2018 the Ultimate Test (2021) - full transcript

[man] It's cliché, but in
regards to the things I create

that are not workouts,

the process and the journey

to get to the end state,
the creativity,

the ability to make
your own decisions,

to go a different direction,
to decide this looks good,

this feels good,
this doesn't look good,

this doesn't feel good,

the only person
held accountable

to the end state is myself.

But in regard to the workouts,
that's a whole other level,



'cause the people
I'm held accountable to

is the community.

At the end of the day,
it's my 15-year-old kid,

and I look across
even these open workouts,

and I look at 2011, 2012, '13,

all the way up
to the current years,

and every one of those
means something to me.

I knew what was going on
in the background.

I knew what our team
was talking about,

our CEO at the time,

and they really wanted
to disrupt what we did.

I think the 2018 Games
were some of the most creative

visually and programmatically

in terms of CrossFit events
that we've ever had,



and that was really driven
by the notion

that this might be
the last Games ever.

I put my all into that event,

so therefore I wanted
to just blow it out the water

and make it an incredible show.

[indistinct sports commentary]

[man 2] In March of 2018,

on the way to an open
announcement in Houston,

we got a call and it said
that our leadership

wanted to change the structure
of the Games next year.

And that meant anybody who was a
national champion from the Open

was going directly to the Games.

They wanted to expand the amount
of licensed competitions.

They wanted to replace the
regional stage of competition

and wanted
to dramatically overhaul

the finances
of the whole sport.

From that point forward,
we knew that 2018

was gonna be a dogfight,

to preserve the things
that were essential

for our sport
to grow and thrive...

and for the athletes,
for our events, for our fans

that wanted to see this thing
continue forward,

and it was a race against
the clock to produce some plan

that we thought was going to
carry the sport forward.

The CrossFit Games are known
as the ultimate proving grounds

for the fittest athletes
on Earth.

So the CrossFit Games is a test.

And it starts with
a worldwide online competition

where anybody
can register and compete,

and it advances
through a series of stages

until only the top 40 men
and 40 women

are in the field at the finals.

[Sean] It is just a bunch
of different stuff.

It's part Olympics,
it's part Super Bowl,

it's part decathlon,
weightlifting meets Strongman.

It's got a bit of something
for everybody

and it is unlike
any other event out there.

[man] When you go
to the CrossFit Games,

you can expect a spectacle.

You're gonna see some of the
fittest people on this planet

put down amazing performances.

That's not just true
for the individual divisions,

it's true
for a variety of age groups,

because they have
a teenage division,

they have masters divisions
extending upwards of 60 plus.

And not just that, you're gonna
get to enjoy that spectacle

with an amazing group
of like-minded individuals

who are there to celebrate
a once-a-year festival scenario

that is kind of like
a fitness Super Bowl.

[man] The modern CrossFit Games
athletes, it's a full-time job.

You cannot casually mistake your
way into the CrossFit Games.

It's not possible at this
point. Those guys are animals.

What does it take? It takes
an insane well-roundedness.

It takes talent and then
the discipline and hard work

layered on top of that talent.

It's no easy feat.

[labored breathing]

Why do you put yourself
in this pain?

Because I wanna win
the CrossFit Games.

[grunts]

Is this good product placement?

It's all about
product placement.

Do you think it's bothering Mat
that you got a bigger cooler?

- Nah.
- Wait till tomorrow.

Yeah, right. He's gonna walk out
with a tumbler.

- Come out with my YETI 160.
- Yeah, that thing right there.

How are you feeling
this morning?

Good.

Why are you the only athlete
that brought your own bike pump?

I don't know.
At the Airbnb they had one.

And I thought
might as well, yeah.

It was fine yesterday,
we didn't need it,

but I'd rather have it
and not need it.

Of course I do.

I'm just impressed
that you brought one too.

I got two. I got one like that
and then I got a pocket one.

- Trumps.
- Yeah, right? There you go.

I think everybody woke up
this morning

and the reality of today
sunk in a little bit.

We got a lot of work to do.

I think this morning's gonna be
a little more fun.

The cycle's a little different.

People are excited to go do it
and try not to crash.

The afternoon's just some fun,
easy stuff on the field,

and then tonight's
when shit gets real.

They want the CrossFit Games,

and that's the bottom line,

people are
a little less friendly.

Ride with consideration

for preserving yourself
for the rest of the weekend,

and also, more importantly,
consider the people around you.

If you go down, people
might go down because of you.

If you get too aggressive, you
might make other people go down.

So think about your actions,

you can hurt yourself
or put yourself down,

but, worse yet, you can put
your other competitors down.

[Tommy] The Crit is basically
a play on a criterium race,

which is a type of cycling race

that exists outside
of the sport of fitness.

It was basically
the entire field

of the CrossFit Games
for the men,

and then also the women,
thrown onto road bikes.

First of all,
good morning, welcome.

It's gonna be a great event.

We've got a couple
of minor things...

[Adrian]
Dave loves having things

that are
a little bit unconventional

as far as what you're gonna see
in a CrossFit gym.

Everybody rides Assault Bikes,

everybody rides C2 bikes,
stuff like that,

but sometimes people forget

that we're really trying to make
this apply to the real world.

They should be ready to roll out
at 8:20 easy.

All right. 8:20, you wanna
pull 'em out, set 'em up.

- Do a rolling start.
- Two laps.

Two laps, stopping,
slowing them down back there.

Yeah, stopping, getting into
position. Then it's game on.

[Sean] It's the final stop
on the road to the finish,

Madison, Wisconsin, and
the 2018 Reebok CrossFit Games.

- [cheering]
- Goosebumps.

[commentator] There just is
no limits anymore

when you talk about
the CrossFit Games,

of what kind of tests are gonna
be thrown at these guys,

starting off with
a very specific road race.

Last year we saw
the mountain bike.

We see a very technical race
this year with the road bike.

It's gonna be fun.

- Liverpool, England.
- Who'd you come to see?

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet.

- Who'd you come to see?
- Sara Sigmundsdóttir.

- Tia.
- Tia-Clair?

Tia and Mat.

And Josh.

[Sean] Athletes starting
to build up speed

as they approach the
beginning of the opening event

of the 2018 Reebok CrossFit
Games, the criterium,

10 laps around a 1200-metre
course, and we are underway.

[Tommy] Honestly, I think
the Crit was probably

one of the more
dangerous events

that the CrossFit Games
has had,

not because of the physical toll
that it took on the athletes,

but the skill set required
to tackle a road bike race

in close quarters with 39 other
individuals besides yourself

speaks to the athleticism
and the adaptability

of the athletes
in tackling that.

I think the line
was that unpredictable riding

is what causes crashes.

[laughs]

[woman] I feel like, actually,
the male side

was a little bit more
like considerate.

The girls just go for it.

They're, like,
I don't care who I'm hurting.

We're going for it.

It's like Mad Max.It was just
get to the finish line.

[Adrian] It's funny
because from my perspective,

outside of the ropes,
so to speak,

watching them on the track
going round,

it didn't look
quite that chaotic to me.

[Sean] Oh. Patrick Vellner
has dropped a chain.

But Vellner gets himself
a new bike. He is back on.

[Patrick]
I basically got a new bike

that was not fitted for me.

The seat was way too low.

I was basically riding
on a clown bike

for the next nine laps.

So tough hit on lap one.

[commentator] Being in the lead
doesn't guarantee you the win.

All that does is mean you're
setting the pace for everyone.

[Sean] We've had a change
at the front of the pack.

Sara Sigmundsdóttir, in all
black, has moved to the front.

I don't even wanna talk
about it. I'm so embarrassed.

In the event announcement,

Boz had said that we would hear
bells before the last round.

So I heard bells
from some people

that were just in the crowd,
and I went up.

And I was like,
why is nobody going faster?

Then I knew
there was another round left,

and I had just hit a wall.

[bell rings]

[Tommy] Noah grounded his pedal
onto the cement

and it eventually popped off.

He had to get that swapped out.

And then Mat Fraser, who was
actually doing really well,

nearly had disaster strike
on the final turn of the event.

[Mat] I thought I was upright
enough to start pedaling out

and caught my pedal.

So both wheels
came off the ground,

my back wheel kicked out
to the side,

and I just, like, oh...

Landed on both wheels,
eyes were like grapefruits,

and it was just like
put the hammer down,

but, yeah,
that got the heart racing.

[Sean] It looks like Adrian
Mundwiler on the final stretch

is gonna lock up
his first career win

at the CrossFit Games.

100 points
for Adrian Mundwiler.

[commentator] Wow.

[Sean] And now the sprint
to the finish,

but Holte has overtaken
Laura Horvath,

and Kristin Holte will win
event number one.

[woman] That was super fun.

So it was Katrín, me and Laura
on the last stretch.

I had to sprint as hard as
I could and made it. It's cool.

Was there a camera
on that corner? I almost...

Someone fell.
So, I was always...

Oh.

- How's your elbow?
- Busted up.

Her front tire. I was in front.

And she cuts in closer,
and I bounced off my bike.

I thought I was on the ground.

And then I just heard someone
fall behind me.

[Adrian] It is an individual
sport, at the end of the day.

If you have an athlete

that is knowingly
impeding another athlete,

of course that's not fair
and we're gonna look into it,

so we did,
and there was no foul play.

I always try to put myself
in the mindset

of being in the competition,
in the intensity of the moment,

and I'm sure that if you get

a little bit of friction
from another rider,

it very much can feel like
somebody wants to take you out,

but the reality doesn't always
import to that.

Tell me about that. How'd it go?

Good. Mat came over
at the beginning.

And so we had a strategy,
me, Mat and Rasmus.

It didn't work that well.

I knew I was gonna win that one.
I had to.

It's Swiss National Day today,

so I had to keep
my country proud.

And, yeah, it's good. Looking
forward, it was a good start.

I was leading for too long
in the beginning,

so I shouldn't
have done that, but...

It was so much easier in the
back. I knew it would be easier.

But it was way more easier
than I thought.

Everyone was messing around
in the back,

so I was maybe more careful
than I should have been, but...

And then in the last lap
I just pulled out

and then Kristin came
in the last turn

and she passed me
in the last stretch,

but I'm happy with that.

There were some scary moments
out there.

Some of the girls pushing back
and forth against each other.

Please don't fall. Please don't
push each other off.

All the rules were
out the window by the start,

but by round seven, eight,
they were out the window.

