How to Watch the CrossFit Games Semifinals: Week 2

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• Next up in our 2024 CrossFit Games Semifinals preview series is the Oceania Semifinal by Torian Pro. When the dust settles in Brisbane, four men, four women, and three teams will have Games tickets in hand for this summer.

• Jeff Adler, Pat Vellner, Brent Fikowski — These Canadian men are often at the top of the CrossFit Games leaderboard, but what about the Canadian women? Camille Leblanc-Bazinet won in 2014, but now, a decade later, the Canadian women’s contingent is poised to make a splash.

• Former NOBULL CMO Todd Meleney opens a new brand marketing agency, World on Fire.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Khan Porter, you LEGEND! A ticket back to the Games and an event record!“ - Jeremy Austin’s “legendary” call during event 7 of the 2016 Pacific Regional (that year was one of five Games qualifications as an individual for Porter, he’ll look for his third on team Raw Iron Mayhem Thunder this week)

CROSSFIT SEMIFINALS

2024 CrossFit Games Oceania Semifinal Preview: How To Watch, Rosters, and Schedule

The 2024 Oceania Semifinal by TorianPro will begin this Friday, May 24, at the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane, Australia. This event marks the beginning of the second of three weeks of CrossFit Semifinal competitions. The other event this weekend is the North America West Semifinals by West Coast Classic. 

The top 40 men and women individual athletes in the Oceania region will come together down under to fight through six events, and the top four from each division will advance to the 2024 CrossFit Games in Fort Worth, TX. 

Top 10 Men and Women, Ranked by Quarterfinals Finish 

1. Ricky Garard | Madeline Sturt

2. Jay Crouch | Grace Walton

3. Bayley Martin | Katelin Van Zyl 

4. Ben Fowler | Daisy McDonald

5. Zac Thomas | Erika Palatsy 

6. Luke De Jongel | Julia Hannaford

7. Peter Ellis | Jess Green

8. Andrew Sambell | Danielle Ford

9. Bailey O’Brien | Briony Challis

10. Josh Dommersnes | Ella Price

Women’s Division

The Favorite

Katelin van Zyl: All eyes are on van Zyl on the women’s side of the competition. She came in fourth place during the 2023 Oceania Semifinal behind three athletes who will either sit out the 2024 season or have switched regions or to the team division.

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SPEED READS

🧑‍💻👩‍💻 CrossFit HQ is Hiring: CrossFit LLC is currently advertising six positions in IT, including several senior engineers in DevOps and software, as well as additional positions in marketing.

🥇🎟️ 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.’”

• Check out the full line and grab some new kicks and other gear as Reebok also pledged to donate $10,000 to The Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth (BAGLY)!

🏆 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:

• Underdogs Athletics | PRVN Fitness | HWPO Training

• Brute Strength | Training Think Tank | Invictus Masters

• Mayhem Athlete | Drop us a note and we’ll add yours.

🏋️‍♀️🎓 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: Live CrossFit competition is back, and Week 1 of the CrossFit Games Semifinals gave us plenty to analyze. Let’s nerd out on the impressive stats out of Europe.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Meet the Canadian Women Set to Storm the North American Semifinals

The Semifinal stage of the 2024 CrossFit Games season is in full swing, and the next two weekends feature stacked leaderboards at both the North American West and East events.  

• A quick scan of the women’s rosters at both Semifinals reveals that four of the top 10 qualifiers in North America East and three of the top 10 in North America West hail from Canada. 

On a worldwide level, the overall Quarterfinals winner was Ontario native Emma Lawson. Additionally, 23-year-old Erica Folo — who competed at Semifinals on a team the last two seasons — was 12th, and four-time Games athlete Emily Rolfe was 13th.

In total, eight Canadian women will compete at the North America West Semifinals and five in North America East, all of whom qualified in the top 13 spots out of Quarters.

• The West: Rolfe (3rd), Hattie Kanyo (6th), Gabrielle Spenst (7th), Sydney Michalyshen (13th), Janie Cheverie (16th), Lynsey Martin (19th), Amy Hosking (27th), Sienna Lalonde (39th)

• The East: Lawson (2nd), Folo (4th), Carolyne Prevost (6th), Anikha Greer (9th), Chloe Gauvin-David (13th)

Why This Is Significant

Historically, Canadian women haven’t been a huge force at the top of the leaderboard in the sport.

Canada has crowned one women’s CrossFit Games champion, which came in 2014 when Camille Leblanc-Bazinet from Quebec stood atop the podium. Since then, the only other time a Canadian female has placed in the top three at the Games was Emma Lawson last summer.

In fact, between 2017 and 2021, not a single Canadian woman even finished inside the top 10 at the CrossFit Games.

CROSSFIT SEMIFINALS

How to Watch the 2024 CrossFit Games Semifinals

The 2024 CrossFit Open and Quarterfinals have come and gone. We are now at the in-person stage of the CrossFit Games season.

Beginning last week and continuing through the next two weekends, the 40 fittest men and women and the 30 fittest teams in five remaining regions will throw down in a bid to earn one of the coveted Games tickets. To keep up with all the action, we’ve put together a complete guide to watching the 2024 CrossFit Semifinals.

How to Watch

CrossFit has announced that every Semifinal event will be live-streamed, but the schedule is not uniform across all regions.

• Europe, North America East, and North America West will feature a live stream on Saturday and Sunday of every heat of every event. On Friday, however, there will be no live stream. Instead, Chase Ingraham and Adrian Conway will host Semifinals Kickoff Shows.

• Africa, Asia, Oceania, and South America will have a live stream each day, including Friday.

• Additional coverage blocks are available on ESPN+ on Semifinals Saturdays and Sundays for Europe, North America West, and North America West.

Live stream coverage will be available across many platforms, including the CrossFit Games website, the CrossFit Games App, Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube.

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INDUSTRY

Former NOBULL Executive, Todd Meleney, Launches Boutique Brand Marketing Agency ‘World On Fire’

One year ago, Todd Meleney resigned as Chief Marketing Officer at NOBULL. Now, he and his team have unveiled a new brand marketing agency, World On Fire.

Remind me: Meleney resigned from NOBULL in May 2023 after being one of the original NOBULL team members. 

• Before his role as CMO with the company, he was the brand manager and was hired as the company’s first employee in 2013. 

NOBULL was the title sponsor of the CrossFit Games from 2021-2023 and underwent rapid growth in short order. 

• The company also issued a round of layoffs following Meleney’s exit and has more recently merged with Tom Brady’s wellness company TB12. 

A year in the works: Meleney said he left NOBULL and immediately had clients following his departure but took the year to build the agency alongside his team. 

• “We were just focused on building something unique and doing the work before talking about it or celebrating it. Our focus really has been on our clients for the last year,” Meleney told Morning Chalk Up, in an interview. 

The focus of World On Fire is on “early stage brands,” particularly in fitness that are seeking to establish their identity and communicate their story, said Meleney. 

The boutique brand marketing agency already has a roster of clients, including Ice Barrel, HWPO Training, Rogue Fitness, Kane Footwear, and ROKA, among others.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

• 🎂Happy birthday to Zoe Warren.

• Check out Brent Fikowski’s biceps rope curls. A great repurpose for that shredded old rope in your garage. 💪

• Nice work to Games athlete Anne-laure Coutenceau on completing the Adaptive Division Semifinals events.

• Congratulations to Micah from Adventure CrossFit in Redding, CA, on his first ring muscle-up.

• 🙌Congratulations to Makay, a new coach at CrossFit East Nashville in Nashville, TN.