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[narrator] The CrossFit Games.
Every year, a new fight, a new chase, a new climb.
Everyone with a singular mission:
to find and crown the Fittest on Earth.
[Tia] I go to the gym every single day.
I treat my craft as a profession.
I dedicate my life to this.
And I do not want to be classed as a joke
because of the time and the energy that I put into this.
♪
I would argue the fact that I am just as professional,
if not more, than another athlete
that is going to a sport
that has been around for hundreds of years.
[narrator] For the last few years, the top of the podium
at the CrossFit Games has been summited by just two athletes.
For the women, Tia-Clair Toomey has earned
the title of Fittest on Earth each of the last four years.
And, on the men's side, Mat Fraser has been
the only man standing
at the end of every one of the last five climbs,
a feat many claim to have earned him the title
of Fittest Man in History.
After winning in 2020, Mat Fraser
sent shockwaves through the sport.
He was done competing.
One champion departs
and the other prepares for her next ascent.
At the base of this year's mountain, questions abound.
Who will fill Mat's shoes?
Can anyone finally catch Tia?
Is the next generation ready
or will the veterans of the sport hold them back
for one more season?
Coming into 2021,
the only thing for certain
was that it was someone else's turn to make the climb.
♪
[audience cheering]
[pulsating electronic music]
[announcer] We are ready for the opening event
for both the men and the women
here at the 2021 Noble CrossFitGames.
And this is the type of test
that we are used to seeing kick things off at the games.
[announcer 2] This is a classic way
to kick off The CrossFit Games.
We're getting outside the box, we're getting in the water
and we have a new implement with that kayak
as the paddle portion of this starting event.
[Adrian] Event one, we're going to go long,
we're going to get wet, we're going to do something
that a lot of people haven't done.
We've got a long swim
and then we've got a kayak all the way across the lake.
So it's something that very few people
are going to be truly comfortable with.
Grab a pair of fins. There's different sizes.
You can take your time getting a size that feels good.
[plastic rustles]
Not that one.
[interviewer] Have you done much swimming in fins?
I've done it, like, once in a pool.
But not really.
[laughs]
-[spritzing] -The kayak is funny.
Everybody has done it and I don't think anybody's raced.
Right?
Every time I kayak it's like active recovery
with my girlfriend or whoever.
And I'm just going for a little toodle,
like, I'm not actually paddling hard, so,
I don't think people really knew what to expect on that.
And-- And three miles is a long way.
[Justin] Leading in to the CrossFit Games,
you just keep like, "Okay, I've been working so hard,
but I know all these other athletes
have been working just as hard.
So you're kind of just scared, like--
Just that fear of not knowing what's going to happen,
leading in that first event.
It's just-- it's gonna set the tempo
for the rest of the weekend.
♪
[whistle blows]
[announcer] And, with that, the 2021
Noble CrossFit Games are underway.
[announcer 2] The challenge here is that
it's a mass start of both the men and the women.
And typically we've had a run in so we've always had
some separation to start the event.
Now that we have nearly 80 athletes
all starting at the same time,
it's going to be mass chaos in the beginning.
[Brent] The first quarter of the race was really strange.
I've never felt that disoriented in a swim before.
I just felt like everyone's speed
was oscillating, like, a tremendous amount.
Kind of like sight, I'd take a few strokes,
I'd sight again
and then everyone was in a position
and I was going in different positions.
And people were going at different speeds
because with fins you can just, like, crank up the RPM.
[Annie] Someone swam over me, like, four or five times
during that event, just, like, literally over me.
[Pat] So I thought I'd stay out of the fight in the water
and not get pummeled around in a pack,
and try to make a lot of moves on the kayak
once it got time to paddle.
And I just wasn't able to do it.
[announcer] Now we're going into a three mile kayak,
but it's still going to be about a 40- to 50-minute bout,
but it's going to come down to a lot of technique.
Efficiency with this group
is going to be huge over the next three miles.
[Mallory] I didn't come out of the swim first.
I came out fourth.
And so I had to make up ground.
And I tell you what,
it was very hard to make up ground in a kayak.
[Pat] I feel like I got on the paddle
and I kind of had one gear
that could either work really hard and move slow,
or I could work less hard and move slow.
So it was quite frustrating.
There was some-- some dark times in that boat
in the middle of the water.
I was, like, giving a max effort
and we were just kind of cruising along in this,
like, slow motion,
like, turtle dove on a lake pace.
[announcer] Jonne Koski, if you didn't know any better,
you would just think he was out for a leisurely paddle
by himself on Lake Monona.
There is no one within sight of him right now.
[Brent] From the outset, on the men's side,
it was Jonne Koski's event to lose.
[announcer] Koski is out of the water.
100 points for Jonne Koski.
[Tia] I was in the kayak and we're kayaking across the lake,
and you see this beautiful horizon of Madison City.
And just realizing, "Wow, look at where I am right now."
I'm doing what I love and with the most beautiful view.
It was just so special, and it was like,
"We're here and we're-- we're ready to put on a show."
[announcer] And Tia Toomey starts
her quest for her fifth straight championship
with her 25th career event win at the CrossFit Games.
[vibrant instrumental music]
Pat Vellner, one of the heavy favorites
to win the CrossFit Games
has a history of digging himself an early hole,
and it looks like he is doing it again
here in the opening event.
And there he is, still on the kayak.
[announcer 2] Wow.
Once I've backed myself into a corner,
and then I feel like there's nowhere to go but up.
Fortunately, I've made it a habit
to take a bad dive on the first event
and then make it real exciting
for everybody for the next ten, 11, 12 events.
[spritzing]
I just couldn't get any speed.
I was, like, drifting a lot to the left
and my, like, left side.
And I breathe on my right when I'm swimming and that.
So my left side really blew up on the paddle.
And then I just like tried a few different things
and I just couldn't get as fast.
Felt like I was just like--
I could maintain my speed fine,
but I just couldn't get any extra speeds, so.
[interviewer] Was she yelling at you on the kayak?
Yeah, she's fucking drafting off me, again.
Good job. Good job.
I'll take half her points.
It didn't say we weren't allowed to.
It was good.
Yeah, it wasn't, like, a lung burner at all
or anything like that. Good job, darling.
It was just-- most of it was focusing
on staying engaged, you know?
[man] What do you guys think?
It was great. It was a good start.
I think, um, athletes sometimes don't realize
how quickly time compresses.
Like, we get out here
and everybody is just taking their time.
And with a mass event like that, controlling 80 athletes
who all have their own needs can be a challenge.
So-- But we got there.
We got them in the water and we started right on time.
So always good to get that first event
out of the way on time.
Every time.
Yeah, it was good.
[dynamic orchestral music]
[Sean] I think to describe putting on the CrossFit Games
as a Herculean effort would be an understatement.
I have never been part of an event
that logistically involves
so many moving parts, from planning the events,
to getting the equipment certain places,
to making sure the athletes are where they need to be
making sure they have the equipment they need,
that they're dressed the right way,
that, you know, the judges are in the right spot,
the broadcaster knows what to do.
You have to have an army of people all over the place,
all knowing exactly what they're doing in order
to even have a chance of pulling this thing off.
♪
The past few years of the CrossFit Games
have been extremely tumultuous.
♪
2018 was the last "normal year,"
where we had the same system that had been in place
for about a decade
with open regionals games and that similar flow.
♪
And then, in 2019, the entire system got upended
and a new system was put in place
and the path to the games was much less than a year.
All of that was cut short in 2020 by the pandemic.
[Adrian] The 2020 games were massively affected by COVID.
There was one point
where we thought it just wasn't possible.
♪
We took the top five men and the top five women.
They all came to the ranch in Aromas
and we had a final there,
which was really, really strictly monitored.
We had lots and lots of testing.
I mean, this was right
in the middle of the early days of the pandemic.
♪
No spectators, limited staff, limited media.
It was pretty locked down.
[Sean] So, finally in 2021, we went back to
the most normal thing that we had seen since 2018.
We knew we were going to have the games,
we knew we were going to be in Madison.
But there was still that specter of COVID
that was hanging over the whole thing
that could derail this at any minute.
We are here waiting for our athletes, Danielle and Kari.
They're going to come and test.
We just want to make sure
that they continue to test negative
because there has been potential exposure.
[light classical music]
We get notified that Bethany Shadburne
has tested positive for COVID
and that she is likely out of the competition.
Now, the challenge that that created
beyond the obvious of having to tell her
that she cannot compete this year,
is that she's been in close contact
with several other prominent athletes
in the female division.
So, Kari Pearce and Danielle Brandon,
her training partners, have been around her
and are now at risk of exposure.
So the microscope is focused on them at that point.
-[nurse] Good morning. -Good morning.
[nurse] I'm just gonna swab both nostrils,
[indistinct] gonna wait 10 minutes, all right?
Awesome.
[interviewer] Kari tested positive?
[Katina] Uh, yes. Her first test is positive.
The protocol is to do a retest.
So we will give her that.
So we have to do a retest.
[nurse] We got to do a retest on you.
Okay?
All right, so can you follow me?
[interviewer] Did Danielle test positive?
[Katina] No, Danielle is negative.
[interviewer] But Kari tested positive?
[Katina] Kari's tested positive.
We're gonna do a retest and see
if she tests positive again.
[interviewer] What happened?
Kari tested positive, but she's retaking it.
Okay.
[indistinct]
So, you're out, and I'm so sorry about that.
So now you have to leave campus
and you're not allowed to come back.
[Adrian] So, unfortunately, Bethany's out.
Unfortunately, Kari's out.
We're down to one of the three women
that have trained together all season long.
We're really worried that Danielle's been exposed
and will ultimately test positive.
So she is under a really strict protocol.
She's getting tested regularly.
She has a liaison from the medical team attached to her.
She has to keep her distance from the other athletes.
[announcer] If you're just joining us,
Bethany Shadburne tested positive for COVID
earlier in the week before competition started.
She was-- she was forced to withdraw.
And then this morning,
Kari Pearce also testing positive as well.
So she is out of the competition.
Both of those women with podium aspirations here
at the CrossFit Games and just so unfortunate for them
that they were not able to compete.
♪
[Tommy] In event two, we moved over to the North Park.
Switched things up completely, had some odd object work
and some gymnastics,
and for Tia, it really highlights
the breadth of fitness that she has
as the reigning Fittest Woman on Earth
and really the fittest woman in history.
[Tia] Yes, I believe it's my
responsibility to keep
raising the bar.
If I'm not raising it, then who will?
You know, I don't mean that in any disrespect
to any other athlete,
because we all are out there just trying to raise the bar.
We don't know what those limitations are.
♪
[announcer] Start with that sled drag,
300 pounds on the sled for the men.
That's a heavy sled drag, and the question is,
what is this going to do to the athletes?
Well, it's all about the legs, the hamstrings and the glutes,
which is everything you need going into this pig flip.
The pig is an implement that has never been seen before
besides the CrossFit Games
and they're bringing it back and we got to warm up with it
and we only got three flips,
so we got to walk out there, test three flips,
and then it was like, "Well, see what happens."