Little bit of lacking
race etiquette out there.

In the first corners
when the pack was pretty tight,

some guys swiped across
and wiped out six riders.

Not the first time I've started
in a big hole, unfortunately.

- How's she doing?
- Good. Good.

- She warmed up?
- Well, warming up now.

So we'll find out how good.

Has she done a Muscle-Up yet?

2018? 2017? She did one
last year at regionals.

That was the last time
we've done them.

How do you think
this is gonna go down, buddy?

- The Muscle-Ups or the Total?
- The Muscle-Ups.

Think you're gonna see some guys
go for it and crash and burn.

And then I think
you'll see maybe one...

I think we'll see one guy
go unbroken.

[Sean] The toughest day

in CrossFit Games history
rolls on.

It's event number two,
and it's pretty simple.

30 muscle-ups four times.

[commentator]
It's classic CrossFit.

This was
the gold standard event.

30 ring muscle-ups.
It's pure gymnastics.

[Tommy] It's a classic CrossFit
benchmark type test.

It's been around
in the community for ages.

I think a lot of people
were excited

to see
the Games athletes tested,

because the standard
has always been whether or not

someone can go unbroken on that.

[commentator] Sean, a number
of athletes are having trouble

locking out
at the top of the muscle-up

because of the length
of the strap.

The rings are eight feet
above the ground.

There's 10 feet from the rings

to where the straps
are affixed.

[Tia] Typically
with longer straps,

they do require you to keep the
rings in a little bit closer,

so you're actually going to be
fatiguing your upper body

because you're fighting
with the straps

wanting to just constantly
keep going out.

[Patrick] Everybody knew
the length of the straps

and things like that
would impact the muscle-ups,

so you might have to be
a bit more conservative

than maybe in training.

[Katrín] I've never worked
as hard in my life

on muscle-ups
as we did this year.

[Adrian] It's funny,
the athletes talk about

longer straps and different
details like this,

and maybe this is my lack of
competitive experience talking,

but I think that's nerves.

I really don't think
it makes as much difference

as a lot of them claim.

[Sean]
Fighting for first place,

Fraser back up on the rings
after a break.

[Adrian] What stood out most
about that event

was seeing Fraser miss a rep.

[Sean] Mat Fraser fails a rep.

That might open the door
for Cole Sager.

But Fraser is trying
to minimize his rest.

He has one rep to go.

[Adrian] I don't know,
I've long felt

that his mentality
of do or die and attack

is what it takes
to be a champion.

And I see a lot of athletes
on the other end of that

that actively strategize
themselves out of a win.

His willingness, even
that early in the competition,

to take a risk,
to blow it out and fail,

even if it means he might
have lost some placements,

that speaks to the mentality
that it takes to be on top.

You can't hold anything back.

[whoops]

[Sean] Tia Toomey looking
to lock up an event win.

She will lock it out, and
the 2017 fittest woman on Earth

will get beat now
by Kristi Eramo

on the far side of the field.

[Patrick] I think that Dave
probably programmed that

expecting people
to go unbroken,

at least a couple of people.

And it just didn't happen,
like, it's, I don't know.

Sorry, like, it's hard.
We tried.

[Sean] Two tests are down.

Two more remain here
on the opening day

of the 2018 Reebok
CrossFit Games.

The CrossFit Total is up next.

CrossFit Total's awesome.

Everyone loves heavyweights.
It's like the Home Run Derby.

But it's a significant event
because you go from that

to another benchmark workout,
CrossFit Total,

that has been around forever.

It is one of the first events
that was ever performed

at the CrossFit Games
back in 2007.

[commentator] In event number
two, we went back to 2002

Mainsite programming.

In event number three
it's time to lift heavy

and have a flashback to the
very first Games back in 2007.

It's time for CrossFit Total.

Another athlete that needs
a good event here.

Patrick Vellner.

Rough start
with that bike race.

Tried to get himself back
in there with the Muscle-Ups.

He needs to finish off
this day well

going into that last event.

Ever since I started CrossFit,

I've never been
one of the stronger guys.

Coming from
a gymnastics background,

I'm much more interested
in doing high-skill movements

than heavy, heavy movements.

[Mat] Dead lift is a lift
that just favors

a certain body type so much.

You see Vellner over there
with his ape arms.

He was talking after the event,
he was, like,

dude, the weight
didn't even come off the ground

until it's at my knees.

[Patrick] I was not planning
on dead-lifting that heavy,

so I had no idea.

I didn't even know
how to load the bar.

I was asking my judge,
what do six blues weigh?

I don't even know. I've never
loaded that on a bar before.

And the fives were sitting
right beside the clips,

so I just threw the fives on.

[commentator]
Vellner needs a big lift.

[Sean] And Vellner is lining up
for a huge lift.

At 595 pounds,
less than 30 to go,

so plenty of time
for Pat Vellner.

- Pat Vellner at 595!
- [commentator] Wow. Man!

Then by the time I processed
that that was ridiculous,

like who dead-lifts 595?

That's basically 600 pounds.
You might as well dead-lift...

Next time.
Now I know. Next time.

[Sara] I was pretty angry
going into the Total.

I had tried one lifting belt
one time before,

a thick powerlifter's belt.

I just put it
as tight as I could

because I thought
the tighter it would be,

the more weight I could handle.

My first dead lift
in the warm-up,

I just felt something,

and I didn't wanna
think about it more.

I knew what happened, but
I wasn't gonna let it stop me.

So I was just in denial
that something had happened

and went out to the floor

and did the worst dead lift
of my entire life.

[Sean] Here's
Sara Sigmundsdóttir at 365,

and Sara Sigmundsdóttir
is off to a surprising start

here at the CrossFit Games.

[Sara] PR'ed with a broken rib.

[Laura] I didn't exactly know
the number that I was lifting

in kilos
because it was in pounds.

I PR'ed my back squat.
I PR'ed my press.

I PR'ed my dead lift.

I thought I would win
the dead lift by a lot.

Clearly people had been working
on their dead lift

because everyone
was super close to me.

[Sean] It was hard to tell
who was gonna win.

You knew who was gonna do well.

A lot of people
were watching Tia Toomey

'cause of her recent foray
into the Olympics

and her proficiency
in anything you throw at her.

[Shane] I'm very conscious of
what the field are capable of.

Based off a lot of the data
that I received,

I thought she'd be
very competitive in it.

[Sean] Remember,
she competed for Australia

at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics
in weightlifting.

[Katrín] She was next to me

and she was getting
really loud roars.

So I didn't even wanna know
what number she was putting up.

But they were
pretty big numbers.

- Let's ....... go, yeah?
- [woman] Come on, Tia!

[Sean] Now Toomey will be
making a run at 410 pounds.

[Tia] I had my mom, dad, Shane,

just standing right there
in front of me.

And there my dad was,
shirtless, with a hat on,

and he was screaming at me.

I just thought that
that was the best thing.

It didn't matter what was on
that barbell, I was lifting it.

- Come on!
- Let's go! Let's go! Come on!

[shouting continues]

[cheering]

[Tommy] We got to see Tia
make a statement

with that final dead lift.

Last year it was a close
competition, the closest ever.

But it probably wasn't gonna be
that way this year.

The hair thing, don't worry
about it. It's too late now.

- What?
- You dropped the thing.

So just be smart,
find comfort in this movement,

and then just breathe,
follow through.

Just be very conscious
to keep breathing.

That's what we're after.
It's an endurance test.

You're an endurance athlete.
Period.

- I love you so much. Have fun.
- Thanks.

- Have fun? You have fun.
- You'll have fun.

I will. I'll be eating burgers
and drinking beers.

Where are we going?

We're walking to our doom.

We're gonna go row a marathon.

Nice finisher.
Nice finisher for your day.

I wish they gave us a last
supper or something, though.

But it's gonna be...
it's gonna be good.

Do you like being a part
of the history of the Games?

Yeah, I mean, like, I know when
I first started, it was just...

I was in... I am still,
but I was in so much awe

of the athletes that had done it
from the very beginning.

I think that this is so special.

The CrossFit Games
is more than just determining

who the fittest on Earth is.

It's more than just people
working out and everything.

We're a huge community and just
growing every single year,

and it's pretty spectacular,
yeah.

[Justin] The first time
Dave talked about

doing a marathon row,
in my mind I said that's long,

but I was only thinking
half-marathon long.

So in my mind
it's an hour and a half workout.

I remember him saying

how long it took him
to do a marathon row

and then going they'll probably
be a lot faster.

And then I remember
being in the arena

while they were doing the row,

leaving after 45 minutes,
eating dinner,

coming back, and they still had
over an hour to go on the event.

[Sean] There are
some infamous numbers

in CrossFit Games history.

42,195 is going to join them
after today.

That is the number of meters
that these athletes must row

in event number four.

It is a marathon row.

It is the longest event
in CrossFit Games history.

The time cap: four hours.

This is a grueling physical
and mental challenge.

[commentator] This is gonna be
mentally draining,

so who's gonna be able
to deal with that?

[Justin] I don't think anybody
looks at a marathon row

and says
"That sounds like fun."

That's hard, it's long,
it's outside your comfort zone.

But at the CrossFit Games,
people look at that and say,

"Does everybody have to do it?
All right. Who's gonna win?"

I think that's exactly what
you get with CrossFit training,

a daily dose of "This is
outside my comfort zone."

"It's hard.
Is everybody else doing it?"

"All right, let's go.
Start the clock."

That builds
tough, durable people

that have
a performance mindset,

and it takes them and their
mentality outside of a workout

and it applies to other parts
of their life.

[Adrian] Mental toughness
is huge.

I think it's one of the things
we train for.

You're not always gonna get
the event that you want.

You're not always gonna have
the movement that you like.

And yet you're gonna show up
and do it anyway.

That's a huge aspect

that's baked
into the culture of CrossFit.

You take a challenge,
you embrace it

and you do the best you can
with it.

That's true for everybody.

[Tommy] There's an inherent
mental training

that goes along with CrossFit

as a training methodology
as well as a sport.

In practice, every single day,

you're redefining
and pushing the limits

of what you're capable of

and actively trying
to tiptoe to the edge

and see where that line is
for you physically.

And when you're constantly
pushing those limits,

that is an opportunity for you

to reframe
your mindset personally

about what you see in the
mirror is capable for yourself.

[cheering]

Can you help us?

