How to Watch the CrossFit Games Semifinals: Week 3

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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 Africa Semifinal by Renegade Games. When the dust settles in South Africa, the top man, woman, and team will have Games tickets in hand for this summer.

• Tanya Wagner won the 2009 CrossFit Games and is a 16-year affiliate owner. She spoke with the Morning Chalk Up about what’s changed (a lot) and what hasn’t (the important stuff) during her career in the sport.

• A coach at CrossFit Algoa in South Africa reached out to Athena Perez about a T-shirt. What happened next will surprise you.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It’s easy to love working out or going to the gym yourself. But everything about being a coach and owning a gym, the way we do it, has to do with serving and giving to our members. Teaching, giving, and listening is what it’s all about.” - Tanya Wagner on gym ownership and coaching

CROSSFIT SEMIFINALS

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

The 2024 Africa Semifinal, hosted by Rebel Renegade Games, will be held at the Emerald Resort & Casino in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa, from Friday, May 31, through Sunday, June 2. Along with North America East and South America, it is one of three competitions on the third and final weekend of the CrossFit Semifinals.

• With the male and female winners from 2023 out this year, the coveted top spot is up for grabs. 

Kealan Henry won in 2022 and is the only athlete with individual CrossFit Games experience in the field. However, all four athletes from the Cape CrossFit Wolfpack team that finished 31st at the Games in 2023 are competing as individuals this year. 

Athletes in Africa will be tested with the six standardized events featured across all of the regions, and only one man and woman from the 40-athlete field will advance to the 2024 CrossFit Games. 

Let’s take a look at the contenders.

Top 10 Men and Women, Ranked by Quarterfinals Finish

1. Kealan Henry | Christina Livaditakis 
2. Ruan Duvenage | Gemma Rader 
3. Callum Deeble | Dina Swift 
4. Darren Zurnamer | Gilmari Reyneke 
5. Michael Van Tonder | Reegan Finkel 
6. Justin Swart | Leeverne Engelbrecht 
7. Josh Kernot | Emma Holliday 
8. Ruan Potgieter | Tanha Bouffe 
9. CJ Ward | Suzaan Jacobs 
10. Dane Naude | Brady Finkel 

Women’s Division

The Favorite

Christina Livaditakis:  The only athlete in the top 10 of Quarterfinals outside of South Africa, Livaditakis represents Zimbabwe and trains out of CrossFit CrossAxed in Australia.

• The 27-year-old finished second in the Africa Semifinal in 2022, fourth in 2023, and is currently ranked 62nd in the World Wide Rankings.  

Worth noting: Michelle Basnett and Mariska Smit finished first and second in 2023, respectively. Neither are competing this year, leaving a void at the top. The only woman who finished ahead of Livaditakis is our top challenger, Gilmari Reyneke.

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SPEED READS

💪💙 Davidsdottir Injury Update: In case you missed it during a busy Semifinals weekend, Katrin Davidsdottir posted an update on her injury and plans for treatment.

• From the post: “I am going to be getting a surgery next week, which I will share more on exact details later on what we decided would be best for me & give me the best future opportunities! I have never had a major surgery & I am so nervous, BUT I am also so hopeful of the life quality it can give me.

🧑‍💻👩‍💻 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.

🏳️‍🌈💛 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.

ICYMI: Week 2 action at the CrossFit Games Semifinals gave us plenty to analyze. Let’s nerd out on these 10 impressive stats out of North America West.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Interview: 2009 CrossFit Games Champion Tanya Wagner Stays True to CrossFit’s Roots

From competing and winning the CrossFit Games to 10 years with CrossFit media and 16 years and counting of gym ownership, there isn’t much Tanya Wagner hasn’t done in CrossFit.

She recently sat down with the Morning Chalk Up to talk about what’s changed and what’s stayed the same.

The Early Days

Like many former college athletes, Wagner found herself “floundering” as she tried to figure out what to do after competitive sports. 

Wagner discovered CrossFit as a young teacher in 2007. She and her husband, Josh, had been doing the 300 Spartan workouts for a few weeks “and wanted to find more workouts like that,” she said.

• “Once we stumbled across the website, we never left. Josh would make up workouts and put together some doozies, or we would do the .com workout,” Wagner, now 42, said. 

Curious to see how she stacked up against others following CrossFit.com, the former college soccer player showed up at Dave Castro’s ranch in Aromas, CA, and registered to participate in the 2008 CrossFit Games.

Wagner finished second. 

• “It was a big surprise,” Wagner said. But it was also validation that the training she had been doing was working.

The following year, CrossFit introduced a qualification process. Athletes would have to advance to the Games through a regional competition.

Wagner qualified in 2009 and then won the CrossFit Games that year.

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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.

COMMUNITY

Small Gesture, Big Love: 70 Affiliates Send CrossFit Swag to South African Coaches

During the CrossFit Open this year, Athena Perez, coach and owner of Scaled Nation CrossFit, started talking to a coach at CrossFit Algoa in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

The coach casually mentioned that it was difficult to acquire CrossFit swag, even T-shirts, in South Africa, as shipping and tax costs are through the roof to the point that a $35 (USD) shirt might cost $120 (USD) or more after shipping and a country-imposed value-add tax (VAT). 

And because the exchange rate is 18 to one, this is close to a month’s rent for many in South Africa.

For the CrossFit Algoa coach, even acquiring a simple CrossFit t-shirt wasn’t worth it.

• “She confessed that owning such a shirt would be a dream come true,” Perez, the owner of Scaled Nation CrossFit, wrote on Instagram. “I was taken aback by this revelation. The scarcity of CrossFit shirts in South Africa was puzzling,” she added. 

Perez, who has been sharing her fitness journey with Morning Chalk Up readers, took matters into her own hands, committing herself to get this coach a t-shirt. 

• “However, the mission quickly evolved into something much larger,” she said.

Perez spread the word, and within 20 minutes, someone wanted to donate money. Five minutes later, someone else sent Perez a message telling her to start a campaign to get all of the coaches at CrossFit Algoa a t-shirt.

• “And I was like, ‘Wow, we can totally do this,’” Perez told the Morning Chalk up.

Within one day, 70 CrossFit affiliates, coaches, and members donated enough money to cover the costs of sending some CrossFit swag to CrossFit Algoa. 

Further, brands such as VNDK8 Equipment Company and PRVN Fitness donated apparel, stickers, and patches to send.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

• 🎂Happy birthday to Mia Hesketh.

• Congratulations to A.J. from Core City CrossFit in Detroit, MI, on his first strict pull-up.

• Congratulations to Cole Sager, who, like Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson, qualified for his 11th CrossFit Games.

• Check out this PVC challenge from the athletes at Wilder Athletics in North Hollywood, CA. Nice work, everyone!

• 🏋️‍♀️Check out this impressive 106-kilo/235-pound clean grip snatch from Steven at Story Box CrossFit in Costa Rica.