Luka Ðukić and Karin Frey Top Podium at 2024 Dubai Fitness Championship

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• Luka Ðukić and Karin Frey took the top podium spots at the 2024 Dubai Fitness Championship. Check out our full recap below.

• Can a fully online system qualify the fittest to the CrossFit Games? We look to recent history for answers.

• Crossfit coach Parker Fontecchio climbed the equivalent height of Mt. Everest in the form of 2,296 rope climbs over the course of only 25 hours. Get the full story today.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“This weekend I won our favorite one, yet I would swap it for one second with you. I love you.” - Luka Ðukić on Instagram following his first-place finish at the 2024 Dubai Fitness Championship

COMPETITIONS

Luka Ðukić, Karin Frey Win 2024 Dubai Fitness Championship

The Dubai Fitness Championship, one of the largest offseason competitions of the year, took place last weekend and featured 30 men and 30 women facing off in Dubai, U.A.E. 

• As is the case every year, this competition showcases athletes throughout the world, challenging them in unique ways through the programming and memorable events that incorporate the culture and stunning landscape of Dubai. 

This year was no different, as athletes took part in nine events over the course of three days, involving an obstacle course, heavy lifts, sprints, and views of the city and its surroundings.

Day One

The annual competition began with Event 1 being held on the 50th floor of the Palm Tower.

High above the city, overlooking the Aura Skypool – the world’s highest 360-degree infinity pool — athletes completed a 20-minute FTP Test (functional threshold power test) on Concept2 Bike Ergs. Oda Lundekvam won the event for the women, while Matilde Garnes and Karin Freyova tied for second. 

Michal Wesolowski won the men’s event, besting runner-up Benoit Boulanger and Nika Maisuradze, who came in third.

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SPEED READS

🐒💪 Help Third Monkey Functional Fitness: Earlier this month, Third Monkey Functional Fitness, home of Spring Lake CrossFit, suffered two fires that severely damaged the building and the equipment inside. Learn more about the gym and donate here. Stay tuned for a deeper dive into this story later in the week.

🗳️ 🏆 2024 Gym of the Year Giveaway: FITAID’s annual Gym of the Year Giveaway is on now, and they will be choosing one lucky gym to get a swagged-out prize pack. Follow this link and fill out the form to be entered to win. And learn more here!

• Also, LIFEAID co-founders Aaron Hinde and Orion Melehan will be speaking about their experiences and the development of their business at BEVNET Live, December 8-10.

📨💰PushPress Giveaway for GymHappy Clients: Want to win $500? GymHappy clients can check out the details.

🎄🥦 Free Holiday Nutrition Guide: Check out this free nutrition guide from Training Think Tank Nutrition, which offers tips on managing holiday travel, get-togethers, parties, and more.

ICYMI: Two-time CrossFit Games champ Katrin Davidsdottir announced her retirement last week. Please take a look back at her legendary career.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Can a Completely Online System Qualify the Fittest Directly to the Games?

Under the 2025 CrossFit Games rules, a significant majority of athletes who qualify for the CrossFit Games will do so through an entirely online process. 

This isn’t an unprecedented move for CrossFit. 

• In 2019 and 2020, athletes were able to qualify for the Games straight from the Open (along with winners from Sanctional events), and in 2021 about 50 percent of the Games field qualified through online Semifinals.

It’s easy to be pessimistic about the new approach. 

In the Semifinals era with multiple qualification stages after the Open, we have routinely seen elite athletes posting pedestrian results in the Open. 

• In 2024, 17 of the men and only seven women who qualified for the CrossFit Games finished in the top 30 of the CrossFit Open. 2024 was also the first year where the men’s and women’s winners of the Open failed to qualify for the CrossFit Games.

As we speculate on what could be in 2025, looking back to past seasons could foreshadow what we see from a competition standpoint in the new year.

The Online Semifinals in 2021

The 2021 Games field was composed of an even split between athletes who qualified through online Semifinals and in-person Semifinals. 

• That year, both European Semifinals, one North American Semifinal, and Semifinals from Asia and South America were held in an online format with consistent programming. 

The women’s field at the 2021 CrossFit Games included 20 women who qualified from the online Semifinals.

PROFILE

Don’t Try This at Home: CrossFit Coach Climbs Height of Mount Everest in Rope Climbs, Winds Up in Hospital for Five Days

2,296: That’s how many rope climbs Parker Fontecchio did on November 20th.

Yes, in an effort to raise money for Movember, a nonprofit that supports men’s health, the CrossFit Level 2 coach and athlete at CrossFit Tempe in Tempe, AZ, decided to climb the equivalent height of Mount Everest (29,032 feet) in rope climbs.

The Details

Fontecchio completed all 2,296 rope climbs in 25 hours and 40 minutes, raising $6,000 for men’s mental health in the process. 

His original plan was to complete 15-foot rope climbs, but after about five hours, he decided to switch to 12-foot rope climbs to finish the task because he had tweaked his biceps.

• “The hardest moment of the climb was at about 3 a.m. I had 600 climbs left, and I felt like I couldn’t do it anymore,” he said. “Everything hurt, and my biceps needed to be massaged after every time up the rope. I completely broke down in tears.”

To save you from doing the math, this means Fontecchio did one rope climb approximately every 40 seconds for 25-plus hours. 

• He added: “The plan was to do two reps almost touch and go and then rest for about a minute. I was able to hold that pace for about 14 hours. Then we switched to doing singles going up about every 30 seconds.”

HIGHLIGHTS

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

• 💪Check out Australia's Julia Hannaford and Charlotte Baldwin mobbing through these power cleans, ending at 100 kilos/220 pounds.

• Nice work to Kelly Stone on these 97-kilo/215-pound push jerks. 

• Congratulations to Zhao Jinhong of China on this 113-kilo/249-pound clean and (squat) jerk world record.

• 🏆Congratulations to Fabian Beneito and all the podium finishers at the Iberian Throwdown in Spain last weekend.