We can't really bend down
right now.

So... I'll do the camera,

and can you put our stuff
into the basket?

- Seriously, I can't bend over.
- I can't bend over.

- It was good.
- Was it the hardest yet?

- Yes.
- Yes.

[announcer] ...with a time
of three hours,

13 minutes and 24 seconds...

Heber wouldn't pick up
my stuff for me.

[laughs]

- You OK?
- No. I feel ....ing shit.

I feel like I have to throw up,
crap and everything.

So I literally
just wanna dip my ass in.

- This is unbelievable.
- I got it.

You got it?

- Oh, God.
- [man groans]

Cramp? Dude, as soon as... Mmm.

As soon as I stood up, dude,

quads, hamstring, ass,
calves, everything cramped.

That was brutal.

Hitting the hour 40 mark

and realizing I still have
over an hour to go.

[groans]

I would like to do triple
marathon instead of that.

I'm never doing that again,
not a ....ing chance.

How do you feel
after that row?

I feel really good, actually.

Are you sore? Like your boots
are sore? Your hands are sore?

- No.
- You feel fine?

Yeah, I feel really good.

Like, I was wondering,

I thought between my shoulder
blades was a little bit sore,

but the more I move around,

the more
I don't feel it anymore.

When I very first got up, but...

Yeah. I'm ready for day two.

What's your confidence levels
like this morning?

- How are you feeling?
- It feels good.

I'm trying not to think
too much about it.

I'm in second place right now,

and that makes me
a little bit nervous.

But it's three more days,
so it's just started.

Anything can happen.

But I'm gonna for sure
do my very best.

I wanna do really good
this year, so I'm excited, yeah.

I'm Lukas Hogberg
from Stockholm, Sweden.

I have an apartment
here in Stockholm.

I live there
with my girlfriend and my dog.

My dog's name in Swedish
is Walter.

- How old is he?
- Seven months. Just a kid.

He's a Rhodesian Ridgeback,
an amazing dog.

He's seven months old, but he's
big as ..... Can you say ....?

- New sweater? You just got it?
- Yeah, yesterday.

[Sean] Lukas Hogberg
is just like a big, goofy dog.

He's always happy
and he's a little bit goofy.

You can't help
but really like Lukas Hogberg.

He's just a good guy.

[whines]

[man] Where are we going
right now, Lukas?

We're going for a run
in the spooky forest.

We have a place
just out in the woods.

We have a lot of tracks
and we run around.

The session can be
from 45 minutes

up to two and a half hours.

[Adrian] I remember the words
of my friend Martin Altmark,

Swedish CrossFit
affiliate owner.

Swedes know how to run.
It's in our culture.

We run a lot.
People don't realize it.

And I think Hogberg showed that
a few times over the 2018 Games.

[Sean] Lukas Hogberg,
what changed?

This athlete wasn't even
in the Games last year.

[commentator]
In the last qualifying spot,

fifth place, Frederik Aegidius!

[cheering]

[Sean] Frederik Aegidius
did just enough

to hold off Lukas Hogberg.

Two points and two seconds,

all that separates
fifth from sixth.

[Lukas] So what I learned
about not qualifying in 2017

was to focus more on myself

and not think too much
about what others think about me

or how they expect me
to perform.

I really had to think back,

I'm doing this
'cause I love the sport,

and I love competing
and I enjoy it and it's fun.

That's why I'm doing it.

I started when I was a kid,
10 years old. I did kung fu.

I thought Bruce Lee
was super awesome.

And then I started
boxing instead.

I always enjoyed

the physical training more.

I loved the boxing, but it's
more fun to do all the push-ups

and the stuff
that everyone hates.

And then when I saw CrossFit,

I was like,
shit, this is my sport.

OK, listen up. Make
smart decisions out there, OK?

Do the right thing
on these obstacles.

The event's not gonna be won

on shaving off time
from dropping from obstacles.

Someone just hurt themselves
on a low wall.

I'm thinking they rolled
their knee. I don't know yet.

But think about
self-preservation, OK?

Win this on the stuff in here
and on the run.

Don't win it on the O-Course.
Be efficient on the O-Course.

Promise me you're gonna be safe?
All right, thank you. Good luck.

[Laura] When they announced the
Battleground, I was very happy.

I was stoked.
I was like, that's my event.

It's awesome, it's great.

[Sean] It's the Battleground,
presented by

the United States Marine Corps,

one of the most
unique challenges

these athletes
will face all weekend.

[commentator]
I absolutely love it.

It is true, real-time,
real-world fitness.

With that Rescue Randy Drag and
O-Course, it is fun to watch.

I'm actually kind of jealous
they get to do it.

[Adrian] The Battleground
was a good test of GPP.

General physical preparation
is a big part

of what CrossFit is all about.

[Tia] It showcased how diverse
CrossFit can really be,

and it showcased that
we really, truly are preparing

for anything and everything.

[commentator] Rescue Randy
is 185 pounds of dead weight.

The dummy is 165,
plus 20 pounds of body armor.

We've seen
different techniques.

It's called Randy
or Bob or Pukey.

What did it say? I don't know.

Yeah, I get to drag
my doppelganger around.

It was great. Good time.

[man] What is the fastest way
to move Randy?

How can you get an edge
on the rest of the field?

Literally, as I walked out
on the field,

I looked down at Randy,
and I kind of saw his strap

sticking up on one side.

I was like,
the fastest way to move Randy

is to run up to him and be
the first one to move him.

[commentator]
It looks like Cole Sager

single-handed running forward.

We haven't seen that yet.

There's been a lot
of monkey see, monkey do.

But all the way out
to the front. Great first move.

I took the lead, I think,
from the beginning,

and then I kept it almost
throughout the whole event.

[commentator]
I love her confidence

at only 21 years of age.

Look at the way she just
ripped right up that rope

like she doesn't even
have a weight vest on.

One of the biggest cues
in that workout was to run hard.

There was no assigned lane
at the obstacle course,

so getting
to the obstacle course first

meant that
no one's in your way.

[Mat] We saw Lukas and Cole
hitting elbows.

They were getting aggressive.
I thought they were joking.

[commentator] Oh! We got
a little jostling on the field.

Yeah, he got so pissed,
and I tried to be a bit annoying

and just go pretty close
and block his way.

I just tried to tire him out
by ....ing with him.

He started to crowd me,
and he was leaning into me

and I was leaning into him.

He gave me a shoulder check,

and instantly,
I didn't even think about it,

I grab his hip, swim over
the top of this shoulder

and throw him back behind me.

Right when it happened,
I was like, 14 years of football

all just came together
in one moment right there.

That's fine,
'cause I ....ed with him,

so I guess he's ....ing me back.

[commentator] If they can get
to those obstacles,

they can make each one count.

They have to be
very specific and exact

when they hit those obstacles.

[Patrick] So I had to pick
lines and avoid some people,

but it was fine,
it was all pretty smooth.

I got through the jump hurdles

without crashing again
this year, which was great.

I've had to live down
that video for a whole year.

[Sean] Brent Fikowski
is right next to Cole Sager.

He's climbing
the cargo net as well.

Mat Fraser is there,
as is Patrick Vellner.

[Patrick] There was somebody
coming up behind me,

so I went close on one side.

I was reaching right towards
those black lines,

so I had to really choke out

and try to avoid
that cargo net no rep.

So I came over really awkward.

I should have climbed down
more under control.

[Mat] I got to the top of
the net, I went over sideways,

got two solid handholds and then
just flipped my feet over,

and my first thought,

as soon as I realized
I was falling, was... "Good."

"I'm gonna get down so much
faster than these other guys."

[Sean] Sager's up and over.
Hogberg hits the ground.

And Mat Fraser takes a nasty
spill off of that thing.

But he is OK.

And Vellner's off it as well.

[Patrick] I knew it
as soon as I let go,

and I was pushing back,

and my whole body's coming
back, and my one foot snags,

and then
you're just like "pew!"...

And I was like, all right, shit.

[Mat] In that one second
of falling,

you have so many thoughts
going through your head.

It went from,
"Good, I'm gonna get down

so much faster
than everyone else," to,

"No, you idiot, that's not good.
You're gonna die."

[Sean] But the two of them
look to be all right.

Fraser gets over the hop logs
in a hurry.

Vellner looks like he's OK.

[Patrick] Really knocked the
wind out of myself pretty good,

and did one of those like...
[wheezes, laughs]

And I was like, just move,

'cause otherwise
someone's gonna try to help you

and you don't wanna get saved.

Two or three obstacles
were the swinging and catching

and a lot
of highly technical things,

and then you did monkey bars,
and then you're running again.

[Sean] Now Laura Horvath
is done.

650 meters back
to the North Park.

[Laura] Got in the stadium,
did my two rope climbs,

and then saw Cole Sager
pulling it with one arm,

so I was like,
why not give it a go?

And I pulled it all the way.

[Sean] Somebody get out there

and tell this woman
she's a rookie!

Laura Horvath takes event five!

[Patrick] But, yeah,
I hit the white finish line

and took a knee real quick,

and I just spat a loogie, like
when you're done working out,

you're just
all phlegmy and gross,

and it was just pure red, right
on the white finish line too.

I was like, "Uh-oh."

[clears throat]
It's like if I do that...

- Are you having pain?
- I don't have any pain, really.

It feels like
you lie on your back,

you've got a little bit
of wind knocked out of you.

And I thought
I got sand in my mouth.

- Which way did you land?
- A bit more on my shoulder.

I saw him hit, on TV,
right here.

[Patrick] I had to
go through due process

and everybody got involved,

and they basically
have their policy

and wouldn't let me compete
until they had investigated that

and I got a CT scan and had
been cleared by some doctors.

So a couple of the events staff
just drove us to the hospital.

I had to get a scan done.

The CT came back

and there was clearly
bruising in my left lung,

but they kind of said
it's not gonna get any worse,

it just might be uncomfortable.

- How do you feel right now?
- Pretty good. A little sore.

I fell from pretty high,
but not too bad.

I don't feel bad.
I just feel like... I feel dumb.

I shouldn't have done that,

but that's what happens
when you're racing.

[shouting and cheering]

Tia, how was it?

That was harder than the row.

What was that battle
with Laura like?

Yeah, that was fun.
Very, very fun.

[cheering]

[rap music]

Guys, you're running 10 rounds!
60 seconds! Go!

Right now we are in Boston.
I was in Tennessee before.