[announcer 2] It's like
flipping your refrigerator, end over end,
if your refrigerator is six feet, ten inches long
and weighs 510 pounds.
[announcer 2] Pat Vellner, who once again
needs to work his way out of a gigantic hole.
[announcer 3] Now, the good news for Vellner
is that he did it in event number one.
So he has plenty of time left.
Whenever I have events that I feel like line up
really nice for me, I get extra nervous
because it's-- it's just an execution thing.
It's not an ability problem.
It's not a fitness problem.
It's like if you don't succeed,
it is because you made a mistake.
[announcer] Laura Horvath.
Horvath in the bottom right of your screen,
just leaving everyone behind her right now.
And it looks like she will be the first woman
to that 350-pound pig for five flips.
[Laura] I like those things because I'm a bigger athlete
and it's like I can move mass or like objects easily.
But it wasn't really about the pig or the sled,
I think it was only like a muscle effort,
there were, like, 42 muscle-ups.
I went aggressive,
and did the first 12-ring muscle-ups unbroken
to get ahead of the pack a little bit
and then tried to just sort of hold everybody
at arm's length for the rest of the workouts.
[announcer 2] Not only is he great at muscle-ups,
but he has one of the best deadlifts in the field of men.
So this is a good bounce back event for Vellner
to really capitalize on his strengths and his skill.
Tia Toomey went 12 in a row.
Most we've seen any athlete do
on the men's and women's side so far.
[announcer] Toomey, approaching the finish line.
And another 100 points for Tia Toomey.
♪
And Pat Vellner is gonna go from worst to first.
100 points for Pat Vellner.
Let the comeback begin.
[announcer 3] Give it up
for the one, the only Tia-Clair Toomey.
[cheering]
Ugh! Whoo!
I heard the first heat scores,
and I thought it was pretty attainable.
I don't know, I thought the muscle-ups
were harder than I thought they were going to be.
It's classic, like the high stripes and stuff.
I was able to get out a little bit early,
pay attention to what people were doing.
And hope that nobody had a really late push.
[interviewer] How was that?
-It was good. -[interviewer] Yeah?
Yeah. It's just all muscle-ups.
Like the pig wasn't heavy at all.
It was like, I wish it was, like, heavier,
so it showed them-- slowed like some athletes down
a little bit more like smaller athletes, but it wasn't hard.
Hardest part was the muscle-ups.
To like make like reasonably good, like, big sets.
Not like threes and twos.
[interviewer] Annie, what was it like
being back on the floor?
It's amazing. Fuck, it's amazing!
[cheering]
I-- I was really fricking nervous.
Yeah.
Like, I've been so nervous because I also
I don't know what to expect and the preparation and everything.
But I don't also want to pull myself down by constantly
saying I haven't had proper preparation
because then I'm also undermining
or under-talking myself.
And that's also not--
You can't do that when you're here.
You just gotta fucking go, and believe that you can.
It's so much your head.
So it's been a mindgame for me.
[Sean] Of all the things that I think
the athletes accomplished this year,
Annie Thorisdottir being able to perform
with the level that she did throughout the entirety
of the season so shortly after giving birth to her daughter,
I think is one of the most,
if not the most impressive things
that I saw all season long.
[ambient music]
[Annie] The doctor told me I would never be as strong
as I was before.
That's bullshit.
I've gotten stronger than I was because the goal
isn't always just to flatline
or be where you were previously.
It's to progress and become better and better and better.
And it's the same with this.
I'm going to make it better than it was before.
[rattling]
[Sean] 2021 is-- has been a really cool year
because we've seen this sort of changing of the guard
where some of the athletes that
we have been used to seeing compete,
some of the veteran athletes are moving on
and they're getting out of the sport.
And we see this up-and-coming generation,
these kids who have been doing CrossFit since,
you know, they've been in elementary school.
But then in the midst of all this,
you have the constant that is Annie Thorisdottir.
Currently, in second place from Iceland, Annie--
Thorisdottir.
[cheering]
[Sean] She's the only woman who's ever competed
in three different decades at the CrossFit Games.
[Tommy] Annie Thorisdottir is the original queen of CrossFit.
She showed up as a teenager to the games in Aromas in 2009
and won over the hearts of the entire community struggling
in the final event to get her very first muscle-up.
And then, over the next decade,
we watched her grow into this front runner
in terms of being the first two-time champion
in the women's division,
winning back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012.
She hit the sport at the right time.
It was developing along with her
and she, in turn, developed it.
And there's plenty of people out there
that owe their inspiration to seeing Annie and saying,
"I want to do that."
She really is one of the most important figures
in the women's division of CrossFit.
Fast forward to 2021,
she's taken a year off to grow her family
and have her first child.
Oh!
[sighs]
The good thing about, after training,
picking her up, she feels so much lighter.
[laughs]
Because this little lady is closing in on 12 kilos.
Yeah. We're big and strong.
I had an incredible pregnancy.
Had a baby girl. I had a pretty bad birth.
And struggled quite a bit
after my birth.
[gentle guitar music]
I was in labor for three days.
Um, I was in push phase for over three hours.
Ended up in the surgical clinic
just ready for, like, an emergency C-section.
Full numbing in my body.
And there were, like, seven people holding me down
while I was trying to force that little baby out.
Um, I tore really badly
and lost insane amount of blood.
I don't think I've ever in my entire life
been as happy as when I got Freya in my arms.
It's, like, impossible to explain that feeling.
And then it's so strange
that you can drop so far down
a couple of days or three days later
and you feel like you're supposed to be so happy.
And I know other women struggle with even, like,
significantly more difficult postpartum depression,
but there's nothing wrong with the way that we feel.
We're not-- We're not in control of it.
But we can change it by sharing and talking about it.
And then we can work our way out of it.
I wasn't even thinking about potentially competing
at any point there.
It was just I needed to gain myself again
and start feeling like myself again.
And I did not start quickly.
I started about six weeks in with very easy training
and I gradually increased it.
And even three months after, uh-- after birth,
I still remember I could not walk downhill with the stroller
because of pressure down on my pelvic floor.
Like, it took me a very long time to build up that strength.
Every single year, my motivation is different.
And this year
I did it so much for myself
and for my daughter
and that was like a newfound motivation.
And for all moms out there, to be honest,
to gain control of my body, control of my mind again
and being able to do me again.
♪
[intense electronic music]
[Adrian] So day one, we've got this event at the lake.
Everybody's taken out of their comfort zone,
or at least most athletes are.
Getting to the North Park.
We've got some grunt work with event two.
Fast forward a little bit more and we're at event three
which is just a pedal-to- the-metal straight shot sprint.
550 yards from the back of the Coliseum,
around the bend and into the stadium
at the North Park across the finish.
♪
[Justin] I remember standing at the starting line,
and I don't remember who was next to me,
but I'm just getting elbowed.
Like, we're trying to see whose arm
can get in front of each other's,
and I'm just getting pushed to the back
and three, two, one, go,
I just got an elbow to the chest
and just pushed directly to the back of the pack.
And I was just like, "Oh, no."
♪
[Brooke] I was extremely nervous for this event.
I have a track background, so it's one of the events
that I felt was going to be very good for me.
But I almost feel like events that I know
that I'm going to excel in, I get more nervous for,
because I'm like, "Okay, you're going
to be good at this and don't mess it up."
[Tia] I knew that Brooke was going
to be putting up a really solid time,
so she actually ended up going out in the heat just before me.
[announcer] Look at the lead.
Wells has is put on Daviddottir and Davidsdottir
has a decent lead on the rest of the field behind her.
[announcer] Guilherme Malheiros right now,
who is out front ahead of both Will Moorad and Pat Vellner.
[Pat] Malheiros is faster than any of us knew.
I was running tight with him,
and then I gave him an aggressive corner move
on that last corner.
And, frankly, I cut him off pretty much.
But, uh, I didn't feel that bad about it.
[Pat] He basically pulled out right next to me
and hit the afterburners and just roasted me.
I was like, "Ahh!"
[announcer] Wells makes the turn
into the North Park all by herself.
[announcer 2] Wells desperately needs
a top three finish in this event.
[Brooke] I realize that I'm in front,
but I don't know, like, by how much.
I'm kind of just like, "Oh, my gosh.
Did I mess this up?
Like I'm way too far ahead."
[announcer] And Brooke Wells is going to do it.
124.43 seconds. That's the time to beat.
[Tia] Not running with her and being able to pace her,
that was challenging.
[announcer] Tia Toomey,
looking for her third straight event win.
So, you had to make sure you're staying in your lane.
Didn't get caught up in anyone else
and you were able to execute that right.
[announcer] And Toomey may have done it.
We're gonna have to go to the gym. Adams is second.
[Brooke] I mean, Tia got me by a couple milliseconds.
And I'm still a little butthurt
that we didn't get to do that in the same heat.
That would've been a good battle.
♪
I'd say that was pretty good.
It hurts a lot now.
But that's the stuff I love to do.
I think that it was, uh, my first event win
at the Crossfit Games. Let's see.
[interviewer] Didn't you win [indistinct]?
Yeah, teenager, two.
So, this is my third... with money.
I kind of, like, gave him a dick move
cut off at the gate near the end.
And then he just-- once he got his feet on the turf,
he just took off.
So, our heat was pretty, pretty epic, so.
It was good.
That-- that kind of event has the potential
to be a disaster because it's so tight.
So I'm really happy with how it went.
[interviewer] What was it like competing here,
uh, in this stadium?
Dude, it's so awesome.
I mean, like I said before, dude,
it's Wednesday and like it's already packed,
so I'm just so fired up like for the week,
the whole week, like pretty much, man.
And we got like hopefully another event tonight
that's going to get pretty fun.
So, Dave said he's excited about it, so.
I'm just so fired up and happy to be here
that it's just nice to be in it now.
Now it's just kind of like focus,
dial in, take it workout by workout.
And next thing you know, we'll have 15 done.
[plane whooshing]
[panting]
[throbbing electronic beat]
[Adrian] Justin Medeiros.
I think he represents a young, upcoming,
new blood of the sport.
I'm really excited to see what some of the younger guys--
We got this superstar from Brazil coming out of the wings.
It'd be really cool to see how-- how he does.
[Sean] Gui Malheiros is an athlete that
we've been watching for a while.
One of those kids that came out
from the teenage competition,
and it's very clear he had a ton of talent.
It's a little hard to make the transition
from competing against teenagers
to competing against grown men.
But I think this was finally
the year that he showed that
he's ready to take that leap to the next level
and not only show up, but also be extremely competitive.
♪
[Adrian] You've also got this development
in the women's field where you're starting to get
these younger athletes inject
the new generation into the sport.
Hayley Adams kind of paved the way for that.
We'd known this has been coming for a while.
We've seen these talented teenagers, you know,
start competing when they're 13, 14,
and now we finally get to see them compete
with the best in the world.
And the question was, you know, how were they going
to be able to hang with some of the best in the world?
Like what was that moment going to be like for them?
And Emma Cary and Mal O'Brien absolutely proved
even before they got to the games that they had the talent
to compete with, you know, the top women in the sport.
