2018 the Ultimate Test (2021) Movie Script

[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.

[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.

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.

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.

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.

2018 the Ultimate Test (2021) - full transcript