I was at Chris Hinshaw's place.

He is doing a seminar here and
I'm helping out a little bit.

The goal here is to count
your reps, count your lunges.

I like helping people
to get better in anything.

And go.
Fast, fast, fast, fast, fast.

It's awesome, and they just
want to learn from you.

When they wanna
reach their goal,

you just help to make it happen.

Faster, faster, faster.
And time.

- So how do you like Boston?
- It's nice. Great city.

The weather was perfect.

Everything was fun. We ate ice
cream. We had a smoothie.

Sightseeing on a bike is
so much more fun than walking.

[Chris] We want Laura to reach
into a lobster pot, grab it,

throw it into hot water
and eat it with her bare hands.

- Tell me, how do I do?
- Pull the tail off.

- I can't eat the head.
- Just talk to it.

- Just go "Hi!"
- Hi!

Now, the problem is,
you got the poop chute here.

- There you go.
- That was easy. It's empty now.

It's like you grew up in Boston.

[Laura] I was a rock climber.

I still do climb sometimes
for fun.

So I was very athletic
as a kid,

because my parents
are PE teachers.

I had always to win.
I had to beat the guys.

So I was very competitive.
I like to win, I guess.

[Patrick] Knowing her
from just this last year,

training with her
at a couple of camps,

I expected
that she would crush it.

I thought Laura
would have a great weekend.

She was very stoic
throughout the whole weekend.

She surprised me with how well
she kept her composure

for just being new in the game.

[Laura] My goal was to be
top five or podium.

I would be very happy
with that.

But of course
I was there to win.

All 40 women are there to win.

If you are not there to win,
then why are you there?

Do you have any big goals?
Clean ladder?

Other than not have
your aorta explode?

That's plan A,
every event from now on.

No, I think you have to power
the whole first round

if you wanna advance,
and then... and not miss any.

So do that,
and then the second round,

I don't think I'm top five.

'Cause I can't power
all the bars.

I think you need to power all
the bars in the second round.

Then you advance.

How you feeling?

I'm not the strongest guy here,

so if I make it to the top 20,
I'm happy, for sure.

[commentator] Welcome in
to the electrifying Coliseum

at the Alliant Energy Center
in Madison, Wisconsin,

as we're ready
for women's event number six

of the 2018
Reebok CrossFit Games,

the Speed
Clean and Jerk Ladder.

The interesting thing about
the Clean and Jerk Speed Ladder

is the format, basically rounds.

And you're trying to get a time

that will advance you
to the next round.

That unique format

really adds some excitement
to the competition

because there is that pressure
to make the final cut

and make the final round

and be one of those final few
athletes to secure a top spot.

[commentator] Vellner here
getting some medical attention.

They're trying to make sure
that he's fit to compete.

He has been cleared
to continue.

Patrick Vellner has made
his way back to the arena

to complete this event.

The question is, is he 100%?
How will he handle this one?

[Tia] So the Speed Clean
and Jerk Ladder, it's like,

OK, you can't think,
you just have to go.

[Adrian] When you have to do
near max efforts

back to back to back,

that expression of strength

is much different
than having a lot of time

to get the perfect rep.

[Mat] Everyone's
gonna be sprinting.

No one's gonna be setting up
on their lift.

[Tia] The Coliseum
is so electric.

[Adrian] At least once a year
the hairs

on the back of my neck'll
stand up in the Coliseum.

I'm thinking literally
of the movie Gladiator.

They're out there
showcasing their best.

[commentator] Toomey trying
to hold off Thorisdottir.

Thorisdottir trips.

I do my final lift, put it down

and I slam down on my face.

[commentator] But Mat Fraser
might be taking the top time

here in
the quarter final round.

Why not? Mat Fraser,
fastest time in round one.

[Patrick] I think
the second round,

I wasn't really trying
to race that much.

Get through all of them,
don't miss any bars,

try to fall inside that top 15
or something like that.

[Sean] Mat Fraser,
whether it's fair or not,

gets held
to a much higher standard.

Everyone expects him
to demolish every event.

Don't make Mat Fraser angry.

You would not like him
when he's angry.

And he only leads
by eight points.

Looking to put some distance

between himself
and Lukas Hogberg.

[Mat] And I was so nervous

about not qualifying
for that final heat.

I know I need
to give everything I have.

I'm so amped up
when I go out on the floor,

I don't take time to notice
where a clock is.

[Sean] Fraser hits that lift
and he continues to lead.

Fraser's going through it and
then gets to that final weight.

[Mat] Never saw
where a clock was.

So I'm just in full panic mode

going into the last bar,
just grip it and go.

[Sean] Paulson behind him.

Fraser drops the bar.
He'll get right back on it.

And he missed once,
and people went, "What?"

[Adrian] He made a tactical
mistake and he got back on it,

'cause he thought he could beat
the person next to him.

If I took five seconds
to regroup, do it again,

it would have been too late.

I just said, .... it,
grab it, try it again.

[Sean] Fraser has it stood up,
as does Tim Paulson.

Fraser will miss the jerk.
Paulson is through.

This could be huge
for Lukas Hogberg.

Shit's not good.
I attacked this incorrectly.

[Sean] The top five times
advance.

Mat Fraser may not be
one of them.

[Tommy] It was like this
kind of shock and all moment,

not getting to see
the Michael Jordans

or the Kobe Bryants
of your sport

not be in the finals
in this very spotlighted,

highlighted type final heat.

But it also provided
an opportunity

for some other athletes
to shine.

[Sean] Nick Urankar
can throw some weight around.

[commentator] Look at
the bowling ball shoulders.

We talked about that during
the CrossFit Total as well.

He likes these kind of events.

He likes to go big.
He likes to go heavy.

When it was announced,
I was excited/scared,

because everybody anticipated
I'd have a shot at winning it.

[Sean] Urankar sticks to jerks,
and he is way out in front

as he moves
to the 340-pound barbell.

Opening up a lead
with Amanda Barnhart.

The rookie is hanging tough.

220 pounds.
Amanda Barnhart hits the jerk.

Amanda Barnhart,
her first career event win!

And he's calling on the crowd
to get him through this lift.

[Nick] The final bar, thinking,

"What am I gonna do?
This is heavy."

All I told myself was, "You've
hit this a million times."

- [cheering]
- [commentator] Oh, yeah.

[Sean] Nick Urankar wins the
Speed Clean and Jerk Ladder.

[Nick] Probably one of the most
unbelievable moments

of my athletic career ever.

That was... That was awesome.

That was so loud. So loud. And
they just kept getting louder.

And I was like,
I don't wanna not go.

I started telling 'em
to get loud a little early.

I wasn't quite ready.

And, yeah, that was...
that was sick.

The energy out there
is un... unbelievable.

Hopefully it stays like that.

I'm sure it's gonna stay
like that all weekend.

What are we fixing to see?
What's gonna happen?

Well, best strategy in
this workout, like all workouts,

is fast and unbroken.

So whoever does that wins.

[Sean] The top 10 men
in the overall standings

in this final heat.

Pat Vellner in lane four
has been

the living embodiment
of Murphy's Law

so far in this competition,

but he is still
in third place overall.

[commentator]
Katrín Davídsdóttir right now

is sitting 46 points
outside a podium position.

She also has had some struggles
along the way.

38th in the CrossFit Total.

She would definitely love
100 points at this point.

[Mat] When he announced
Fibonacci,

I was pretty excited
about that.

Even last year
I did well in the event,

while still pacing it
to the point

that it was almost comical.

I was like, OK, time to see

what I'm actually
capable of with this event.

[Laura] So when they announced
the Fibonacci, I wasn't happy.

I didn't like that workout.
It's not good for me.

[Sean] Laura Horvath
is in lane number six,

and she is falling
well off the lead pace.

My handstand push-ups
have got better,

but they are still my weakest.

I'm gonna say this
a couple of times.

That was my favorite event.

[commentator] Look how fast
Katrín Davídsdóttir

transitioned
right to the dead lifts.

[Katrín] I like it when
you get to use your fitness,

there was gymnastics,
there was dead lifts.

I'm very good with
those kettlebell dead lifts.

I never know
where they come from.

[Sean] Lukas Hogberg is the man

who is closest to Mat Fraser
in the overall standings.

He trails him by 20 points.

[Mat] I'm in a lane
next to Vellner.

That dude is standing upright

by the time the kettlebells
come off the floor.

His arms are so long and the
kettlebells are sitting so high.

[commentator] We saw him falter
on the cleans earlier,

so we wanted to see
if he could actually handle

the pressure of being chased.

I was like,
I know I'm gonna have to push

to keep a good race on this.

I noticed that every time
Mat would come down and move on,

and I would come down
10 seconds after and advance,

the crowd would really react.

[commentator] He needs
to hold on to that position.

He has to keep fighting.

[Patrick] I so far had had

a bit of a rough shake,
but I keep coming.

I wasn't gonna sit down.

[Sean] Davídsdóttir,
one rep to go, she's done.

It's time to grab
the 35-pound kettlebells

and take off on that march
down the floor.

And that's when your arms are so
fried, and they feel like jelly.

And the only thing I'm thinking
about is just lunge faster.

[Sean] Mat Fraser will be
the first man

on the overhead walking lunge.

[Mat] When you pick up
the kettlebells to lunge,

you can deal with the pain
in your legs and ass later.

It's go time.

[Sean] A good race developing
now in the middle.

Katrín Davídsdóttir
on the left,

Annie Thorisdottir
on the right.

I love the overhead walking
lunges with the kettlebells.

I really wanted
to get to that final line,

I have one gap left,

and I could just feel my right
shoulder getting wobbly.

[Katrín] My shoulder mobility
is really good,

so I was able
to just set my shoulders back

and just keep 'em there, and
I was like, keep 'em straight.

[Sean] Katrín Davídsdóttir
is across,

and Katrín Davídsdóttir
takes the Fibonacci!

Fraser continuing to march
towards the finish line.

He's gonna take a break and has
to retreat to the nearest line,

and here comes Patrick Vellner.

[Patrick] I think that was
a turning point in the weekend.

I had had a lot of things
go wrong,

and it was like,
I can turn this around.

[Sean] Mat Fraser
wins the Fibonacci.

Vellner is in, but
Vellner's gonna take fourth.

There's still lots of weekend
left, and I'm in a good spot.

[Mat] That sucked having that
be my first event win.