♪
Justin Medeiros is a really talented young athlete
who exploded onto the scene in 2019
when he won the Filthy 150 to qualify for the CrossFit Games.
[Adrian] He's been involved for a little while,
probably longer than most people realize.
[Justin] Yeah, I started CrossFit in 2012
and I did it to train for the sports that I was doing.
I was doing wrestling and football at the time,
and I just used CrossFit to train
for those sports to be a better athlete.
And as time goes on and I went into college,
I quit all my other sports,
and I decided to focus just on CrossFit.
I was going to wrestle at Boise State.
And then they canceled the wrestling program
my freshman year.
So I was kind of full-time CrossFit.
That first year, my freshman year of college,
I wasn't really sure what I was doing.
I've always done sport.
I didn't really view CrossFit as a sport
because if you want to do it as a sport,
you got to be at the CrossFit Games
and I just was nowhere near that level.
[announcer] Hand is up on Medeiros in lane seven with the red trunks.
[Adrian] In 2018, he made his regionals debut.
He didn't make a big splash in that competition.
But he was there and he was in the mix.
I started reaching out, I had a different coach at the time.
I was trying to find-- to surround myself
with someone that I felt that could help me get there.
And Adam was that guy.
And when I hopped on the phone call,
my first phone call with him I was like,
"Hey, look, I'm in college for the next three years.
I don't know like if I'll have this opportunity again to try
to make the CrossFit Games and I want to devote everything
I have for the three years to make that happen."
And he bought all-in with it.
You guys know the plan.
One, three. Get them done.
By the time you get into six,
you should be in that rhythm
where every rep is the same every time. Right?
You ready to crush it?
-Heck yeah. -Let's go!
-Let's get it.
[Adrian] Adam Neifer is one of the most underrated coaches
in the CrossFit world, in my opinion.
Let's go, Justin. Attack.
This is your round, right here.
This is the round you gotta attack.
Good.
[interviewer] How did it feel in Aromas
actually to see him up on that podium?
It felt right.
In a lot of ways, it was like,
it was really cool to see him on the podium
because it was proof to him that he belongs.
He's been involved in our sport for a really long time,
and he's been a fan of all the athletes
that he was competing with. Right?
So, in some ways,
even though like he-- he is confident and he's like,
"I know that I can hold my own out there."
You know, he's competing alongside
of his-- his childhood idols.
So there is this like question of, "Do I really belong?"
And I haven't done yet.
So where am I-- Where am I actually at?"
And so his-- his trip to the podium was like,
yup, now Justin knows what many of us
close to him have known for a while.
Like you belong. You're capable of that.
And we're just getting started.
[interviewer] Can you win the CrossFit Games?
Obviously.
I don't-- I don't think there's any reason why
I can't win the CrossFit Games.
I don't know when that's going to be,
but I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think I could win.
♪
[announcer] For the first time in two years,
the athletes returned to the Coliseum
at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
It's event four, ten down to one of wall walks
and heavy thrusters at 135 and 185.
This is just flat out long grunt work.
[Adrian] People that underestimate
wall walks just haven't really done 'em.
That movement is no joke, but you craft that
with something else at an appropriate rep speed,
now you got a monster of a workout.
[announcer] Tia Toomey is in the next heat
and Tia Toomey is trying to stay perfect
on day number one,
already three event wins under her belt.
[announcer 2] And that's three event wins
in three drastically different tests
and 38 other athletes could not get
between Tia Toomey and a first place finish.
A collective groan raised from the crowd.
I think I was looking forward
to never having to do that again.
We saw it come out in the open and everyone was like,
"Wall walks?"
I think a lot of Games athletes have never really done them
since their first time being at CrossFit.
It was super hard and it was so warm in there
and so sweaty that like I had a towel
and my hands were still, like, sliding all over the place.
♪
Mal O'Brien when she heard that
they were going to be wall walks,
I know was really happy about this event
because she did extremely well in the open.
[interviewer] Are you excited to see this one announced?
It's my favorite event from the open.
[interviewer] Do you think you can win it?
Yeah. I'm gonna go for it.
[announcer] Tia Toomey once again
trying to become the first person to ever win
the opening four events at the CrossFit Games.
[announcer 2] Now, Mal O'Brien, her goal right now is
it's apparent that she's trying to go unbroken
on everything and touch and go on the wall walks.
[announcer] Mal O'Brien continuing
to hold off Tia Toomey.
I've never actually sweated
that much in a CrossFit Games workout before.
Sweating didn't, you know, affect my placing.
I just had to have a moment where I was like,
"Um, am I, like, transitioning to like--
like, is this like a female thing happening right now?
Like, what's going on?"
[announcer] Scott Panchik continuing to lead her
through 46 of the 110 total repetitions.
He is on his round of eight thrusters.
Yes, so, I've had three knee reconstructive surgeries
playing college football.
I was in the middle of a workout.
I was doing double unders and snatches.
And there was just this, like, pop.
[announcer] Watch what that bar does to his body.
As he's racking it back to the shoulders.
It's shaking him to his core.
[Scott] But leading up to the games, it was painful.
It was challenging to train, but I knew in my heart,
I was the fittest I've ever been.
Coming into my 10th year, competing in CrossFit
and knowing in my heart, I was like,
"I have what it takes to stand on that podium,
and I have no idea if my knee is going to hold up."
[announcer] Mal O'Brien, the first woman to advance
to the second wall and start her round of five.
Tia Toomey still in second place.
You saw the time to beat as it's the kids
who are taking over here at event four.
For the women, we got to see the emergence of a new star.
At first it looked like maybe Tia might
run away with it again.
And win all four the first day one events.
But Mal O'Brien!
We saw her stare right in the face
of the reigning women's champion and not blink.
[announcer] One to go for Scott Panchik on the wall.
One left on the barbell.
[announcer 2] Scott looks phenomenal!
Panchik is in. Scott Panchik wins, he won.
[Scott] I haven't had an event win since 2012.
It was really special.
It was that feeling
like getting in the end zone one last time.
[announcer] Mal O'Brien, took a look at
where Tia Toomey was and she is right back to work.
[Tia] It's awesome to see how passionate
she is and how driven she is.
And it's really exciting for the future of the sport.
[announcer] Score one for the youngsters!
Mal O'Brien will win event four!
[cheering]
Let's go! Yes!
[Tia] Good job, Laura, good job.
Not good enough. Only three today.
Huh? Friday.
I didn't do too well in the sprints,
but you go out and hit a home run,
nobody cares if you strike out.
[laughs]
[interviewer] How was that?
Good. It went really well.
[interviewer] How do you feel?
I'm in shock. I have no words.
Oh, I was so excited.
I was so excited.
I was like-- I love wall walks.
I know they're kind of weird
and new to CrossFit, but after the open workout,
I was like-- I had full confidence going in this.
Trent ain't gonna have no voice.
MGK? That's her boyfriend.
He looks just like him.
Yeah.
[laughs]
I'm dating Machine Gun Kelly.
No, he just needs a few neck tattoos.
And-- and then it will be.
She's-- she's Megan. Megan Fox.
And he's MGK.
[interviewer] Morning.
[Justin] Good morning.
[man] Good morning.
[laughing]
[Justin] What's up?
[interviewer] How are you feeling?
So good. Yeah. Ready for day two.
Or, kind of day two, day three.
Whatever you want to call it.
-[man] Friday. -Yeah, Friday. There we go.
Eggo waffles.
[interviewer] What's in the Yeti?
Agua this morning. Gotta stay hydrated.
Nothing too special.
I guess iced, too, but...
All right.
-Ready, Adam? -Do it, do it.
Let's do it. Get my fancy hat.
[interviewer] What's it like seeing yourself
in all the elevators and buildings?
Weird.
Sometimes I'm like, "Yeah, it's definitely different."
It's really cool, but it's a-- a big change.
Felt like it went like 0 to 100 really quick.
Last year was like, I was a nobody.
And now coming here, it's like,
but it's really cool seeing everybody and seeing fans
and people like wearing my shirt around
just like really feeling the support of the community
and everything like that's like really awesome.
[Sean] There was definitely a sense of coming home.
I think it was also the fact that this was
the first time in a long time
that the CrossFit community had been able to get together
en masse and sort of have our annual celebration.
We hadn't had any live competitions for a long time,
and so to be able to have that experience
that had been taken away from us
for a significant amount of time,
I think was really special for a lot of people.
[announcer] And we have four rounds
of four 20-foot rope climbs,
followed by a 500, 400 skier between men and women.
And in that 42-foot sandbag at 150 and 200.
But it's a little different bag
than these athletes are used to.
[Laura] I really like the programing.
I think it tested like everything that was like--
It wasn't, like, biased.
Overall, a very, very good test.
It tested like everything what CrossFit
is all about like it was heavy, it was fast,
like it tested all the things that we train for.
[announcer 2] So if you look at an event like this,
also with Laura Horvath's background,
is that she was a rock climber.
Her grip and her pulling strength is elite.
[Laura] I knew like I wasn't going to, like, blow up
or, like, die in, like, 16 rope climbs
because I do a lot of rope climbs in training,
so I just went for it.
[announcer 2] Look for Laura Horvath to actually
make a big move every time she comes to the rope.
I look at things like that, I kind of have an idea
of who the people are that you're also looking out for
and ol' Fikowski's another guy that-- that on paper,
looks like a really good event for Mr. Fikowski.
[announcer 2] All about the rope climb,
16 20-foot rope climbs
and watch Brent Fikowski's technique.
He won't even jump, but he wraps his feet
and then he pulls his heels
immediately underneath his hips.
Leading into that event,
I wanted to win that event, quite frankly.
[announcer] Brent Fikowski,
who is on top of the overall leaderboard.
He had a great day one.
[Brent] Great set of movements for me,
good time domain and I just came out a little bit too slow.
A couple of guys had a lead on me in that first round.
And then I closed that gap on most of the guys,
but I couldn't close it on Pat.
[announcer] Pat Vellner who started the competition
in 35th overall has worked his way up to fifth,
and right now, he's your leader
in this second of four rounds.
♪
And so coming to-- back to the rope on the last round,
I wanted to kind of get maybe a rope climb and a half
in the bag before Brent got back.
And then just get to this ski,
and-- and just-- I was just looking at the clock
and we just count the seconds.
And then I was at about 20-second lead
before he got to the ski.
And he's not gonna ski
20 seconds faster than me for 500 meters.
[announcer] Vellner to the sandbag for the final time.
And Pat Vellner will pick up his second event win!
And someone's climbed out of the hole.
[Laura] I really wanted to win the event.
And then I just went for it.
[announcer] Safe to say that she is back.
Laura Horvath wins event five!
[announcer 5] Finish here!
And in an event win to Laura Horvath!
And next in, Katrin Davidsdottir
with that cheddar chunk-up, and across the line,
Katrin Davidsdottir will make it in.
Oh, I almost had Pat.
Pat went out hotter than me, and I couldn't catch him.
I mean, I coup--
I fumbled a few rope climbs, which maybe cost me
a little bit of time, but overall it was really good.
So no complaints. Good start to second day.
