Who Qualified for the CrossFit Games in Week 1?

May 20th, 2024

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • An action-packed weekend at the Europe Semifinal ended with some familiar faces on top of the podium and some newcomers punching their first-ever tickets to the CrossFit Games this summer.

  • Head Lifting Coach at HWPO Training, Aimee Anaya Everett, has some advice for you: Start taking your warm-ups more seriously.

  • The Asia Semifinal by Far East Throwdown wrapped in Busan, Korea. Asia’s top contenders secured their spots in Fort Worth, TX.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“A good mindset to have when warming up is – ‘earn your weight.’ Earn the weight increase.” - Aimee Anaya Everett, Head Lifting Coach, HWPO Training on being intentional as you prepare for a lifting session

CROSSFIT SEMIFINALS

Credit: Dave Shenton / @daveshenton / Instagram

2024 CrossFit Games Europe Semifinal Winners and Qualifiers: Laura Horvath and Lazar Dukic Reign Supreme

The 2023 Fittest Woman on Earth, Laura Horvath, proved she’s still at the top of her game against a stacked field at the 2024 CrossFit Games Europe Semifinal in Décines-Charpieu, France. 

Horvath dominated Day 3 on her way to victory, finishing the day’s events first, second, and second. She beat out last year’s Europe Semifinal champion, Poland’s Gabi Migala.

Not to be outdone, Serbia’s biggest CrossFit star, Lazar Ðukić — who was tied in points with Jelle Hoste after Day 2 — put forth three more consistent performances to pull himself away from Hoste and secure the overall win.

Third place belonged to Sweden’s Emma Tall and Finland’s Henrik Haapalainen.

Women’s Division

Laura Horvath started the day three points ahead of Migala, and the neck-and-neck battle continued during Event 4. 

  • Migala kept herself close to Horvath throughout but ultimately couldn’t keep with Horvath’s rowing pace — sub-1:50/500 meters on all three rows. Horvath won the event 11 seconds ahead of Migala.

After that, it was all Horvath. She won the final heat of Event 5 — an event with increasingly heavy snatches — while Migala had a costly no-rep on the final 175-pound barbell and finished fourth.

  • The final event of the day — a triplet of a 22-calorie Echo bike, 15 muscle-ups, and a 72-foot dumbbell walking lunge — belonged to Tall, helping her secure third overall. Horvath was right behind in second, and Migala, who has notoriously struggled with pulling, finished 10th.

Worth noting: The top time on Event 5, a repeat of the snatch ladder from the 2016 Regionals, belonged to Italy’s Elisa Fuliano in Heat 3. Her time — 5:01.24 — was 28 seconds faster than the top time from all regions in 2016, which was set by Australia’s Kara Saunder (5:29.82).

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SPEED READS

🥇🎟️ Week 1 of the 2024 CrossFit Games Semifinals is done and dusted in Europe and Asia. In case you missed the action, get caught up with event-by-event results and overall leaderboards for Asia and Europe.

🏳️‍🌈💛 Reebok Unveils “Unity by Reebok” for 2024 Pride: The collection, according to Reebok, “features expressive and colorful graphics inspired by the traditional tie-dyed garments seen within Pride parades across the globe, plus apparel featuring the collection’s mantra: ‘For Anybody and Everybody.’”

🤬🤔“Who the F*** is Victor Hoffer?: That’s what the European potential Games rookie titled the first video of his new YouTube series, the “Hoffer Project.” Check it out and give the French young gun a follow.

  • In the video, Hoffer said: “I can see so many changes every month, like a pace I can hold [now] or some [more] weight. Just to see the little things in training; it makes me happy, and…I have a smile [on my face]. I’m proud of what I do.”

🏆 TYR Wodapalooza Drops TYR Cup Details: The team at Loud and Live is dropping more info about the inaugural event this Fall. Stay in the know below:

  • With more details out in the world, the TYR Cup crew posted this hype video laying out everything you need to know. Check it out now!

  • The prize purse for the event will be $250,000, broken down as follows:

    • TYR Cup Champs: $160k per team

      Runner-ups: $40k per team

      MVP: $10k - Awarded to the individual with the greatest singular positive impact on their team’s success.

      The remaining $40k will be shared across the remaining division champs.