Waiting that long in
competition to finally get one?

I was like, "Oh, man,
what's going on here?"

It was concerning, but it was
a relief to finally get one.

It was good.
I was very clear-minded.

Um, I did good.

Good, fair judge,
he was making me

open up my hips
on the handstand push-ups,

which was good, it was fair.

So it just slowed me down
just a little bit,

but I'm still super happy
with how I paced it.

Everything felt great.
I got a good score.

Yeah, no complaints.
Good workout. Great workout.

Heber! The Coliseum
is magical this year.

- You like the magic?
- It's all magic.

Is that what
you've been missing?

I thought of that
as the end of my workout.

I knew I could put
those kettlebells up

and lunge 'em all the way,
and then halfway and I was like,

- "Oh, shit."
- Annie was right there.

He told me to stop if you need
to when you got over a line.

And I was like...
I didn't know where Annie was,

but the crowd was roaring
and Annie's judge was here,

so I was like,
"Lunge faster, lunge faster."

Then you don't have to
hold them up for as long.

- Yeah.
- [laughs]

Let's go back to fact that some
days you don't know it's Friday.

[laughter]

Do you know
what day it is right now?

- [man] It's Saturday.
- Obviously did you know?

[woman] Everyone's just walking
around knowing what day it is.

But do you just know, or do you
have to think about it?

- [man] I know.
- It was really good yesterday.

And I'm really excited
about this one,

especially the 500 swim.

It's just so pretty out

that I think it'll be
a fun event to do.

Right, so I'm not
gonna be there.

We know what we need to do.
Back to square one, OK?

Your day. Love you.

- Love you too.
- Bye.

Let's focus on the course.

Swim starts here and ends here.
You're gonna go that way.

You'll see the buoy
when we get out there.

Boat launches from here
and lands over here.

What do you think about Katrín?

- On this?
- In general.

- Is she gonna climb back up?
- I think she can climb back up.

It'll be a battle
between her and Annie

on the second and third.

- Mmm.
- What do you think?

I think yesterday was good
for her. She needed that.

Otherwise she was .......

[Sean] For two days,
the 2018 Reebok CrossFit Games

have been contested
on dry land.

That changes on day three.

Thanks for joining us as
we kick off action on Saturday

with event number eight,
the Madison Triplus,

and this is the latest
in CrossFit Games history

that we've actually put
athletes in the water.

[Tommy] Madison Triplus
was a mash-up

of a few different
off-site events,

and any time
there's a swim involved,

the Australian contingent

automatically jumps
to the forefront

as some of the favorites.

[Tia] As soon as there's a run,
a swim, anything outside,

I'm like, yes,
these are my points.

And in 2015 we had this event,

I think it was actually
the first swim event.

I was so nervous, I was
so young, and I came fourth,

but I knew that I could have
done so much better.

So for the CrossFit Games team
to bring the board back,

I was like, yes, let's do this.

When that event got announced,
oh, God, this is gonna be bad.

'Cause every other year that
there's been a swim and a run,

it's been survival mode for me.

I'm kind of like stroking
in and out of consciousness.

I'm getting light-headed
and tipping over.

And then they're doing a mass
start on the swim in the water.

It's just a recipe for chaos.

[starter buzzer rings]

[Sean] Event eight, the Madison
Triplus, is underway.

500-metre swim
to open things up here.

It was hard swimming next to 39
other women. I got some kicks.

I think I gave some kicks
to some girls next to me.

[commentator] That's legs
and feet on top of heads,

on top of other legs.

Three pulls into the swim,
knocks my goggles,

lens fills up with water.

I'm like, "Shit."

And with a compromised lung,
I don't wanna blow it in a swim

when there's two other sections
of that workout.

[Sean] This is more like
a street fight than a swim,

but there are some
really competent swimmers

who can do very well
in this portion of the event.

I can't tell you how much I've
worked on my swimming this year.

I've done more distance
in the water this year

than the last
three years combined.

I was excited to see
how much I could improve,

but at the same time
I still hate swimming.

[Brent] My goal was
to start swimming fast

and hold the lead there
and hold off the Aussies

as long as I could
on the paddleboard.

I got out of the water first,

and I could hear and see
that they weren't far behind.

[Sean] Brent Fikowski is done
with the swim.

The women, the leaders
got out of the water

faster than Brent Fikowski did.

I knew, though,
you didn't wanna go out,

and I wasn't one in the swim,

so I came out of the swim
in third place,

and then it was about
picking up the board,

having a fast transition.

[Sean] Now, Kristi Eramo
and Amanda Barnhart

are dead even on that paddle.

[commentator] So far both women
are laying down on the board.

Toomey is able to use
a lot more of her hips

and get more pull
through the water.

And I ended up catching up
to them and I was on my knees,

so I was able to actually gain
some momentum from them.

[Laura]
I fell a couple of times.

I tried to get on my knees.

It was impossible for me.

I just fell over.

It's so hard for me to know how
to control it and how to do it.

When I gain speed, I get
so tired in the shoulders,

and I think
more than 10 people passed me.

[commentator] He just doesn't
look real confident to me.

[commentator 2]
He's really struggling,

but if you can't balance,
then it's really hard

to even get yourself to move.

[Brent] It was not as fast
as Dean Linder-Leighton,

who had these big
double-hand strokes.

[Sean] Three Australians out
front, Dean Linder-Leighton,

followed by now Khan Porter

and James Newbury,
your top three.

And near the end,
Sean Sweeney, yelling,

"You Australian dingo,
I'm coming for you!"

[Sweeney]
I'm coming for you, Khan!

You better paddle
that sweet ass!

Yelling at me, "How you doing
over there, Brent?"

And I just had my chin down.

I'm not gonna give him
the satisfaction of response.

And when we get out of
the water, I'm gonna dust him.

[Sean] Now Toomey is off,

and now the race really starts.

The two lead women faster

than the two lead men.

[Mat] For me,
coming out of the swim

and not being
in a panic survival mode,

and feel comfortable,
was just a huge win for me.

[Sean] Brent Fikowski right now
looking to pick up some points.

Fikowski could find himself in
the top three after this event.

[Brent] Pretty quickly
I caught Khan Porter,

and then I caught up to James.

We've shared a coach.
We're good friends.

Dean Linder-Leighton
had a sizeable lead.

[Sean] And he will
be 100 points richer.

Dean Linder-Leighton
takes event eight,

the Madison Triplus.

[Brent] We talked a little bit

and made sure no one behind us
was gonna catch us,

and we said, "Hold this pace,
get into the stadium,

sprint to the finish
for second, OK."

[Sean] Brent Fikowski
opening it up.

James Newbury right behind him.

And it's Fikowski
just ahead of Newbury.

The final stretch
for Tia Toomey.

100 points for the defending
fittest woman on Earth.

- High five.
- Good job. There you go.

[cheering]

Fourth place on the swim.
How you like them apples?

I might have finished
just outside the top 20

in the swim, so...

- I'm so happy you did bad too.
- I know. It's a swim, man.

- For me it's the paddle.
- Always like that.

So, we are all
getting checked in

to go and get
our workout announced.

So we don't really know
what's going on,

but we have a feeling it's gonna
be some sort of pulling workout,

which is gonna be good.

All 40 women are gonna walk out
onto the field.

You're actually gonna jog out
onto the field.

You're gonna get in position,

and there's gonna be a judge
in front of you

and the entire field.

On three, two, one, go,
you're gonna run to your judge

and whatever happens to be
right there,

and they're gonna tell you go,

and it's gonna be obvious
what you need to do.

They are not gonna tell you
how much you need to do

until you finish that.

Then you're going to advance

to another thing
you might need to do.

They're not gonna tell you
how much of that

you need to do either
until you're done.

Then they're gonna repeat that

and repeat that and repeat that
through the whole field,

until the end
there will be a point

where they tell you
what you need to do,

therefore you have the ability
to turn it on

and you can kind of pace
at the end to finish this off.

Everything will be unknown,

and it'll be very clear
once you get there.

But don't ask again, don't say,
where do I have to go to,

how many reps do I have to do,

how many whatever
you need to do.

They'll tell you
when you're done. Just work.

[Sean] It is time
to embrace the Chaos.

It's the ninth event of
the 2018 Reebok CrossFit Games.

That's one of
my all-time favorite events

at the CrossFit Games,
the Chaos event.

[Adrian] Dave had been saying
for a while

that he wanted to do an event

where the athletes
would take the field

and they didn't know what
the event was gonna look like,

how many reps they had to do
or how long it was gonna be.

We knew that the athletes
would know nothing

about what they were doing,
that the judge would say,

"You're gonna do this.
Go until I tell you to stop."

[Tommy] It is
the most insane concept,

and I think it is
quintessential CrossFit,

in terms of sometimes,
even at the Games,

you gotta lay down the track

right in front of the train
as it's going.

[Cole] Everything being kept
secret before we went out there,

it toyed with people's minds.

Everyone was kind of worried.

[Katrín] What can Chaos be?
Who gets to something first?

40 athletes on the field, I was
like, "That's gonna be chaotic."

[Lukas] No one told us
and no one in the audience

when we walked in
said anything.

They were just quiet.

[Laura] You don't know
how to warm up, what to expect,

what to bring out to the field.

It's not good.

- [starter buzzer rings]
- [Sean] We are underway.

The athletes
are being told right now,

"Work until I tell you to stop"
by their judges.

They don't know the movements
that are ahead of them.

Their judges will inform them
at every station.

[Patrick] Something that I do
maybe more than I should

is watch everybody else.

As soon as the announcer
is like,

so-and-so's hand is in the air,

you're like,
cool, where are they?

As soon as they move,
I see what the next movement is.

OK, what's he doing? What's
he doing? Burpees. Got it.

Instead of waiting
for instruction,

I started doing burpees.

My transition's twice as fast.

I had 28 calories
when Annie's judge goes, "Go!"

Kind of figured gonna be 30.

I was gonna run past and I see
Annie drop to the floor.

Oh, like, burpees.

Every time
I'd get to a movement,

I would just go pretty hard
but not redline.

[Kara] It's this constant
back and forth

of trying to figure out what's
too much, what's not enough.

[Sean] Pat Vellner has had

all kinds of bad breaks
throughout this competition,

but he is still in contention
for a spot on the podium,

fourth place overall.

[Patrick] I started doing
overhead squats.