[cheering]
[interviewer] You need more gummy bears?
No, I have a dried mango.
[thumping in background]
It's like the same thing.
[thumping]
Pretty much the same thing. Sugar.
She just wanted gummy bears.
Gummy bears and Chipotle.
That's my diet for the week.
Chipotle and gummy bears.
[Shane] Tia.
Tia can sleep through anything.
We had-- we had two storms the last few days.
Two storms. I heard everything.
I heard every bloody drop on the window.
She wouldn't know there was a storm.
[clattering]
Unreal.
[sneezes]
[laughing]
Aw.
[interviewer] What do you think of this event?
Yeah, I like this event.
I like this event a lot.
There are not too many events that I don't like, though.
You know, if I don't like an event,
it's either because I think it was too easy--
Well, I feel like we did this
to make it easier for other people,
and it's like, that's not what it's about.
[interviewer] You want the hardest stuff possible?
Yeah. I mean, well, if we're going to, um,
preach and hold that title
and keep that title at a premium,
we have to, you know.
[low solemn music]
[Adrian] If you're going to make a claim,
of the Fittest on Earth,
which is a massive claim...
you have to make sure that
that test is well-thought-out, well-planned.
And Dave was definitely kicking around
this idea of 15 for 15,
meaning it's the 15th year of the games,
we're going to have 15 events
that these guys are going to have to face.
Just from a logistics standpoint,
offering that many events is going to be a challenge,
making sure that it's not just a test of attrition.
You know, it's not about who's the toughest athlete,
-it's about who's the fittest. -Two more.
So there is going to be some consideration about
how can we throw this many events at people
and still allow them to recover enough
to really put their best foot forward?
♪
One of the core ethos of CrossFit
is that you need to be prepared for everything.
What you know and can expect
and what you don't know and you can't know.
Kind of cutting out at 30 there, maybe do 40.
So, everyone goes through two complete days
and then Saturday morning, we're now 30, 20, 20.
[man 2] Yeah.
That's a huge part of what distinguishes
our training program from other programs.
It's not enough to train specifically for the test.
The fittest athlete is one that can adapt
and adapt quickly because their general training supports that.
[Tia] Every day I'm in the gym,
I am grinding and I'm pushing myself to the absolute limit
so that I am ready and prepared for absolutely anything.
I am at the CrossFit Games to break Dave Castro's program.
♪
So for that reason, the CrossFit Games
will always have elements that the athletes don't know about
until they're almost on the competition floor.
And that's true from the beginning of the CrossFit Games
all the way up until the modern games they see in 2021.
♪
[announcer] Here are your top five
of the overall standings,
just 15 points, separating first from second.
I can't remember the last time that was the case.
At this point, Mat Fraser is running away
with the whole thing.
[announcer 2] Ask anyone,
say give me your for sure pick
who the new champion on the men's side is going to be
and you can't really give a definitive answer.
And we are getting an amazing competition up to this point.
[Justin] The men's six is probably one of the most
memorable events I think I'll have at the CrossFit Games.
I was not a leader yet in the competition
and the leaderboard was starting to shake,
I had to say, "Okay, these are the guys at the top.
These are the guys that I'm going to have to beat."
And it turned out to be Pat and Brent.
Saxon is now your leader in the heat,
followed by Brent Fikowski,
Justin Medeiros and Pat Vellner.
You can't zone out. You can't switch off.
You have to make sure you're staying engaged.
And on the fourth round,
Christie caught me off guard a little bit,
but then Christie just zips down her lane
and I'm like, "Whoa, hang on. You shouldn't be there."
[announcer] Now, O'Connell is shaking it close to Toomey,
should get to her bar first,
although Toomey has the major strength advantage
when it comes to the barbell.
Uh, the last 200-meter run coming back into the stadium
to hit the final bar,
and I'm looking up at the clock
and it's, like, 15 seconds left
as we're coming into the stadium.
I'm like, "Oh, shoot."
Like, I don't think we're gonna have enough time
to hit this bar.
[Brent] And I feel like we're running
quite fast. And, I'm like-- I'm like, I'm burning up.
Like, my whole body is just on fire.
At this pace, surely I'll have plenty of time
to get to that 315.
I'm running in the door and the--
the announcer's counting down
and I'm thinking, "Oh, crap."
Like, I'm going to have to run to this bar and rip it.
[announcer 2] Now, you know, Eramo's going to want
to push the pace by this last bar.
There's-- You cannot make
a mistake with this last clean.
[Tia] I knew that I didn't need to hesitate at all.
I just grabbed that bar, lift and then sprint across line.
Don't even focus on what Christie's doing.
[announcer] Same time as Toomey.
Tia Toomey hits it! Tia Toomey, another win.
[announcer 2] She didn't even hesitate to pick up that bar.
[Justin] Pat and Brent both got there before me,
and I took my time getting the bars.
I needed to know I needed to make this lift count
if I wanted to finish the workout.
[Pat] I went in, man, my guts were rumbling
right before that workout, and I almost shit myself
on that last bar all over the floor.
So, I want total mashed potatoes on the catch.
And I think it was--
it was preservation of my pride.
[Justin] Right as I started pulling the lift,
Pat and Brent both failed it, right next to me.
[Brent] Both me and Pat get shot out the back,
and then Justin's left
looking like the hero jumping on the stage.
[laughs]
As we crumble to the wayside and part the water for him.
[announcer] Pat Vellner, right to work.
Vellner not able to make it.
[indistinct] is in, Fikowski can't make it.
Medeiros is standing up. They have enough time.
And Medeiros is in!
[Justin] But it was the most exciting that I felt like
in a CrossFit event ever,
just knowing that going in that event,
like, those are the two guys
I needed to beat and I executed it.
You almost had a poo-- a poo disaster out there.
[interviewer] What happened?
I kind of had to go poo before we corralled,
and then they're really rushing us through.
So, it felt fine for most of it.
But I came to the last bar and I was like,
I think if I, like, squeeze and catch this bar,
that's all over.
[interviewer] And was it worth it?
I kind of just buckled under it
because I think I didn't want to be sitting
at the finish line with a bunch of shit in my pants.
Or on the floor, so.
You know, go to the bathroom before you take the floor.
Man, this is amazing.
Like, I can't describe with words like just being there
and feeling the energy like is massive.
The guys, like, helped me a lot. Thank you.
[interviewer] Was that two-- two event wins?
Yeah, two event wins,
until now, we have a couple more to win.
So, I'm here to win all the events and that's it.
This is my job. I'm not here to play.
I'm here-- I'm here to compete.
I've not gone heavier than 220 since birth.
I haven't dared to.
So that was amazing.
Now I'm like, "Maybe I could have gone faster."
It felt pretty darn good.
I'm really happy.
[interviewer] You got a new shirt.
Yeah, dude, I do got a new shirt.
-Does it look good? -Where'd you get it?
Dude, I don't know, someone gave it to me, man.
I'm like, I don't know.
Someone's got to fight me to take this thing off.
So, yeah. It's pretty awesome, man.
And it's something that, like, you picture every day,
like-- like thinking about the CrossFit Games
and just being like a kid
and seeing Mat wear it for all those years.
Like, it definitely means a lot.
Just definitely got to appreciate the moment
that I'm here at the CrossFit Games
being the best of the best and wearing the leader shirt,
but we're only halfway through the weekend.
We have so much more to go.
I mean, just as how I'm in first right now,
I mean, we're only halfway through,
things that switch up so much.
So, just kind of stay dialed in,
and take it workout by workout and stack some weights.
Going into event number eight was the first time
that I got to put on the leaders jersey.
I remember just like them walking up
and giving it to me nice and folded.
Set down, I had to go change into it.
And I'm sitting there and Adam's like,
"All right, come on, like, let's go on a walk."
[Adam] We went for a walk and got away from all the other,
you know, athletes and coaches and athlete control.
And once we got by ourselves, like,
"Okay, just hold on. Like, just stop for a second."
He's like, "What?"
I'm like, like, "Just hold still.
Let me get your picture." Right?
Like, we got to acknowledge the moment that
you just got your first leader jersey right?
You got to, like, sit there, kind of had a moment,
took some pictures, just celebrated a little bit.
[Adam] By the way, not too many people have gotten to wear
that stuff. On the men's side, there's been like a monopoly,
you know, with like Fraser and Froning over the last decade.
I'm, like, freaking out inside about it,
but, like, I don't want to show it.
And he's just, like, allows me
to get out there like celebrate it
a little bit, get that out of my system.
But, it's like, all right, back to work.
Like, number eight, like, let's do this.
[Pat] We go from an event where we had heavyweights
to no barbells, no weights in sight.
We're going to do a handstand walking course.
That was a very frustrating event,
couldn't dial it in at the right time.
And I-- Man, I wanted to hide out there for a bit.
[announcer] Pat Vellner and Brent Fikowski
continue to struggle here.
Vellner, in the middle of your screen,
now under the parallel bars and he is down.
But Annie Thorisdottir
is quickly gaining ground on Brooke Wells,
but Thorisdottir's going to break.
Wells and Adams continue to work.
[announcer 2] And there's no shocker here
that Brooke Wells is doing what she's doing
in this event because she won
the 2018 handstand walk course.
♪
[announcer] Overall results for event eight, Hailey Adams,
good enough for second place, in that event.
Danielle Brandon picks up the second
event win of her career.
Brooke Wells is third.
Tia Toomey, another top five finish for her.
Justin Medeiros will not win the event,
but he will take this heat.
Deja vu all over again as his strategy
pays off for the second straight year.
Now Fikowski is over.
He's not going to take a break.
Fikowski gambled a couple of years ago
on a handstand walk in 2019 and it probably got him cut.
But this one will pay off and he is in.
[Brent] It's happened to me a few times at the Games
in the last few years
that I'll have a pretty substandard event
and then they'll announce an event
and it'll-- my spirits will be lifted.
And that happened again to me on Friday night.
[upbeat rock music]
So, this is a classic CrossFit coupling.
You've got a descending rep scheme so that as you start
to fatigue, you know you've got a little bit less to do.
So it encourages you to keep going hard.
So when that event was announced,
I went back and talked to the coach and he's like,
"We've got to drop the hammer."
He's like, "If you want a shot at winning the games,
like this is-- this is where we take them.
Like this-- this has to be a W."
♪
[announcer] Justin Medeiros right now
in 11th place in the heat.
Good news for Fikowski as Fikowski
looks to cut into that 45-point deficit.
[Sean] He is not known as someone who can just
put on the blinders, stop the gas and go.
And the fact that he won that event,
showed to a lot of people that
this was a different Brent Fikowski
than we had seen in the past.
At this point, he's looking really good
as far as-- not only a spot on the podium,
but maybe winning the whole thing.
[announcer] Brent Fikowski
with now two more reps to go!
Class dismissed!
Event win for Brent Fikowski
to close out day two.
And Amanda Barnhart will take event nine.
Annie Thorisdottir will come across
and it's Laura Horvath in third place.
Oh, who's going to fucking take this?
Shit!
I was sure I was going to get on the last bike.
I really fucking wanted it.
[man 3] Great effort.
