Icelandic Teens Take Titles at The Progrm's The Crown

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In today’s edition:

• The Prgrm “Crowns” Bjarni Leifs and Bergrós Björnsdóttir

• Can a strong Quarterfinals performance predict Games qualification for rookies?

• Amea Reyna suffered a stroke in utero. Now she’s an Adaptive CrossFit Games athlete

Nominate your affiliate as the Morning Chalk Up’s Affiliate of the Month for May. Just drop us a note explaining why your gym should be featured.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I don't let my disability define my quality of life – I look at things I can't do and go into them thinking, how can I adapt and overcome?” - Amea Reyna, 2023 Second Fittest Woman, Multi-Extremity Division

COMPETITION

The Progrm’s “The Crown” Wraps, Icelandic Teens Bjarni Leifs and Bergrós Björnsdóttir Reign

The third iteration of The Progrm’s “The Crown” just went down in Spain, over Easter weekend. 

After four days of competition, two Icelandic athletes, Bjarni Leifs and Bergrós Björnsdóttir, headed home victorious. 

Like previous years, The Crown was host to a handful of some of the best teenage athletes in our sport, competing alongside one another, but also taking part in a retreat-style experience, combining recreation, and community building with CrossFit. 

• As one can tell from the documentary released last year on the event, A Champion’s Tale: The Story of the Crown, this is not a typical competition. 

Remind me: First taking place in 2019, The Crown has been a means of showcasing youth in the sport of fitness, allowing them to compete alongside others their age and form connections along the way. 

After taking some time to recuperate and reorganize after COVID, in 2023 The Crown re-emerged in a big way. The event was rebranded. The field was minimized. The location of the event was changed to the “Nike Castle,” a literal stone fortress in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. 

With this new venue and only a small group of 10 competitors, founder of The Program and event organizer John Singleton was able to create a unique weekend showcasing young talent and giving competitors an experience that would stick with them long after leaving the island. (Picture sunrise running on the beach, post-competition pool hangs, and ice-bath challenges.)

• “We’re able to do stuff that you classically wouldn't be able to do with a competition. We went canyoning, cooking events, Wim Hoff events, it gives a good experience to those athletes,” Singleton tells the Morning Chalk Up.

Building community: Singleton sees that while allowing the athletes to compete against one another is one minor component of The Crown’s mission, another one is facilitating bonds and friendships through the four-day experience.

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SPEED READS

Unofficial 2024 Team Quarterfinals Leaderboard (Unofficial, leaderboard to be set no later than April 15, 2024)

🚨🚨Rogue Invitational 2024 Volunteer Applications: In case you missed the announcement, the Rogue Invitational is going international in 2024, and you can be there, behind the scenes, for all the action in Aberdeen, Scotland. Get more information and apply now.

Hustle Up App Named New Games Sponsor: On Friday, CrossFit named Hustle Up as an Official Sponsor of the Masters, Teenage, and Adaptive CrossFit Games.

• From the press release: “ This newly formed partnership will extend beyond the CrossFit Games, as Hustle Up will also be an Official Sponsor of the CrossFit Semifinals and will provide helpful resources for CrossFit affiliates.”

👟👟 Reebok Revives the Nano UKNWN: Reebok launched the Nano UKNWN in 2020, and now it’s back by popular demand. Check out the design and order today.

West Coast Classic Private Suite Contest: Affiliate owners — learn how you can enter your gym for a chance to win a private suite in the "Tennis Stadium” at the West Coast Classic in Carson, CA.

• From the post: “1️⃣ Shoot us a DM from your gym’s or coach’s account and we’ll hook you up with an exclusive code. 2️⃣ The gym that purchases the most tickets with their code get access to an exclusive suite for all 3 days of the West Coast Classic. With seating for 15 and standing room for up to 30, the whole crew is invited!”

✍️ Now Hiring: PRVN Fitness is growing and wants to hire a new coach with a background in online programming and community building. The hours and location are flexible. Want to be part of the PRVN Team? Send your application now.

🎥🥇 Chasing the Podium: Check out Finnish CrossFit Games veteran and endurance master Jonne Koski’s new YouTube series, “Chasing the Podium.” The episodes will follow Koski as he attempts to qualify for his 10th Games.

ICYMI: What can we learn about scaling from CrossFit Games athletes?

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Can We Predict CrossFit Games Rookie Qualifiers as Early as Quarterfinals?

With the Individual Quarterfinals looming and the CrossFit Games inching ever closer, fans and pundits are beginning to focus more attention on the top of the leaderboard. 

Who’s going to make it out of Semifinals? Who is going to earn their tickets to the CrossFit Games? 

As we gather more data within the new Open-Quarters-Semis-Games format, we’ve become curious about the correlations between future Games rookies and their performances in Quarterfinals.

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PROFILE

From a Stroke in Utero to a Place on the CrossFit Games Podium: Amea Reyna’s Story

Amea Reyna came into the world already battling from behind – she just didn't know it.

When Reyna’s mother was pregnant with her, something very unusual happened – Amea had a stroke. A perinatal stroke is quite rare, affecting between 1 in 2500, to 1 in 4000 live births in the United States every year. 

It occurs when a baby loses blood supply to the brain in the late portion of pregnancy. It is one of the most common causes of hemiplegia, the condition that Amea has dealt with her entire life. 

According to the Cleveland Clinic, hemiplegia is paralysis that affects one side of the body, and can affect the face, arms, legs, or all three.

• Amea described it to the Morning Chalk Up: “My mom didn't notice it until I started crawling. She noticed that on my left side, I would draw my left arm in and drag my left leg. Growing up, I would have to wear these boots that would correct my walking and heel-toe movement because I don't naturally have that movement.”

• “The doctors initially told me that I would have a lot of trouble walking and I would have to stay small because if I ever got bigger, my body wouldn't be able to support myself,” she shared. “When I walk, I walk very flat-footed – I don't have a lift on my toe. Also, I walk with a limp, and my left side is still very much smaller.”

Amea’s mother had thought that she was healthy and this might go away, but they took her to a specialist, did an MRI, and discovered she had scar tissue on the right side of her brain. 

Reyna had experienced a stroke at some point while she was in utero, and she was going to have to deal with the symptoms for the rest of her life.

When Reyna was ten years old, her mother started going to CrossFit.

Amea has great memories of this time: “I've been watching her since I was 10. She is 41 now, and she can still outwork me. It's so cool.”

HIGHLIGHTS

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

• 💪Nice work to this super-fit family: CrossFit Games masters athlete Christophe Besnard and his daughter getting after it!

• Great job to Games athlete Alex Gazan on all her heavy lifts lately (😮‍💨), but most especially her 195-pound/88-kilo snatch.

• Congratulations to Brittany of Requisite Fitness in Philadelphia, PA, on the 90-kilo/198-pound hang snatch.

• Props to Angelo Dicicco and the rest of the Mayhem crew for pushing through mishaps (😬) and still getting it done.

• 🍼Congratulations to Matt and Niki Brazier on the birth of their new baby.