Switch your arms
as often as you want

to make sure that you're not
gonna wreck your shoulders.

[commentator] You saw him
make that switch.

He is a smart competitor,
not just resilient,

as we've seen with all those
bumps and bruises, but smart.

[Patrick] I'm pretty good at
pistols, and once you're there,

it's clear, what else
are you gonna do on that box

other than jump over it?

The other thing's a sled drag.

It was obvious what
you had to do after pistols.

It was just the first four
movements that were mysterious.

[Katrín] When you hear
Pat Vellner's strategy,

it was the opposite to mine.

I didn't mind where I was

as long as I wasn't redlining.

[Sean] Davídsdóttir,
the first woman on

to do the box jump-overs.

They are telling them

how many repetitions
they have to do here.

The reason is, director
of the CrossFit Games said,

"I wanna tell the athletes

so if they want to turn on
the gas, they can right here."

It doesn't hurt
to be a little bit taller.

I saw Mat wipe out on the box.

It brought me
a little bit of enjoyment.

It showcased, hey, we don't need
to know what we're doing.

We're so fit and we're so strong

that you can throw anything
at us and we got it.

[Adrian] The Chaos event
really does replicate

a lot of people's day-to-day
affiliate experience.

No matter
what's gonna be thrown at me,

I'm gonna show up and train.

That mentality is so important
because, at the heart of it,

CrossFit is about capacity.

What can I do
when I haven't had the chance

to train specifically
for this thing?

How prepared am I really?

[Sean] Now it is on to the
implement known as the Slug,

her judge telling her,

"You gotta pull that thing
to the finish line."

Vellner is way out in front

and has that finish line
within reach.

She says she's a sled dog,
and she proves it here.

Davídsdóttir wins Chaos.

And Pat Vellner conquers
the Chaos and wins event nine.

[Patrick] That's also
a cool event to win

because it's
quintessentially CrossFit,

unknown and unknowable.

It was like
a true test of that.

It was like
a marquee CrossFit event.

I feel like
I'm good to win one a year.

So I got it done.
Pressure's off.

But it feels good. The swim's
never gonna be my best finish.

I did better this year.

So it's nice to rebound
with a strong finish

to balance that stuff out.

[cheering]

[Sara] Saturday I woke up

and I've never felt this bad
in my entire life.

I was just stuck with my hand
like this.

So Phil can read me
really well,

and he could just see
how much pain I was in.

That's where I told Phil that
I thought my rib was broken.

[Sean] The big news is not
who is here but who is not.

Sara Sigmundsdóttir was
supposed to be in lane five.

She has withdrawn
from competition

due to a medical issue.

We do not know what it is,

but we do know
that Sara Sigmundsdóttir,

who was 11th overall coming
into this event, has withdrawn.

[Sara] So I talked to
the medical team, got an MRI,

and I could see the broken rib
on black and white paper.

I had worked the whole year
to get to the Games,

and I was in the best shape
of my life,

and it's the hardest thing
that I've ever done in my life.

I just felt like, I don't know,
like a... a weak person

that I stopped competing
because of pain.

Why couldn't I push through it?

[Sean] The people get
what the people want.

Back-to-back events to close
out day three of competition

here at the 2018 Reebok
CrossFit Games.

There are 200 points
up for grabs

for potentially
only six minutes of work,

here on Saturday night
in the Coliseum.

[Tommy] The Bicouplets were
effectively a two-part workout

but each graded separately

and featured
some gymnastics work

and then some barbell work
as well.

[Adrian] Both events
are pedal to the metal.

There's not
a lot of room for error.

And then
it's who can be ready to go

immediately after
emptying the tank?

I think that's really at the
top of the heap where you see

the biggest difference
between CrossFit athletes.

Everybody can go hard,
but who can go hard again?

[Tia] I just sent it.

Whether that was the smartest
option, I didn't really care.

[commentator] Toomey is
so strong on the barbell,

but I was really impressed
how she held on

for that set of bar muscle-ups.

Go to the point
right before failure.

[commentator]
Mat is extremely smart.

He knows exactly
where everyone is.

He knows how far along he is
and how fast he needs to go.

[Mat] Take a quick glance side
to side to see who's there.

And it was Willy Georges.
Like, damn. Good for you, kid.

[Sean] Willy Georges
on the left,

Noah Ohlsen is in the middle,

and it's Mat Fraser
on the right.

[man] I watched Camille go
unbroken all the way through.

Unbroken snatches,
unbroken muscle-ups.

Somebody can do it,
I can do it too.

[Sean] As Noah Ohlsen moves out
for his final set,

here comes Mat Fraser.

Credit to Noah in that scenario.
He really sold the farm.

You could see him
just absolutely

throw himself over that bar
because he was that redlined.

If you wanna beat the best,
you gotta be willing to do that.

[Noah] If I would have taken
an extra second

to breathe
and shake out my arms,

I could have hopped up
and done all six unbroken.

[Sean] The crowd comes to its
feet to watch this showdown.

Who will break first?

[Noah] So I jump up,
one, two, three.

So on four I was pulling
like this from my fingertips,

and I chicken-wing over
for four.

[commentator] Look at the way
that Noah's doing that.

He's actually
pushing himself... Oh!

Just thought, please, please,
let me get this next one.

- [commentator] Oh!
- [Sean] Fraser's off.

Willy Georges!
Vive la France!

[commentator] Wow!

[Noah] It was
a fourth place finish.

Normally I would be happy.
That gets you a lot of points.

But what could have been
once again.

[Sean] Kara Saunders is in.

And here comes
Cassidy Lance-McWherter.

Kara Saunders, 26 points
behind Davídsdóttir for third.

Davídsdóttir could fall
out of the top three.

[commentator]
I'm a little nervous for her

going into the next event.

[Katrín] We underestimated
that workout a little bit.

We thought it was gonna be
way faster and easier

than it actually was.

I think that's always dangerous.

You never underestimate
a workout.

And I was really bummed
after that one,

but I turned around and I was
like, let's kill this one.

[Sean] Final heat
of the final event

of day three is underway.

The second one,
my grip was falling apart.

I was having trouble putting
together big sets of pull-ups.

[Lukas] When I came
to the chest bar

and lightweight snatch,

my grip was just way gone.

[Laura] Chest bar pull-ups,
I just couldn't hang on,

so I had to break up
a couple of times.

[Adrian] With events like that
where you've got

these really short events,
a really short break

and then another
really short event,

the tension you feel,
there's a difference to it.

The athletes sense
that there's something

really on the line here,
and that's palpable.

[Sean] The time to beat
is 3.44.90.

Davídsdóttir is taking a break.
She has four reps left.

I was just trying to hold out
and I was falling off the bar.

I have no clue
where anyone else is.

I sprint across and my judge
goes screaming after me.

He's like, "No, you're not
done." I was sure I was done.

[Sean] Katrín got hit with
a no rep and had to go back.

We had Chaos
in the event earlier,

and we get chaos tonight.

[Katrín] I was absolutely sure
I was done,

and so I come back
and I finish that one,

and by that time a couple
more girls had finished.

They actually went back,
reviewed the videos.

I did get that no rep
in the beginning,

but I did that extra rep,
so I did finish my nine reps.

I needed to do well in that one

'cause I'd done so poorly
in the bar muscle-up one.

It ruined my vibe a little bit.
It's OK.

I just wanted to do... I didn't
do well on the first one,

so I really wanted to do well
in the second one,

and I thought I did,
and then I just felt stupid

if I had gone
and not done nine, you know.

But I never count wrong.

I'm actually very good
at keeping count.

So I was surprised.

What happened, buddy?

I went just too hard
on the first one, I guess.

I'm pretty happy with that one.
But my grip just blew up.

I'm still hanging in there,
trying to do my best.

One more day tomorrow,
so have to be prepared.

And I'm pretty excited, man.

It's been a crazy journey
this week for me,

so I'm gonna try
to keep the spirit up.

Hopefully I didn't drop
too much. We'll see.

How did that leader board
check out tonight?

It was huge. 200 points in one
event there was a massive swing.

So I jumped to second.
Brent's down to fourth.

Lukas is in third.

Willy jumped
from ninth to fifth.

- [woman] Sixth.
- Sixth. Bjorgvin's fifth.

It made a big difference.
It's a big shake-out, so...

It's gonna be a big day
tomorrow, another one.

Final day at the CrossFit Games.
What else could you ask for?

Dave Castro just posted
that there's pegboards.

From a coaching point of view,

you would think
that there would be pegboards,

just given
that they did chest bars,

they got a sled pull,
so more lat work,

a lot of forearm activation,
so compounding fatigue,

you'd think the likelihood
of having that would be there.

So I guess
it sort of goes to show

that I've never picked
a workout yet

and he's still got me
100% of that.

How many pegboards have I done?

You would say, like, between
50 and 60, and I did one.

Yeah, not because we didn't try.
We were able to complete one.

We tried 'em.
We could only do one.

- Now we can do 'em.
- Now we can do 'em.

Oh, man, this event,
this is a Fikowski event.

This is a...
This is a Toomey event.

And everything is easy enough
that there's no strategy.

You just have to be fast.

[indistinct]

You're fine.

[Sean] Fourth and final day
of competition

at the 2018 Reebok
CrossFit Games,

and we are about to find out

who has some gas
left in the tank.

[commentator] It is all about
engine. It's not technical.

It's just about how much pain
are you willing to endure

for all five of those rounds?

[Tommy] Two-Stroke Pull was
the opening event on Sunday.

That first event
is a big turning point

because it can
make or break some athletes.

A lot of people were thinking,
sled dog, Katrín Davídsdóttir,

this is custom-built for her.

[Sean] Laura Horvath
had been hanging around,

but I think
a lot of people expected,

OK, she's a rookie,
this is not gonna last.

We were all proven wrong.

Laura Horvath went toe-to-toe

with Katrín Davídsdóttir.

[Mat] Super nervous
about that one.

I knew the possibility

of me finishing in the middle
of the pack was very high.

The Assault Bike, just the way
it favors the power athletes,

it favors the big guys.

From the start,
I felt like, oh, shit,

I can maybe push this one
and get an event win.

[commentator] Katrín
Davídsdóttir here in blue.

These women have
the pressure on them.

They're the ones sitting
in fourth and fifth place,

just outside the podium,

so they need every possible
point that they can get.

Laura Horvath,
who's sitting in second,

Kara Saunders,
who's sitting in third,

they have to do
better than them.