Fuck! This was my event.
Everyone was like, "It's a sprint," but it's not a sprint.
So I paced the first two bikes
and then just tried to send it on the last one.
I was like, all I had left was on the last round.
But the first round was like,
"You're fresh, don't go too fast
because then you're going to screw up on the 15th."
Yeah, dude, like I said, I mean,
wearing the leader shirts, it's really cool and all,
but, uh, no one really cares, or at least I don't,
how many times you wore it during the week.
I don't care if I didn't wear once.
But if I'm on the top of that leader board
at the end of the weekend, that's what matters.
So, just going out there and executing
the best I can in every single workout
and, uh, I feel like I didn't leave anything
out there on the floor.
So that's a good headspace going into--
going into tomorrow.
Be able to sleep good tonight
and, uh, crush these last six workouts.
[muffled, low beating music]
[Adrian] So you can feel a lot of things coming in to Saturday
morning. You could feel the fatigue
of the athletes starting to settle in.
You can see that some of them responded to that
a little bit better than others.
You know, some of them are really hitting their stride
while others are starting to have that gas tank
emptied a little bit.
And they're not quite sure how
they're going to make it to the end of the competition.
[interviewer] How are you feeling
after that whole day yesterday?
Good.
I mean, it was, like, a lot of events,
but they were all pretty short,
so it wasn't, like, super taxing.
[interviewer] How do you feel after yesterday?
-How does your body feel? -Uh, good.
Now I'm starting to get warm like this-- this master body.
It needs some warm up.
But I feel like ev-- I feel better every day
because my body needs some good warm up.
[interviewer] So if you could choose how many days
there were at the games to compete,
the longer the better for you?
Yeah. I mean, four-- four days is enough,
but I wouldn't mind a week either.
This is the [indistinct] ride.
[interviewer] What's happening right here?
We're just mobilizing the hip, you know?
it's the minimal effort technique.
[interviewer] How many, uh-- how many bowls of Chipotle
are on the menu today?
I think o-- one is going to be enough.
-[interviewer] Just one? -Or maybe two.
We'll see. We'll see.
[interviewer] What number of years have you guys
gotten to compete together?
-Together? -[interviewer] Yeah.
-Okay. '12. You were not '13. -I wasn't '13.
I was not '14, '15, '16, '17, '18, '19, '21.
-[Annie] Eee! -[Katrin] Seven years.
[interviewer] That's a lot of years.
That is a lot of years.
And we'll always band together regardless
if we're both here or not.
[Annie] Yeah.
[slow pensive instrumental]
[Adrian] Event 10 was a couplet of toes-to-bar running.
Started with 30 toes-to-bar, run a mile and a half.
30 more toes-to-bar, mile and a half.
30 more toes-to-bar, get to the finish.
So there's been many years where CrossFit Games
have incorporated cuts to the field
at various stages of the finals.
This year is no different. So cuts are interesting.
I think it's pretty controversial.
Uh, some people love 'em. Some people hate 'em.
♪
[Pat] I was really nervous about that event
because I had run a lot early in the season
and I ran myself into some-- some knee tendinitis.
My-- Showing my age.
[Justin] My strategy is going to that one is
I'm going to run this first mile and a half
like I don't have another one after it.
And I sold out on that first lap,
sittin' in a really good position.
[announcer] You could be the best runner in the world.
And if you bonk on the first one and a half miles,
drop yourself 20 spots, lose 60 points, you're out.
[Brent] That did not go as well as I'd hoped.
Um... You know, running--
Man, where do I even start with that?
Just slow.
Just good old fashioned slow.
[laughs]
[announcer] And that face says it all 'cause
he's keeping a good face in front of the crowd.
But now that we're behind the bleachers,
it's startin' to get real.
Holte. This is a great event for Holte.
[Kristin] Originally, I was planning on last year,
was going to be my last year.
But then COVID happened and I just missed out
on qualifying for the Stage two CrossFit Games.
And I felt like that was not the end that I wanted.
[Annie] So after competing in 2019,
I got cut at the games, um, just on the border.
I was really disappointed and irritated.
And I felt like I was so much better than that.
Now we're at the games and I did not want to get cut.
I wanted to try to be in final heat.
I knew that was maybe too ambitious of a goal.
[Kristin] My mantra for this games was, uh, no regrets,
so I wanted to go out in every single event knowing
that I gave it my absolute best.
♪
[announcer] Breaks to the end zone.
It'll be Vellner first!
Hendricks second!
Looks like Mayer in third. BKG.
[interviewer] How was the run, Brent?
Oh, slow.
[chuckles] I mean, that's all I could give.
I was trying to go faster. Just, I don't know.
I've just got to-- got to work harder
this off-season on running.
I don't know. It's funny. Thought-- It's frustrating.
I made-- I feel like I've made progress in my running
this off-season, and in that event, it just didn't show, so.
-[interviewer] Did you make it? -I think I did.
They have the, um-- the rankings for
the event but they don't have the points updated yet.
So I got 17th in that event.
So, like, I know that that-- If I don't make the cut,
that's something that will haunt me forever.
I'm out. No.
[gym din]
-[man] How did it go? -Didn't make it.
-Didn't make it? What? -Yeah.
[man] Did the guys right around you get you, or--?
Fuck, man. I thought you were...
No such thing as safe.
[man] Where'd you finish in that event?
19th.
[gym din]
[interviewer] I think they updated it.
Yes! I'm so happy.
I never thought I would be happy to be in 17th.
Like, my goal coming in was a lot higher than that.
Um, but I feel like I just won the CrossFit Games.
Like, I have five more opportunities to fight
and that is the best feeling.
[male interviewer] Chandler, what's going through your mind?
Uh, it feels pretty empty right now, I guess.
♪
[Adrian] So after we've made the cuts in the morning,
we're moving back into the coliseum again.
We've got event number 11.
We've got as many reps and rounds as possible,
which is often shortened to AMRAP.
So we've got an AMRAP of 11 minutes to do as many
as you can of one trip up the pegboard,
seven overhead squats with a dumbbell
and then 15 double-unders with a heavy rope.
[Laura] I really like that it was a lot of peg boards.
Previous years, it was like, okay, three, five, then now you
could do as many basically as you could in a workout.
They added up because the runs were, like, so fast.
So basically the overhead squat and the double-under was, like,
a "rest" for your biceps to climb up on the pegboard again.
[announcer] Laura Horvath on the right.
The last time she did a pegboard event,
she beat Tia Toomey in it.
And that was the final event in 2018.
[Tia] That pegboard was very slippery.
I don't think I've ever experienced the pegboard
that slippery before, so I don't know if it
was the humidity or not.
You really had to fight for every single peg
that you're doing because your feet were just
going to slip from out underneath you.
And if you're slipping, your workout's done.
[announcer] Fikowski is actually moved up
ahead of Vellner.
And what I'm watching is Justin Medeiros
has already tripped up a few times on double-unders.
[Justin] I remember starting my first pegboard and just like--
I was just kind of blindsided.
I was not prepared for how slippery the board
was going to be.
[announcer] Justin Medeiros in this heat right now is in 9th.
He is towards the back.
[Justin] My legs were dangling. I was just using my arms.
And it was one that I had to figure out, like, as I went.
[Brent] I was nervous going into that event.
And I have a pegboard at my house and I was
slipping on that thing like you wouldn't believe.
The peg board at my house, the wall is like,
I don't know, maybe it's greased up
or it's this really slick plastic and the pegs are loose.
And it's a bit of a death trap, quite frankly.
And then I got out there and I was sticking
to the thing like Spider-Man.
[Pat] If you fall off a pegboard
and there's last round,
you just gave up five places.
There needs to be controlled aggression in
a workout like that because there's a very fine line.
And-- and if you if you trip over it, it's gonna be rough.
[announcer] Justin Medeiros will tie
for 10th unofficially.
That is good for 55 points.
Pat Vellner will finish 5th
and pick up 25 on Medeiros in the process.
It was an opportunity for him now that we're in
the back third of the competition to push
the pace and put some pressure on Justin.
And so even though he wasn't going to win the event,
he was able to keep Justin at arm's length, put some distance
between them on the leaderboard and gain some points to
hopefully try and maybe take home that white leaders jersey.
[intense strings instrumental]
Event 12 fan favorite.
We've got a one rep max.
All the focus is on the lifters.
High pressure, high stakes.
[announcer] Malheiros, no problem at 270.
[announcer 2] He is so strong.
[Annie] I actually went into it with the mindset of trying to
pull as much energy from the crowd as I could.
♪
[cheering]
[announcer 2] Very nice!
[announcer] Annie Thorisdottir moving on.
It's crazy how much you can get from people,
how you get this, like, extra power
in your heart to get going.
[sighs] That felt good. That felt good. That felt good.
♪
[Adrian] This event came down to not only
physical prowess, but mental focus.
[cheering]
You could really see the pressure
on a lot of these athletes.
Some of them handled it better than others.
Interesting to watch the different approaches.
You had some athletes that would come out
and they were just caged animals.
♪
Then you had others that would come out and it
was almost as if they were not really there
in that environment.
The level of calmness and detachment,
it was really strange to watch
because it was probably
the-- the most intense event as far as who's looking at you
and the margin of error that you have to deal with.
♪
[announcer 2] Now Wells, in her last one, missed
the first one out front.
-Ah-- Ow! -[announcer] Ooh.
-[crowd "Oohs"] -[announcer 2] Hey. Hey.
-Oh, my God. -[announcer] Uh-oh.
[Brooke] My elbow's [indistinct].
[announcer] And Brooke Wells is going to be tended to
by the medical team here.
[slow pensive instrumental]
[Tia] I knew Brooke was going to get this
because I was like, "Yep, she can easily hit 190.
She's got this in the bag."
And then all of a sudden, something,
a noise happened and I was like,
"That's not okay. She didn't get it."
And I look up and then all I see is her elbow.
[Brooke shrieks in pain]
[announcer] Please welcome, Laura Horvath!
[Brooke squeals]
[Adrian] Absolutely one of the hardest things
in that moment because I'm right in front of her.
I know Brooke, I've known her for years.
There's nothing that I can do.
I'm not qualified medically to-- to help her at that point.
The only thing I can do is make sure
that we've got help on the way.
So there's these few moments
that just seem like an eternity.
And I'm sure more so for her,
where she's standing there with the elbow.
She's asking me for help and there's nothing I can do
except wait for our medical team to respond.
[Brooke] I've had elbow issues since about 2016.
Just, like, overuse issues, tendinitis, things like that.
And then, um, going to the 190 bar,
I just pulled it, got under it and then honestly,
like, kind of blacked out after that.
I mean, I felt my elbow pop immediately and so I kind
of just fell to the ground, held my elbow.
Medical rushed on, pulled me off.
Um, they took me to the tunnel.
I'm standing in the tunnel with, um,
Sean [indistinct], one of the medical guys.
Thank God for him.
[Adrian] Thank goodness for those guys.
They-- They truly are world-class.
And the team of doctors that we've got there
looking after these athletes is-- is top notch.
She gets taken back for treatment.
