of fun.” - Australian rookie Daisy McDonald on what she hopes to see in Games programming this year.

COMPETITIONS

HYROX Is on the Rise: Get to Know 2024 World Champions Megan Jacoby and Alexander Roncevic

Megan Jacoby and Alexander Roncevic took second place in their respective divisions at the 2023 HYROX World Championship. This year, they returned to stand on top of the podium at the sport’s pinnacle event. 

HYROX originated in Germany in 2017 and has quickly grown into one of the most popular fitness sports globally, recently expanding to major cities across the United States. 

The World Championship was held on June 7 in Nice, France, and featured a $150,000 prize pool. 

Remind me: The first-ever HYROX race in 2017 had 650 participants. 

In the 2024/2025 season, HYROX expects to host 425,000 athletes across five continents. This number represents a potential 100 percent participant growth year-over-year. 

• There have been 45 races this season, and 85 are planned for the 2024/2025 season, 11 of which will be in North America.

A MESSAGE FROM GOODSPORT

New Research Reveals Unique Electrolyte Profile Found in GoodSport®Hydrates Better Than Leading Sports Drinks and Water

Groundbreaking research from Arizona State University's Hydration Science Lab examined the effectiveness of sports drinks based on their electrolyte profiles.

Most sports drinks rely on either sodium or potassium as their primary electrolyte to enhance hydration. The lab compared water, a leading sodium-based sports drink, a leading potassium-based sports drink, and GoodSport®, a drink containing both sodium and potassium.

Revealed at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, the study showed GoodSport® hydrated significantly better and longer than the other drinks due to its unique combination of sodium and potassium. GoodSport® also contains four other essential electrolytes.

“We evaluated several sports drinks to identify which electrolytes or combinations would hydrate better, and it was empirically evident that GoodSport®, with its optimal levels of sodium and potassium, as well as other electrolytes, hydrated better and longer,” said Dr. Stavros Kavouros, lead researcher and Professor of Nutrition at Arizona State University.

SPEED READS

💪🎟️ Rogue Invitational Tickets Going Fast: The Rogue Invitational is heading to Aberdeen, Scotland, this November, 8-10 at P&J Live. Make sure to get your tickets now before they’re gone for good.

🧑‍💻👩‍💻 Upcoming CrossFit Webinars: Check out these two upcoming events from CrossFit and The Professional Coach:

• “The CrossFit Medical Society and How It Will Impact You”—Thursday, June 20, 2 p.m. PST (3 p.m. MST, 4 p.m. CST, and 5 p.m. EST).

• “Coaching Adaptive Athletes, With Kevin Ogar”—Wednesday, June 26, 12 p.m. PST (1 p.m. MST, 2 p.m. CST, 3 p.m. EST).

🎟️🎫TYR Wodapalooza SoCal Update: Tickets for the inaugural TYR Wodapalooza SoCal, September 20-22 in Huntington Beach, CA, are live! Grab your seats now.

ICYMI: Every season, a few “Quiet Qualifiers” secure their Games spot without the highs and lows typical of the podium battles and the cutline. Check out our profile on six of these athletes—including a few surprises!

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Beasts in the East, but West is Best?: Comparing the North American Men’s Semifinals Performances

In the lead-up to the 2024 CrossFit Games Semifinals, it was common to hear analysts talking about how stacked the North America East field looked. 

Indeed, the strength of field calculations bore that out and North America East was allocated the largest number of Games tickets this year. 

• But, North America West put up the top marks in the 2024 Semifinals.

Standardized across all regions, for this comparison we only used the results of Events 2 through 5 at Semifinals. 

• Jeffrey Adler set the record on Event 1 in North America East, with a time of 20:28. However, we cannot fairly compare this event due to the different running courses. Athletes in North America West ran up and down stairs in the soccer stadium, and the fastest time was three minutes slower at 23:28, set by James Sprague.

Using data from Fran Lung Analytics, we calculated the average scores of all athletes in both regions. 

A MESSAGE FROM WODIFY

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CROSSFIT GAMES

CrossFit Games Rookie Spotlight: Australia’s Daisy McDonald Defers Final Year at University, Prepares for First Games Appearance

In her second Semifinal appearance, Australia’s Daisy McDonald secured a third-place finish and her first ticket to the Games at the Oceania Semifinal by Torian Pro. 

The former high-level gymnast, McDonald is no stranger to elite competition.

•  “I did gymnastics for 13-14 years. I competed for Victoria (Australia) at the National Championships all the way up to Level 10,” she told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview. (Editor’s Note: Gymnasts who reach “Level 10” have demonstrated the skills necessary to qualify for an Olympic team.)

After retiring from gymnastics at the end of high school in 2019, McDonald wanted to find a new avenue to compete, so her mother and brother encouraged her to join them at Wolfe Den CrossFit, their local box.

• “I remember my dad put the CrossFit Games on the TV, and I was like, ‘I really want to go there; that would be sick,’” she said. 

Two months after discovering CrossFit, the COVID pandemic swept the globe, and McDonald’s home city of Melbourne was hit with the longest lockdown in the world at 262 days. 

Making Use of Lockdown

With a well-equipped home gym and a whole lot of time on her hands, McDonald passed the time by working out as she shares: 

“We went in and out of lockdown for a year and a half,” McDonald said. “Mom is big into CrossFit, too, so there was a little bit of clashing going on [between] mom and daughter in terms of when we were each going to use the gym [at home].”

HIGHLIGHTS

Celebrating a PR, hosting a fundraiser, this, that, or otherwise? Send us a tip.

• 🎂Happy belated birthday to Ro Scott, and congratulations on the 147-kilo/325-pound front squat birthday PR.

• Nice job to Omar of CrossFit 4 Life in Argentina on the 150-kilo/330-pound hang clean.

• Great work to adaptive Games athlete Michael Witous on the four-rep back squat at 188 kilos/415 pounds.

• Congratulations to Birta of CrossFit Butcher’s Lab, who just completed a half marathon.

• 🏋️‍♀️Congratulations to Mirjam von Rohr on becoming a Swiss weightlifting champion and setting a record in the clean and jerk in the 71-kilo division.