[Katrín] I go out pretty hot,
and I was OK with it.

I was like, I'm gonna go hot.

I thought I'd be able
to hang on,

and then the pull
was really hard for me.

I couldn't even
just use my arms

'cause I was going so slow.

[Lukas]
Everyone was standing awkward

when they were doing the pull,

and I tried to stay
pretty straight up

and just lean back
and do big pulls,

and I was much faster
than a lot of the other guys.

[commentator]
This kid can drive.

He keeps that confidence,
he's gonna do amazing.

[Sean] And Hogberg, currently
sitting in third place overall,

looking to stay on the podium
for the first time here.

Laura Horvath now off the bike,
as she looks to gain ground

and solidify her hold
on second place overall.

[Laura] The first round
I was biking,

and everyone got off so early
from the bike.

They went too fast
on the first round

and I could catch them
on the second and third round.

[Sean] And now Laura Horvath
has taken the lead

from Katrín Davídsdóttir

as we head into the fifth
and final round.

[Katrín]
Still don't regret this,

but the only way to catch her
is on the bike.

She was so much stronger
on the pull.

Every round she'd catch me.

I was like, if I can make it
to the pull before her,

maybe I can win this event.

[Tommy] That event is what
really kick-started the battle

that we would see play out
through the end for third place

between Lukas Hogberg
and Brent Fikowski.

[Sean] Lukas Hogberg is trying
to hold off Brent Fikowski,

who's the man right behind him
in the overall standings.

Hogberg can earn 100 points
if he stays in front.

[Brent] Keep within range

and try and chase him down
at the end.

Before I knew it,
on the third round,

Lukas was out in front by a lot.

I was like, I don't know what
he's done to get that lead,

but I don't think
I can cover that ground.

[Sean] All that remains
is a final 44-foot sled pull

for Lukas Hogberg as he is
staring 100 points in the face.

[Lukas] Round one and two
was pretty easy,

and then three was hard,
four was like, oh, shit,

and five was like,
I wanna die, you know.

[Sean] Lukas Hogberg
blew the doors off that event

and saved
one of his best performances

for when he absolutely
had to have it,

and that event win
proved to be huge for him.

Davídsdóttir looking to win
for the second consecutive time

here in the North Park.

But here comes the rookie,
Laura Horvath.

I just knew
if I can get to the bike

in the same time as she does,
she will catch me,

but then I will catch her
on the sled pull

because I just pull
faster and harder.

[Sean] Laura Horvath,
one pull to go.

And the new kid on the block
is here to stay!

Laura Horvath wins event 12.

Lukas, what are you feeling
right now, buddy?

Amazed. I know this was
a really good workout for me.

I tried to just, like,

keep a steady pace
and then just hold it,

like in the head think that
you're pushing it in the end,

but you probably don't
'cause you're so tired,

so you can't keep
the same speed.

Last round was really hard.
It was fun, though.

Maybe I'm gonna get
a post on Instagram

for CrossFit Games this times.

I don't know.

- Come down every single time?
- From the obstacle.

And then try and push
for that tiebreaker there.

Then you just rest,
and then have a go at it.

- Handstand.
- How is that obstacle course?

Different. A lot of people
predicted that.

- Didn't they, Tia?
- Yeah.

- They thought it would come.
- What's your game plan?

Go out hot, try and go unbroken
on the whole obstacle.

If she comes down,
that's not the plan.

You said earlier, dream
scenario, handstand course.

- Mmm!
- Uh...

- What do you think?
- And a fatigued one.

I'm excited. I think
it's gonna be really fun.

I'm a little nervous for
other people on the traverse,

but maybe everyone will just
put their hands on the thing.

Interesting way to finish. It's
gonna make for some good photos.

Yeah, I mean,
going into the last day,

I know it was really close
between Hogberg and Fikowski,

and I know that Hogberg was up.

And I think it came down
to the last two events,

the Handstand Walk event
with the obstacles,

and then the final.

Yeah, we'll see. I'm just gonna
try to stay really focused.

[commentator] We last used
this heavy jump rope

at the 2016 Reebok CrossFit
Games on Sunday afternoon.

It's five times heavier
than normal rope,

and each handle
is around one to two pounds.

The new element for this
is the low parallel bars.

Demo member Travis Mayer
will show us how it's done.

He said
the most disorientating part

is approaching the bars
and seeing nothing there.

These athletes
weren't able to test this

before coming
on the competition floor.

First time they tested it
was in 2011,

and Rich Froning
walked 50 yards on his hands.

That blew everybody's minds.

You had athletes
who couldn't even do it.

Fast-forward now to 2018
and we're throwing obstacles in.

They're walking
up and down steps,

down ramps, over parallettes.

[Adrian] How hard
should we make it?

How technical
do you wanna get on your hands?

We didn't know if the athletes
would rise to that challenge

or if they would
get tripped up by it.

When they announced the
Handstand Walk, I was nervous.

I never tried the parallels.
I was terrified of that event.

[Tia] When I first
started CrossFit,

doing a handstand hold
or even handstand walking

for even three foot
was not possible.

[Brent] I made a little mistake
and I caught my finger

under my hand and fell off.

I said, OK, relax, it's OK.

And then I went up
a little too slow.

So I said you gotta go up
a little faster.

The list kept going on. I'd
change something, reset, focus.

Before I knew it, 20 seconds
left. My God, what happened?

[Mat] With that event,
with how short it is,

half a second can be
two places, three places.

[Katrín] You had to be really
smart with your approach.

You have to just
make every obstacle.

It's not about being fast.
It was about being smooth.

[commentator] You are trying
to push for the top,

and you overextend yourself,
and you get overextended

and you fail,
you fail, you fail.

You're not fifth place.
Now you're 35th place.

I was right between
Brent and Lukas, I think.

I was like,
it's the three of us

racing for the podium
right now.

We all were very sloppy
in that workout.

I stumbled on my finger
on the line with my left hand,

and I fell down,
and I was like, .....

[Brent] Me,
Vellner and Hogberg,

I could see us all
look at each other,

we were like,
this is really important.

I could really use these points
like you guys.

[Adrian] Currently on track
to potentially be

the second fittest man
on Earth,

with one event remaining,

what's going through your mind
right now,

considering all the hardships

you've had to go through
this week?

Do you know how heavy
that yoke was again?

[laughter]

It's gonna be a hard event
in the final,

and so I think
it's gonna come down to that.

Like you said, there is still
one event to go.

Nothing's sealed.
I got a lot of work to do.

- [cheering]
- Try to regroup and recover.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

At that point, based on what
Brent and Lukas were doing,

I was like, I think
I've locked up second place,

so that was a cool moment.

I high-fived Mat
and he knew it too,

and we gave a good chest bump.

I think he's happy
for me to be successful,

just as long as it means
he's in first.

You know what I mean? So...

It's one of those... he wants me
to be as successful as possible

just as long
as he's a little bit more.

Thank you.

You did so good. I'm so proud
of you. You did so good.

Oh, my gosh, we're gonna get you
back there. Oh, man.

- Did you have fun?
- Yeah, a lot.

That's good. Well,
how was the parallettes?

Easy. I rested before,
like, 10 seconds or so.

You just went through. You did
everything you had to do.

That was fantastic. You caught
up so much on the... the stairs.

Yeah, I know.

A little stumble and then...
Crazy, crazy, crazy.

You should be proud of yourself.

[Brent] The whole weekend, I
don't look at the leader board,

'cause I know so much can change
from Thursday to Friday to...

There are so many points
up for grabs.

Usually on the last day I look
at the guys in the top eight,

and I just make sure
when I'm doing events

I know where they're at

and I try to beat those guys
if I can.

And then on the final event
my coach said

we should probably look
at the leader board.

[Tommy] Fikowski is 34 points
back of Lukas Hogberg,

which is interesting
because Fikowski typically

comes out of the West Regional,

and that is the one regional
where 30-plus point deficits

going into the final event

have evaporated yearly
with these amazing comebacks,

with Cole Sager multiple years.

And so Fikowski
is probably the one athlete

that has repeatedly seen
that type of comeback play out

on the competition floor
around him.

And he's probably one of the few
athletes that mindset-wise

can approach that with,
hey, I can go out there

and still have a shot at this.

Don't go half-hearted.
All in. Feels good?

[indistinct]

[Adrian] The Aeneas workout
was really cool.

Dave reads a lot,
and his whole deal

was that he wanted to recreate
the myth of Aeneas,

who, after the Siege of Troy,
escaped.

It's kind of the story of that,
so you gotta scale the walls,

and then you gotta carry
whatever it is

out of the wreckage
of the burning city of Troy.

[commentator]
Aeneas was a demigod

who carried his mortal father

out from the ruins
of the burning city of Troy.

Mat Fraser is a full human
on the precipice

of his third consecutive
CrossFit Games title.

The final event was cool,
first of all,

because they brought back
the pegboard

that had first shown up
I think in 2015.

It was one of those things
that stopped athletes

dead in their tracks.

A lot of them
just could not do it.

So fast-forward now three years
and they can all do it.

And Mat Fraser shows up

and, again,
he has clinched the victory.

All he has to do is just finish.

One event stands
between Tia Toomey

and a second straight
CrossFit Games championship.

[Tia] I couldn't
have programmed

an even better workout
to finish on.

It is 99%
that Tia is going to win.

[Sean] Who will join Mat Fraser
on the podium?

Right now it's Pat Vellner
and Lukas Hogberg.

But Brent Fikowski has a chance

to work himself back
into a top three spot.

[Mat] I'm gonna go like a bat
out of hell and just send it

and just see
what I'm capable of.

Worst-case scenario,
you crash and burn.

Who cares? You still won.

[commentator] Mat Fraser has
been nonstop unbroken so far.

[Sean] Fraser is done, and for
the third straight year,

the final event is just
a victory lap for Mat Fraser.

[Adrian] That event
was really dramatic

because at that point
Mat was pretty much a lock.

Vellner was already up there.

He wasn't in any real danger
of losing his second place.

But Lukas and Brent
were battling that out.

[Sean] Lukas Hogberg needs
to just reel in Brent Fikowski

to do some damage control
and keep Fikowski

from leapfrogging him
onto the podium.

Vellner was in second,
then 34 points back was Lukas,

then 34 points back was myself.

Risk it and try and get those
34 points on Lukas Hogberg.