Uh, you know, we had an imaging machine
available, which is great.
[Brooke] We get in there, he X-rays it.
He does, like, a lidocaine shot.
And then once it's numb, they were able to
pop it back in place.
And I'm like, "So does this mean that I can compete?"
And the doctor is like-- he literally thought
that I was joking and I'm like,
"No, really, like, it's back in place.
Like, am I good to go?"
But I'm still, like, not okay. Like, I'm still crying.
And... But at that point,
I wasn't concerned about my elbow.
Like, I just wanted to finish the games.
So...
But then, um...
It was just so cool to see the support that I had.
[applause & cheering]
[announcer] That does not look good for Brooke Wells.
They're gonna escort her off the floor
and she's going to get a-- a standing ovation, but--
[announcer 2] Standing O for Brooke Wells, you guys.
[Tia] I looked into the crowd where my parents
and where Brooke's parents were sitting.
I had seen Sydney, her sister, her mum,
all of her family run and go to-- to Brooke.
So I knew, "Okay, well, Shane's out the back.
Shane's gonna be able-- able to look after her.
And I don't know what's going to happen
or what the future holds right now
on whether or not she can continue,
but I'm going to make sure that I win this for her.
-[slow pensive instrumental] -[announcer] Tia Toomey!
[announcer] Tia Toomey looking to be the fifth woman
to move past 190.
She will make that.
I don't know.
I was so happy when I hit, like, 190
and then I hit 195.
And then when I hit 200, like-- It was incredible.
It's probably one of my all-time favorite moments
at the CrossFit Games.
[announcer] There it is.
And Annie Thorisdottir has it!
[Pat] Brent went before me and missed.
So that was, like, a huge opportunity for me to
come and try to-- to get some points on him.
And-- And in a snatch that's a huge, huge momentum shift.
[cheering]
[announcer] Vellner has it.
[cheering]
[announcer] Malheiros' ninth lift of the night.
For the win.
[cheering]
[yells]
[Adrian] Annie made it, Tia made it.
They both missed the next one.
And then they had the shootout for the finish.
So right up to the end, that was
kind of defying expectations.
[announcer] Three squat snatches at 145 pounds
to determine the winner.
[Tia] She is an incredible athlete.
And it was a true honor to be standing there
right beside her, going up against her.
And as I walk on over there, the crowd just started
to get to a whole 'nother level.
And I was like, "Wow, like this is-- this is electric.
Like, this is-- this is what-- what it's about."
♪
[announcer] Tia Toomey wins event number 12.
♪
[Jami] Like, your face is just--
-[Annie] Oh! -[Jami] That was amazing.
-That was so much fun. -Look-- Look at that.
I just-- The camera's not great, but, uh...
-[laughs] -Look at this face.
Look at this.
[laughing]
[interviewer] Can I see it?
Oh God, that's hilarious.
I had no idea I looked like that.
-[man] She stands it up-- -[Jami] You were like--
I should be way more, like, "Yeah!"
[Jami] No, that was, like-- [chuckling]
I went to tie break! I messed up at--
Right before we went to the bar, though.
I'm like-- She's standing next to me, I'm like,
she can cycle fast, but I just stand it up quickly.
I worked on my bounce. I'm like, "I'm gonna take this."
-[Jami] Good, good. -And then I didn't have it.
[laughing]
And then I was like, "Well, now it's over."
But it was so close.
How crazy is that, Annie?
[Annie] Yeah, that's pretty sick.
That's pretty sick.
[Tia] So...
We just had the snatch event and, um,
I think it was on the 190 bar.
You know, Brooke was looking super solid
in all of her snatches and everything.
And, um, she popped her elbow out.
Um, I don't really know what the extent of it is
but it removed her from the competition,
which is really sad because she
just doesn't deserve that, you know?
No-- No one does.
She's put in so much-- so much work this season.
This was gonna be her best year yet.
Mm, she just does not deserve that.
[meditative instrumental]
[Adrian] Yeah. It's-- It's always hard in an event
where you have an injury.
You know, thankfully, we don't experience
a high incidence rate at the games.
And I think that if we're doing our job right, we won't.
Because the goal isn't to try to see how much
these athletes can take, the goal is to test the fittest.
And so when something does happen like that,
obviously it's hard for the spectators.
I think it's really hard for the competitors
because that's now in their mind.
Um, but on an internal level, you know,
it really does start to bring questions into
the staff about, "Are we doing the right things?
Did we prepare enough? Did we test this enough?"
You know, "Are we-- Are we providing a platform
that isn't asking too much
of the athletes?"
You know?
If you really care about what you're doing and you
care about the outcome, I think it's impossible to see
a situation like that and not start to just question whether
or not you did everything
you could to prevent it.
♪
[Tia] Last day. It's been a really good games. Yeah.
Like, in terms of programing, I think it was
well thought out for the athletes so that
they can perform at their absolute best.
These things, this is the attention to detail
that I give a lot of credit to Dave for.
[interviewer] Have you looked at the leaderboard?
Uh, yeah. I have looked at the leaderboard.
[interviewer] How do you feel about that 200 point lead?
Eh. It means nothing.
There's 300 points still up for grabs.
We gotta go, girl.
We are extremely late.
[Tia] What's the time?
7:31. Brief's at 7:30.
-No, it's not. Brief's at 8:00. -Thank goodness.
[interviewer] Check-in's at 7:30, right?
Yeah. Check-in's at 7:30.
That's technically when you're meant to be there...
So we're late.
[Tia] Angel and Curtis, they [indistinct].
'Kay.
[interviewer] Technically, she could sit out
these first two events anyway.
If she wants to make it closer, yeah, that'll--
that'll make my heart race a little bit.
[indistinct] should have me bloody on the screen
and see if my heart rate's up.
[father] All right, doll. Time to go to work.
-All right? -[Tia] Love you, Dad.
[father] Yeah, love you, too.
[mother] Good luck, Tia. [indistinct] so hard.
-[Tia] Love you. -Love you, too.
-Kill it. -[Tia] Mm-hmm.
[Laura sighs]
-[interviewer] Good morning. -Uh, morning.
-[interviewer] How you feeling? -Uh, great.
[interviewer] What do you think about this next event?
I like it. I like it a lot.
-It's going to be good. -[interviewer] What part?
Like, the whole thing.
We've been doing two-two-three intervals for a while,
a couple so we are prepared for this.
And then it's just good. I like GHDs.
Burpees are just like, there to get rid of them.
And then it's all about the yoke.
[Rich] Something to think about
so-- in case I don't get to see you.
You're gonna-- On the curve,
don't throw it all the way over.
Throw it to the back half edge as you're comin',
-swipe it down with you. -[Haley] Yeah.
'Cause then you can see where it's at and it's [indistinct].
[gym din]
[trap instrumental]
[Sean] The journey that began back in February
is in its final day.
Number 13, somethin' old, somethin' new.
[announcer] Tell ya what, Sean. If you said
I was going to have a roll in the hay this morning,
this is not what I wanted to show up to see.
GHDs, the Curd is back.
And that heavy yoke that we haven't seen since 2018.
♪
[beep]
So first event on Sunday
was a Strongman, uh, kind of two-two-three interval workout.
And I think we didn't really know what to expect.
The yoke was pretty heavy on the turf.
You sink into the ground a little bit,
so it was a little harder to move.
[announcer] The yoke, a familiar implement
to the CrossFit Games.
But this weight is not.
Only two times in history, the athletes have had
to carry a yoke that weighs over 600 pounds.
Event number 13 was one of those events
I was super looking forward to.
I mean, uh, just having the sandbag,
throwing it over hay bales,
I mean, it's just-- feel like you're out, like,
in the country, just, like, throwin' stuff around.
So it was an event that I was super excited about.
I mean, we were gettin' hay all over ourselves in
the tossin' event, but it came down just to see
who could move that yoke the fastest.
[announcer] You can't run with this.
[Sean] Toomey out front, at the bottom of your screen,
Horvath is on the right of her.
15 seconds to go in this window.
Horvath now pulling even with Toomey.
Toomey continuing to work. She has yet to put that yoke down.
Yeah, Tia was running with that yoke on that first round,
just possessed to get into the finished line.
[Sean] Four seconds to go.
[announcer] Gotta get past the black.
-[horn sounds] -Oh, no!
[chuckling] Oh! No!
I thought she was gonna do it on the first round.
Internally, I was hopin' that she didn't just because I
knew that the test was supposed to be harder than that.
And I think we kind of broke the programing on that.
I don't know-- I don't know who--
who they had testin' it but they weren't us.
[Sean] Pat Vellner continues to work.
Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson is on his yoke
and Gudmundsson is going to win the event.
[announcer] One more for Tia Toomey.
Just have to put that curd up and over.
Go on, Tia! Go on, Tia! Run, run, run!
[Sean] Tia Toomey sprinting to the yoke,
a couple of feet left.
Win number eight
for Tia Toomey!
We got Annie Thorisdottir and Kristin Holte on the left.
Annie Thorisdottir trying to erase that 10 point deficit,
moving to third.
Medeiros is catching up.
Vellner is in but Medeiros is right behind him.
So Vellner will only pick up five points on Medeiros.
♪
That was good.
I like to make my life hard, obviously.
So I decided to do an extra round.
I just needed one more second.
I could have done it in one.
One more second.
That's another one.
You won, buddy.
That's an Icelandic strong man, right there.
Huh?
I said, "I don't know what they're feedin' you, bud."
-[Pat laughs] -It's workin'.
[Pat] I think the battle in second was still there.
Um, and then those first two events of Sunday,
I pulled away significantly.
So I knew that going into the last day,
I had made up significant points on Justin,
on the Snatch and on the Pegboard Workout.
I think he had about an 80 point lead on me before those
events and we had to chewed it down to about 40.
So, you know, I figured if I could do that in two events,
in three events, maybe I can-- I can steal one from him.
You know who you have to beat.
Like there's-- there's no other way to look at it.
Um, if you're going to try to win, it's like,
that's the guy you gotta steal points from all day.
Um, and boy, he didn't make it easy.
Yeah. So you have, like, no expenses?
[Justin] I ended up going back to Boise
and I'm moving in with my friends that just got married.
[laughing]
Yeah. So why don't you help me out.
Just bump down, stay where you are right now
and, uh, I can save some more money.
[Pat] You've still got 30 points on me,
at least, so you're not making my life very easy.
That's the plan.
Buddy, I got a fucking baby.
Oh!
-I got a baby. -[laughing] Pulling that card.
-Man, I'm still in school-- -[Pat] Have you seen him--?
[Justin] I'm still in school.
I'm trying to pay off-- I have seen him.
He's pretty cute. Takes after his mom a lot.
I'll show you some photos before the next event.
Just remember, you're stealing his lunch
-right out of his mouth. -[laughing]
Hey. Well done in that last event, babe.
-Thank you, babe. -[man] How was that?
-That was great-- -Could've done it in one?
[Tia] Dude, it was so close.
I just needed one more second--
[man] Could you have done it in one?
Like, if-- if you could take it back?
-Um, I think I could, yeah. -Uh-huh.