🏋️‍♀️📋 Training Camp Semifinalists: Several prominent training camps have dropped full rosters of their Semifinal-qualifying athletes. Check out the lists now:

🏋️‍♀️🎓 Pit Collegiate Throwdown: Designed to help fill in what some have described as the “lost years” for athletes aging up from the Teen to the Individual division, the Pit Collegiate Throwdown offers the opportunity for athletes 18-22 to throw down against their peers.

  • The online qualifier runs June 9-30, and the in-person finals will take place concurrently with the Pit Teen Throwdown from August 27-30. Learn more and get registered now!

ICYMI: Who are the top Semifinals qualifiers yet to compete at the CrossFit Games as an individual? (Some of them competed over the weekend and may not be in this category any longer.😄)

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Credit: @aimeeanayaeverett / Instagram

Make Every Lift Count: 5 Tips to Prepare Your Body and Mind for Effective Training

Do you go through a mindless warm-up or prepare intentionally for your training? 

Going into the gym with a standard warm-up to prepare your body for your day is great – whether you need 15 or 45 minutes. 

Some lifters have a very specific daily warm-up, while others vary it. 

  • This can include monostructural work, dynamic joint-specific work, static stretching, foam rolling, or perhaps some exercises you’re doing for prehab or rehab. 

Everyone has aches, mobility limitations, stiffness, and specific injuries or needs. 

It’s what you do when you get to the barbell that is often overlooked or rushed.

Once it is time to get on the barbell, do you:

  • Grab one out of the rack, load up your first warm-up weight, and start your snatches or clean and jerks?

  • Take big jumps and get to your working weight as soon as possible?

  • Feel awful on your first warm-up weights, but add weight and think it will improve as it gets heavier?

  • Don’t start focusing until you get to your “heavy weights”?

  • Finish snatching, then start your clean and jerks at the weight you last snatched?

Then I have some advice for you: Use an empty barbell and warm-up weights to prime your working sets and prepare your body and mind. This will only make you better at lifting. 

Not only does it help develop consistent movement patterns, but it also helps build the positional strength you need to sustain good technique into upper percentages. 

Let’s break this down.

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CROSSFIT SEMIFINALS

Credit: @crossfitgames / Instagram

2024 CrossFit Games Asia Semifinal Winners and Qualifiers: Seher Kaya and Ivan Kukartsev Come Out on Top

Heading into the 2024 Asia Semifinal by the Far East Throwdown in Busan, South Korea, all eyes were on Turkey’s Seher Kaya and Russia’s Artur Semenov.

Remind me: Kaya, a two-time CrossFit Games athlete who trains at CrossFit Oslo in Norway, finished 23rd at the Games last year and is easily Asia’s top CrossFit athlete ever. Semenov, meanwhile, has represented Asia at the Games the last two seasons.

  • However, after two days of competition in Korea, neither of them was in the driver’s seat.

Kaya sat in second, three points behind Korea’s Seungyeon Choi, a 2021 and 2022 CrossFit Games athlete who was sidelined last season because of a shoulder injury. Semenov was in fourth, 15 points away from the cutline.

But as Sunday played out — with three Games invites up for grabs on the women’s side and two on the men’s side — both Kaya and Semenov stepped up.

The result: After a tight back-and-forth battle, Kaya passed Choi for the overall win, and Semenov steadily climbed from fifth to second overall, punching his third ticket behind fellow Russian Ivan Kukartsev, who took first.

  • Worth noting: Kukartsev was a bit of a question mark heading into the weekend. The 26-year-old topped the Quarterfinals leaderboard in Asia (and was 88th worldwide); however, he had never competed at Semifinals as an individual before.

But after six events in Korea, Kukartsev proved he is legit and will join Semenov at the 2024 CrossFit Games in Fort Worth, TX, this summer. He is joined by Kaya, Choi, and third-place finisher Dawon Jung, who finally punched her ticket after missing Games qualification by just one spot in both 2022 and 2023.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

  • 🎂Happy birthday to James Sprague.

  • Nice work to Tayla of Ahika CrossFit in Australia on the heavy barbell work.

  • 🪓Check out Griffin Roelle, putting his fitness to good use.

  • Happy birthday to coach Zack from All Level CrossFit in Canada.

  • 🧟‍♀️Nice job to Lucy Campbell on her single-arm zombie squat clean cycling.