[Lukas] And I didn't know
how good Fikowski was,

but I didn't wanna think about
him when I'm doing the workout,

'cause that's gonna .... me up.

So the plan was to try and do
five pegboards unbroken,

40 thrusters unbroken,

and carry the yoke fast to the
finish line and win the event.

[Kara] I knew I needed
a bit of separation

with Katrín and I
to be on the podium,

but Matty had said,
"You can't drop below fourth."

[Sean] Kara Saunders is trying

to work her way back
on the podium.

She is only six points back

of Katrín Davídsdóttir
for third.

[Katrín] I knew
going into the last one

that I was fighting
for the podium.

[Laura] We got to the barbell,
me and Tia

and almost Katrín
at the same time.

She was ahead of me,
so she kept going.

I was like, hell, yeah, I'm not
gonna take the barbell down.

I can do this all day.

[Sean] And here goes Mat Fraser

on his first yoke carry.

Lukas Hogberg
is onto the thrusters.

He's gotta try and reel in
Brent Fikowski

if he wants to guarantee
himself a spot on the podium.

Vellner and I
were really close on the yoke,

and he fell off pace,
and I didn't know why.

Mr Magoo Patrick Vellner style.

His plate apparently
was rolling across the stadium.

You see this yellow
35-pound plate

go rolling across the floor

and Pat Vellner frantically
scrambling to go and get it.

[Patrick] I could see it flip
up. "You gotta be kidding me."

I just ran it down, and I could
see Boz was looking at it.

He's looking at me
and he's like, "Stop it"

and I'm like,
"I can't get involved."

[Patrick] It got right
to his feet when I grabbed it.

I grabbed this plate
and looked up.

And he's looking at me like,
"What are you doing?"

I'm like, "Sorry."

[Sean] Once again,
Mat Town is Mat's town.

For the third straight year,
he is the fittest man on Earth.

That's Fikowski
trying to jump Hogberg

for the final spot
on the podium.

Fikowski ahead of Vellner.

Vellner also ahead of Hogberg.

And Fikowski is in.

As long as Tia Toomey stays
right here with Laura Horvath,

it is all over.

First she finished second
two times.

Then she won by two points.

Now two for Toomey! She is
the fittest woman on Earth!

Davídsdóttir is in. This could
be your women's podium.

Kara Saunders needs to do
damage control right now.

Unofficially, Brent Fikowski
has scored 84 points.

Lukas Hogberg
was only up by 34.

- Thanks so much, Pat.
- What a weekend.

Love you, buddy. Good job.

[indistinct]

[Tommy] Lukas finishes towards
the back half of the heat,

and it's not exactly clear
where he finished overall.

So immediately everyone becomes

an amateur calculator,
leader boarder,

just trying to figure out times
from the previous heat.

[Sean] We didn't wanna say

that it was officially
gonna go to a tiebreak,

but it was very clear that
that was what was gonna happen.

And then we knew
that because of Hogberg's win,

he was gonna wind up on
the podium for the first time,

and once again it's another
near miss for Brent Fikowski.

- Congratulations, man.
- Oh, God.

[Brent] You compete
long enough,

I've been playing sports
my whole life,

and you learn more
from the losses than the wins,

even though I'd prefer to win
all the time.

There's ups and downs,
and there's 40 men there,

and only one guy
gets the gold medal,

and the other 39 men
get to choose

how they perceive
their performance.

And obviously they might not be
as happy as the guy in gold,

but happiness is also a choice.

[Dave] For the third
consecutive year,

your CrossFit Games champion
is Mat Fraser!

[cheering]

[Sean] It was really cool
to see Katrín Davídsdóttir

pull off that comeback

and make that steady march
up the leader board

that we have been accustomed
to seeing from her.

She's never out of it.

But you had to feel
for Kara Saunders

because here she is again

suffering another
just heartbreaking near miss.

[indistinct]

I love you so much.

- Next year.
- Next year.

You're talking about next year?
2019? What part?

- What we're doing for training.
- How we're gonna show up.

[Katrín] Now it's done,
you can't change it.

There's no hope, there's
no keeping the mindset good,

there's no working harder.

It's just like it's done
and I didn't win.

But at the same time,
I've never worked harder

in my entire life
than I did this year.

And third place
is still third place,

and we're back on the podium,
and there's a lot of wins

and there's
a lot of good in it,

and I can't forget
to celebrate that.

I felt like I ....ing won
the CrossFit Games

taking third place.

This has been my dream
for eight years,

make it to the podium.

It was just amazing,

and I was so proud
to be representing Sweden,

and all this hard work I've
been doing for so many years

has really paid out and I'm
standing here on the podium

at the CrossFit Games.

I've been thinking
about it a lot,

how it feels to stand up there,

and it's ....ing amazing.

[Laura] It's awesome.
It's so great.

Standing on the podium next to
these girls, it was incredible.

It was amazing, it was
the best experience ever,

like, representing my country.

I was the only Hungarian
at the Games this year,

which was huge for me and also
for my country, I guess.

It was awesome.
It was so great.

[Patrick] I put myself
in some sticky situations,

but I'm happy that I'm able to
just rally and figure it out.

I think that's part of what

people liked about me
this year,

was that terminator mentality

where it didn't matter
what happened to me.

I was gonna figure it out
and ride the ship

and we were gonna
get back on track.

I'm proud of my ability
to do that

and I think that's something
I have as a competitor

that maybe some others don't

that gives me a little bit more
of an edge, so it's cool.

It's nice to see
that sort of thing pay off.

[Dave] I've said before
that there will be people

fitter than Rich Froning
in the future

but never more dominant.

I'm on the verge
of being proved wrong.

He's now won three times
in a row, Rich won four,

and arguably a much harder
time period in our sport.

So... I might have to tip my hat
to Mat. He might have it.

I remember I finished the event

and I'm just scanning the crowd,
like, where is my sweetheart?

I wanna go get a hug
from my sweetheart.

And then someone finally
pointed her out to me

and it was just a mess
of tears and hugs and...

It hasn't been all roses.

So it means a lot.

[Tia] This year it was so
different to the previous year.

It was more relief
that I won in 2017,

and then to be able
to back it up in 2018,

I actually felt like
my job wasn't done.

There's still room
for improvement.

I have a long way to do.

I'm just ready
to start the next season,

because I'm not satisfied.

- You're the back-to-back champ.
- What did you say?

You're the back-to-back CrossFit
Games fittest woman on Earth.

I heard you the first time.
I just wanted to hear it again.

[laughs]

Her goal in 2018 was
exactly this, to leave no doubt.

She wanted to make that
a clear goal

throughout the weekend,

the CrossFit Games,
the entire season,

that she was gonna turn
every stone possible.

And to see her
get the finish she deserves,

for me it just
makes everything worth it,

for that particular moment
where I'm like,

I'm happy for you completely
'cause you deserve this.

That's it.

[Justin] In March of 2018,

on the way to an open
announcement in Houston,

we got a call
and it said that our leadership

wanted to change the structure
of the Games next year.

So on Monday morning, the day
after the CrossFit Games,

I got a phone call
that those changes

are happening right now.

And normally
that following week

is a time
for me and my family to detox,

we go away,
we turn off cell phones,

and it was, you need to start
scheduling time to be in town

because we're gonna make
dramatic changes to the team.

Leading into it, I didn't know
the teams were gonna be let go.

We actually thought, I thought,
maybe I was too hopeful,

that we had solved the problem.

It was a surprise
and a huge contrast,

because that was coming
right on the heels

of an amazingly good event.

It was the best viewership
we'd ever had,

the best international pickup
we had ever had,

largest crowds
that we've ever had.

And it was a cold-water bath
on Monday,

knowing that everything
was gonna change that fast.

[Tia] I think
it was quite distressing,

not just for the athletes

but the whole
CrossFit community.

It actually affected
a lot of friends

that I'd met through CrossFit,
you know, the media team.

I had people who would come
to Australia and film me

and actually get to see and
meet my friends and family.

It just really sunk
a lot of people's hearts

back in 2018
when everything happened.

From the outside looking in,
very much it could have seemed

like there was this "we don't
care" kind of attitude,

we're not really interested
in what the athletes

or what the community thinks.

Nothing could be further
from the truth.

These are people that have put
their life into this event.

[Justin] It's our life's work.
It is for Dave, it is for me.

It is for a lot of people
on this team.

It's the same way when you look
behind the scenes,

whether it's the way
the teams are led,

the way we treat people
on the floor,

the way judges respond
to athletes,

the way we interact with fans,

the way this entire team tries
to bring this event to life.

It's not a selfish pursuit.

It's something that we do feel
we have a duty for,

but it's also deeply satisfying

to produce something that adds
value back to our community.

It's a job
that we wanna do really well

and to the best
of our abilities,

and it's in service
of athletes,

it's in service
of our community,

it's in service of affiliates.

And when we do our job well,
it changes people's lives.

CrossFit is a sport, but more
importantly it's a community.

It was a community first
before it was a sport.

And long after
the sport is done each year,

the community
is what continually

keeps things moving
within the space.

It's the affiliates, it's
the people that you train with.

Those are the people

that are the constant
throughout the year.

When the athletes are done,
the season's done,

they walk back
to their affiliates

and they train with those
people, in that community.

Long after their
sporting careers are done,

it's that community
that's gonna surround them

and it's gonna support them,

whether they're
an athlete or not,

in pursuit of something
much bigger than sport,

which is your lifestyle,
your health

and your fitness
over the course of your lifetime

that will make you
a better human

and allow you to live
a happy and fulfilling life.

I think that's the beauty

of what
the CrossFit Games represent,

is everything changes.

When I look back at 2018,

the challenges
that we went through that year,

and in 2019 and 2020,

the direction we were going
wasn't wrong.

It was difficult to make

those dramatic changes
that quickly,

but the motivations were good,

to be
more geographically diverse,

to welcome more events
into the fold,

to create more opportunities
for people to participate

in our sport around the world.

We will
and we have grown faster

because we've brought
more people in,

and I think it was a necessary
change in our evolution.

And to know where we're going
in the future,

we're taking some of the best
elements from 2018,

and we're taking some of the
challenges and the learnings

from 2019 and '20
and correcting them,

and then
we're building something

that's got the best
of both of those systems.

And that's what gets me
really excited

about the future
of the CrossFit Games.

I think sometimes
to know where you're going...

you have to know
where you've been.