-Yeah, I think I could-- -I-- I felt like you were--
You got to the-- I reckon it was that last third,
you were just, like, sizing up where you would
finish rather than, "Pin the ears back, let's go."
-[Tia] Yeah. -Yeah.
Ah, well, that was pretty cool, hey?
[Justin] Start-- We start like this.
So we can start and you have to go here, like, kick up.
One. And then, like, you step down.
The-- The rep is credited once your head goes down again.
[man] Got somethin' in your hair, dude.
Yeah. All that stuff.
[man 2] Takes someone with a mullet
to know how to take care of a mullet.
'Kay, I think we should just, like--
I think we should just start practicing.
I think that's, like, the most useful.
[Adrian] Event 14 had two elements:
one that is super familiar to these athletes
with the dead lift done at
a pretty heavy weight for-- for an event like this.
But manageable for most of them.
And then we had a new element that was on the other end
of the spectrum: really high skill, something that most of
them probably had not trained in that specific way before.
And that was a freestanding handstand pushup.
[speaking Scandinavian language]
[interviewer] What was he saying?
It's a secret. It's our Norwegian-- He's Swedish. Yeah.
Yeah, we can't give away all our...
[chuckles] But, um...
[interviewer] Tell me after.
I'll tell you after.
They're going to be good.
Heavy dead lift. It's new for everyone so it's good.
What did you want to say?
[man] Tell 'em I've been waiting
for this event for 12 years.
-[laughs] -[interviewer] Which event?
This event. This handstand pushup event.
[interviewer] Is this something that you would
-have loved to have done? -Oh, yeah.
I've been practicing these thinkin' they were
going to come to the games for-- for a while.
So I'll tell 'em later.
♪
[Kristin] Yeah, I was so excited when Dave
announced the freestanding handstand pushups.
[Tia] They finally bring it out.
Like, you know, we've been waiting for years for this.
[Pat] The freestanding handstand pushups
was, like, way out of left field.
I've-- That's a circus trick.
I've done that-- I did, like, two years ago for,
like, one workout for fun.
And I haven't done it since.
[Kristin] I think it's really cool when something
new comes up.
Uh, and I really thrive when there's something
you have to figure out on the go.
I wish we'd just-- They just announced it and we
just had to do it right away.
Because then no one could practice it and...
[Sean] Event 14, the second to last event
of the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games,
freestanding handstand pushups
for the first time in CrossFit Games history.
[announcer] It's a core stability, taxing movement and
then you throw a 405 pound dead lift in there
for 30 reps.
[Laura] It was, like, a variation of
[indistinct], I guess.
So like, handstand, pushups and dead lifts.
[Justin] Yeah. I think the dead lifts were at 405.
And I'm pretty sure I did no dead lifts to warm up.
-Shoot. -[interviewer laughs]
I could hear that fall.
[mic popping]
Okay. There we go.
[announcer] Tia Toomey has a 216 point lead
on Laura Horvath.
Kristin Holte hangs on to the final spot on the podium.
But Annie Thorisdottir, a former two time champion,
is just five points back.
[Annie] My goal going in there, I was like,
just gonna fly through the dead lifts.
and then I was going to think about just,
"Don't listen to the audience and just think
about staying calm and centered throughout."
[announcer] Uh-oh. Uh-oh.
Annie Thorisdottir is out front.
And here come Kristin Holte.
[Kristin] I was just in my zone.
I had no idea where the others were.
[announcer] Annie Thorisdottir got a no rep
'cause her hand wasn't on the line when she came down.
That has allowed Kristin Holte on the right to close
the gap and now Holte dead even with Thorisdottir.
[Annie] I had no idea that Holte was so close to me.
I thought that she was further back which is good because then
I stayed calm and like, went through it properly.
[announcer] Final rep for Thorisdottir.
She takes a quick break.
Still ahead of Holte.
[crowd erupts]
[announcer] Long, live, the queen!
[heavy rock plays]
14 reps to go for Pat Vellner,
the first man to that final set.
And it's a type of movement where the energy
doesn't help you, you know?
Like-- We got near the end and everybody's yelling.
And, you know, that's great when you're
about to pull a super heavy lift.
It made it-- I feel like for both of us it made it
so much harder and everybody got all hyped up.
And then we're gettin' charged up and now we can't do it.
[Sean] Five reps now to go for Pat Vellner
and another no rep for Medeiros.
[announcer] Vellner just got a no-rep.
[Sean] Vellner has gotta finish ahead of Medeiros
if he wants to shrink the lead.
And now a no-rep for Medeiros as Vellner continues.
♪
He thought he was done.
Vellner is done. Vellner will win.
Again, take some points.
Uh, fleece Justin for a couple more points.
But I needed-- I needed help.
And there was nobody else, just Justin were out
nippin' at my heels.
[Sean] Holte is in.
And they will be tied in points for third
going into the final event.
Your top two on the leaderboard.
The only two men to finish the event inside the time cap.
Pat Vellner has one event left to beat Justin Medeiros.
[Jami] Badda-bing, badda-boom. That's how it's done.
[Annie laughs] Badda-bing, badda-boom.
I have no idea what just happened.
Well, I kept my cool. I kept my cool.
[man] That was so good.
[indistinct] when you go that no-rep, the women no-rep.
Yeah, I was like, "Wait, what?"
[man] Yeah.
"You can't do anything about it."
-[laughing] -So good, so good.
[male interviewer] Ah, you did what you needed to do
but you can't control other people.
That's the thing, hey.
I mean, I can't complain about today's finishes.
I'm doing everything I need to do.
It's no big deal, that's good for him.
He's doing great, so.
I don't want him to...
Like, I need him to stumble
and I don't really want him to, you know?
Like, I think he would need to, like, get hurt to not,
to not win.
And that's not what you ever want, so. It is what it is.
I should have been better for most of the weekend.
Um, that's what happens when you show up on the third day.
It's not-- Like, it's not a bad weekend either.
It's a little frustrating 'cause I feel like,
I certainly, with the events we had,
I didn't do everything I could.
But, the way she goes, sometimes people are better.
[slow pensive instrumental]
[interviewer] What are the emotions
going into the final event?
Well, now it's just focus.
So I think the emotions are gonna come after.
[laughing]
Probably, they're all coming at the same time.
[interviewer] This is the last event, [indistinct].
Yes. Ever.
I'm going to be sad but I'll make it a good one.
I cried a little bit before I actually went
onto the floor on the last event.
Just knowing that it's, like, the last time that I would feel
the adrenaline and feel, like, the energy
from the crowd and have those, those girls beside me.
And, like, feel like we're in this battle, this war together.
Um, from we start across the games on day one,
it's like we're in this battle together.
And even though we lost a few soldiers on the way this year,
we're all still, like, a part of it.
And just going out there on the last event and being
really appreciative of, that I'm able to do this.
♪
[Tommy] Not long after the games, Kristin Holte
revealed to everyone that it was going to be her final year.
And that she was retiring.
It was kind of the, the closing of a chapter, competitively,
in the history of the sport for another generation of athletes.
Yeah, it definitely feels like a little bit
of a starting of a new era, for sure.
You know, there's like me and Vellner
and Bjorgvin and those guys and we're not quite done yet.
And then there's this new era, younger guys.
We've got like, the Dukic brothers,
we got Medeiros, we've got, uh, Saxon Panchik and, you know,
they're right there with us.
Um, and it's funny, when I first made the games
in 2016, I remember, like, being excited
to compete against Ben Smith and Josh Bridges.
There are not many athletes that I think
have transcended more than one of those,
kind of like, kind of like five year periods.
You know, like Graham Holmberg was able
to do it, I think a bit, Ben Smith for sure.
And Scott Panchik probably better than anyone,
has sort of transitioned really between kind of like,
two and a half, three of these sort of changing
of the guards and has continually been at the top.
I mean, he won two workouts this weekend.
[Tommy] We also had the retirement of Scott Panchik.
And that was kind of a group of athletes that had kind
of really cut their teeth as the sport was really,
really exploding in 2013, 2014, 2015.
And so as they step aside now, there exists some openings
for a new batch of athletes and a new
era of professional CrossFit Games athletes
to step in and really flourish in the spotlight.
And I think it was fitting that we got to see that in the form
of some of these young athletes that had breakout seasons.
You know, Guy Malheiros and, and Emma Cary and Mal O'Brien
showcasing that, "Hey, even though these athletes,
they're stepping aside, the sport is in good hands.
And we can take it from there.
[chattering]
I know he wasn't thinkin' about that--
I know, that's why-- When he came over,
I was like, "Dude, what the--?"
He's still got a thirty point buffer and there's, like,
no way on his last event-- Unless he, like, drops dead.
Like, so I was just like,
"Dude, you're fuckin' robbing me here.
Like? It's in absolute terms.
Like, I'll pay you five grand of my bonus.
Like, we can both make more money."
Yeah. They said I got a no-rep
but my judge didn't move me back.
[Pat] Oh.
So then I-- I did fourt-- I did-- When I got to the end,
I was on my 13th rep.
But I needed one more so he told me to go back.
How you doin'?
[interviewer] I'm good. How are you doing?
Good.
I can't believe it's just one more event.
[interviewer] Did you expect to be where you are right now?
No. I am significantly higher than I expected to be.
So maybe I should have gone in with the mindset of being
higher and then maybe I would have shot for even more.
But I am very proud of my effort no matter what happens.
[interviewer laughing]
[Laura] I guess I felt good about that,
that Kristin was, like, 100-- more than 100 points back.
But I also didn't feel good because Tia was,
like, 200 points ahead.
So I was, like, I can't really do anything.
Like, I'm not going to lose my second place finish
but I also have no chance catching Tia.
So it was like, like, I don't know, not a good feeling.
She's just so good.
And then, she's just like-- she gets here and she knows if
she doesn't get injured, she's going to win.
And then everyone else is just like,
competing for second place, which sucks.
I guess we just have to, like, level up to her level.
[Sean] Tia Toomey has a date with destiny
here in the final heat for the women
in the very last event, the 15th event
of the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games.
And if you're watching, just sit back and enjoy
the athlete that is Tia-Clair Toomey.
How do you beat Tia Toomey?
Um, the answer right now is you don't.
♪
You don't beat Tia Toomey. She is so good.
And has constructed her life to where
this is her singular focus.
♪
[Adrian] It's unbelievable where you can look at a field
with so much talent and in many cases you can find
an athlete that has obvious strengths and weaknesses.
But with Tia-Clair Toomey, you cannot look at her and say,
"Oh, she's good here but she's weak here."
That's not the case.
It's, "She's exceptional here and she's only very good here."
The spread between her strengths and "weaknesses,"
it's almost nonexistent. It's truly remarkable.
[announcer] Tia-Clair Toomey!
So if you want to beat Tia Toomey,
that is where you have to start.
You cannot part time this.
You have to dedicate your life to it.
And then you need to surround yourself with people who are
gonna make you better, who are going to probably
beat you into the ground on a daily basis,
who are going to expose your weaknesses all the time.
Understand that, "Okay, I cannot hide from this.
I need to make my weaknesses my strength.
And I need to be fanatically
and maniacally dedicated to being the best.
And even that, as good as Tia Toomey is,
may not be enough.
♪
Tia Toomey has all but wrapped up her
fifth straight title of Fittest Woman on Earth.
Laura Horvath, solidly in second place
but still has a little bit of work to do to stay there.
The battle for the final podium spot
is going to take place between Annie Thorisdottir
and Kristin Holte.
Win, you're up there.
[announcer] In the sport of CrossFit,
it takes everything to get to the top.
It's taken us 15 events to get here and we have
a Game seven version
between Annie Thorisdottir and Kristin Holte.
And it's coming down to this.
[Annie] A lot of things were going through my head.
Now, all of a sudden, podium was realistic but I
still knew that Holte is really good at chest-to-bar pull ups.
When I go in there, I'm just like, "Okay,
I'm not going to focus on Annie or any of the other girls.
I'm just going to focus on me.
Like, I want to have a good experience.
I want to know that I did everything I could.
And if she's better than me, that's okay."
[Sean] 600 meter row to start.
And then those 90 chest-to-bar pull ups.
[Justin] I mean, after the 600 meter row, everyone got off
at the same exact time and started their chest-to-bar.
For six bars for pull ups, you had to do 15 reps at each.
And this, every time, every time you drop
after 15 pull ups, you look to your left,
look to your right and see where everyone's at.
And just, keep trying to like, chip away because, you know
when you get to that barbell, it's a sprint to the finish.
♪
[Sean] Justin Medeiros just needs to stay
with Patrick Vellner, doesn't need to win.
Just don't let Vellner beat you by too much.
[Pat] That event, I knew Justin had a rip on his hand.
And I was like, "Eh, maybe he has some
trouble with the pull-ups."
And after about three bars, we were nice and tight
and it was clear that that wasn't the case.
[announcer] Justin Medeiros is no stranger
to high-stakes final events.
♪
[Justin] And I'm like, four sets of chest-to-bars in
and still goin' unbroken and kind of right then, I was like,
"Yeah, there's no chance I'm losing this event."
And like, I just remember everything that was playing
through my mind, just like, "Stay consistent, stay smooth.
Like, this is your race to lose.
Like, you're in front of Pat. Like, slow down."
And I got-- I finished the first set of back rack lunges.
And I popped it over my head and went straight into
the front rack lunge without dropping the bar.
And the whole crowd just got so loud.
It was this big adrenaline rush.
[Sean] And Justin Medeiros got right to it,
going unbroken and trying to leave no doubt.
[Justin] Like, I crossed the second lunge line
for front rack and I dropped it.
I just remember looking to my left and looking to my right.
And no one was there.
And I was like, "Dude, I have 30 feet
and I'm the fittest man on earth."
♪
[Sean] Business in the front.
Party in the back and fitness all over!
Justin Medeiros is the Fittest Man on Earth!
[Justin] Crossed the finish line and looked up
and then my mom and my dad were standing there.
I had no idea that they were going to be
right there at the end of the finish line.
Two people that had those seats went and found
my parents in the crowd, told them that they
wanted my parents to have those seats.
And switched seats with them.
So my parents got a front row seat to,
like, watching me win the CrossFit Games.
♪
[Sean] No surprise here,
Tia Toomey first to the 135 pound barbell.
[Tia] By the time I got through to my chest bars,
I was already in the lead.
So I was like, "All right, you know, this is it.
You can rest for as long as you want after this."
[Sean] From relative unknown in 2015
to the greatest ever in 2021.
Dominance-defined, history made, legacy left
for the fifth straight time,
Tia Toomey is the Fittest Woman on Earth.
[Annie] Once I got to the bar ahead of her,
I was like, "Okay, you just need to keep your calm
and make sure that you finish this event without, like,
failing on the over-head walking lunges or something.
[Sean] She's gotta stay ahead of Holte.
She's doing that right now.
That is the battle for third place.
♪
The only woman to ever compete in three
different decades at the CrossFit Games.
She's a former two time champion.
And she's about to put herself back on the podium
for the sixth time in her career.
And here comes Kristin Holte.
[announcer] And what a great weekend for Holte.
[Annie] Yes. I have absolutely worked my ass off this year.
And I'm not going to take away anything from myself there.
But I did not think that this would be a possibility.
[Kristin] It will be amazing to finish off
on the podium but I don't think that would make me any happier.
Like, third or fourth place or sixth or seventh or 10th.
Like, I want to go out with the good feeling and knowing that
I am giving my absolute best in every single event.
At the age of 35, I'm still competitive.
I'm a master athlete but I'm still up there.
And I've proven to myself and everyone else that
I'm-- I feel like I'm a complete CrossFit athlete.
[Sean] Fikowski looking to stay on the podium.
Now, Vellner is in.
And Fikowski, looking to earn the bronze medal.
Yeah. I mean, the last...
The last section of the over-head walking lunge
uh, was very hard.
And as I got closer I remembered, um,
my actually, my-- I'm sorry.
Oh, man.
-[cheering] -[yells]
♪
[sighs]
You know, you make-- You make a lot of, uh,
I dedicate a lot to this training, right?
And then sometimes you're sort of faced with
these tough decisions.
And you don't sort of realize what you've been
missing until you're faced with tough decisions.
And, you know, you kind of want to, like,
just bring something back to just see, like, see, you know?
Um. So, yeah.
Just to have a little rectangle medal of all things,
uh... [laughs]
But a medal nonetheless, just to bring back
just to show that, you know, you did it for something.
Even if-- You know.
Not that you do it for that.
But it's just, like, yeah.
[Annie] Yes, I won the CrossFit Games twice.
And there will nothing top the experience of winning
the CrossFit Games for the first time
and then making it back
from my back injury was another extremely emotional moment.
But I wasn't even planning on being here.
I didn't think I could compete.
-[cheering] -And I podiumed--
[cheering]
I have-- I have probably had one of
the hardest years of my life, but I've also
had one of the best years of my life at the same time.
So thank you, guys. You're freaking amazing!
[cheering]
I-- I definitely chose the right sport.
[laughing]
♪
[Laura] This year, I-- I came here to win.
I came here to take first place and that didn't happen.
And then, I know I should be happy because I,
like, came back.
It's like a comeback or whatever.
But it's like bittersweet.
If you go for first place then you can't be
happy with second place.
It is still amazing.
I am happy but I am just, yeah, this is not what I wanted.
[intense strings instrumental]
[Pat] Yeah. On the one hand, super frustrating.
[chuckles] But on the other hand, it's--
It's cool to see and it's fun to be a part
of moments like that.
So I had a lot of ups and downs and I-- I had some
trouble keeping things between the lines at times.
So, um, you know, that's not how you want to win it.
I think he-- he definitely had a more consistent performance.
And, uh, earned his title.
I wish it wasn't me getting dunked on,
but you know, I'm in the poster.
[laughs]
[announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
I give you our new, male champion.
Justin Medeiros.
[cheering]
[Adrian] Man, I think Medeiros
has all the elements to be the next repeat champion.
You know, we had the Froning era,
we had the Fraser era
and I think Justin is primed for that.
♪
And I don't think there's any way,
any words you could say to prepare yourself for that.
But just knowing that, like, it's going to be worth it.
And I think that was one of the things I did think
about through the whole 2020 and 2021 season.
Like, I'm going to put in
the work now not knowing what
the end result is going to be,
but I know that end
result will be worth it.
And, uh, just kind of be able to go through the whole week
and not having any regrets and seeing that
all pay off just fires me up for what's to come.
♪
[Adrian] I think in a lot of ways 2021
was a real passing of the torch type of year.
You know, obviously on the men's side,
we had a new champion.
He'd been kind of in the wings waiting
for the moment and now it arrived.
I think also more broadly, 2021.
kind of marked the return to business as usual
for the games where business as usual is pushing the envelope.
Business as usual is, "How do we take this
sport to the next level?"
Business as usual is, "Let's make the test
as legitimate as we possibly can."
And that just means we can get back to doing what we do best.
[reporter] As you take in this moment,
what do you want your legacy to be remembered as?
I don't know right now because I'm still trying to create it.
-Yeah. -[cheering]
[reporter] We have seen you as a competitor,
as a pillar in our community and also as an inspiration.
What does being that kind of role model mean for you?
I think it means everything.
You know? Um, anything's possible.
I mean, I'm standing here today and showing you
guys it's possible.
[reporter] Tia, will we see you out here
on the competition floor again next year?
[Tia] Absolutely.
[reporter] Congratulations. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you.
[slow pensive instrumental]
You don't see an athlete like Tia Toomey in any sport
who has this much talent, in this many areas.
Usually, you know, athletes who transcend
their sports, they're just good at that sport.
They're just good at basketball like LeBron James
or Michael Jordan.
Or just good at hockey like Wayne Gretzky.
But Michael Jordan and LeBron James are not, you know,
winning NBA championships and then all of a sudden going
and competing in another sport and making it to the Olympics.
And that's what Tia is doing.
Tia has transcended the sport of fitness.
She has elevated the field.
She has set a new standard that people now need to shoot for.
But then at the same time, she's been able to take that
athletic talent that she has, go into a completely different
discipline like bobsled and maybe compete in the Olympics.
And that's-- that's just something that you
do not see regardless of the athlete in any sport.
♪
[Tia sighs]
It's worth all that hard work. It really is.
At the time, you second guess it and you wonder if it really
is and you really question a lot of things in your life.
But it was worth it.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I give you our most dominant CrossFit athlete of all time!
Tia-Clair Toomey!
-This is my wife. -[man 2 laughs]
If this is the final year that Tia Toomey competes,
I think we all need to make sure that we take
time to appreciate what she has been able to do in her career.
But also appreciate what she is going to do during every
event that she competes in, in 2022.
You are probably not going to see this level
of dominance again in this sport for a while.
So make sure that you're paying attention because you're--
You're witnessing something extremely special.
[interviewer] Is 2022 her last year?
[music bursts]
[narrator] Trailblazers don't simply tread new ground,
though, of course they do that.
What trailblazers do is show us that it is possible to do
the undoable, that it is possible to see the un-see-able
and that it is possible to be the unbelievable.
What trailblazers do is make the first ascent
with all its inherent risk, all its inevitable stumbles,
all its requisite exploration.
What trailblazers do is draw better maps.
And when they are done, they come down from
the mountain knowing the next generation of climbers
have already begun their treks.
They come down knowing that those
who are closer to the base than the peak
get to carry in their packs the priceless
maps that have been drawn for them with blood
and sweat and tears and dark nights
and cold mornings and doubt and screams.
And the deepest of breaths.
Like Froning and Fraser before her,
Tia-Clair Toomey is a trailblazer.
She is a course-setter, she is a bar-raiser, she is map-drawer.
She has made it to the peak and because of that,
we can now see more clearly what is up there.
What summits have not yet been reached?
What routes have not yet been forged? And what ascents have not yet been mapped?
She has made us see that ahead, there are mountains
and mountains and mountains.
And all there is to do...
is climb.
[music climaxes]
[gentle piano fades]
[strings instrumental]
♪