2017 CrossFit Games


The 2017 CrossFit Games are the eleventh CrossFit Games and were held on August 3–6, 2017, at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. This was the first Games held outside the state of California. The men's competition was won by Mathew Fraser, the women's by Tia-Clair Toomey, and Wasatch CrossFit won the Affiliate Cup. Fraser won $310,000 for his efforts and Toomey won $298,000 for her title, including bonus for event wins.
This was the first year the Masters 35–39 division was introduced. This was the first CrossFit Games in which a podium finisher in the Individual competition was disqualified for using illegal performance-enhancing substances when Ricky Garard tested positive after the Games were complete. The women's competition had one of the closest finishes in the Games history, when Toomey won by only 2 points over fellow Australian Kara Webb. For the men's competition, Fraser dominated and extended his record winning margin to 216 points over second place Brent Fikowski.
This year CBS Sports started its coverage of the Games on CBS Sports Network with live broadcast and a two-hour show of the main competition every night and a recap show on Saturday, as well as up to 40 hours of live streaming on its digital service.

Qualification

Over 380,000 competitors participated in this year's CrossFit Open. The Open took place over 5 weeks from February 23 through March 27, 2017, with one workout released each week. A new Masters 35-39 Division was introduced this year. The workouts for the Open were stream live from many locations around the world for the first time. Mat Fraser and Sara Sigmundsdóttir were the respective winner of the men's and women's competitions, Fraser won convincingly with two event wins, while Sigmundsdottir won by only four points over second-place Kari Pearce.
As with previous years, the top athletes from each of the Open Region moved on to 8 Regionals, and all the top men and women who can qualify for the Regionals were required to submitted videos of their performance from the Open, although this year more are required to submit their videos than previous years. The 8 Regionals took place in three consecutive weekends from May 19 to June 4. Most Regionals had 40 men, 40 women and 30 teams competing. The top five men, top five women, and top five teams from each Regional qualified for the Games, giving a total of 40 men, 40 women and 40 teams who qualified for the Games.

Individual

The 2017 CrossFit Games were held at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin for the first time after seven years at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
This year, minimum work requirements were introduced for two events at the Games: Run Swim Run and Sprint O-Course where athletes would be eliminated if they cannot finish a movement or complete the event within a set time.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Event 1: Run Swim Run

  • 1.5 mile run
  • 500 meter swim
  • 1.5 mile run
Athletes ran to Lake Monona from the Alliant Energy Center, swam around a set of buoys, and then back to the arena. The event was won by Brent Fikowski and Tia-Clair Toomey. Later in 2021, a coach said that Mat Fraser almost drowned during the swim portion of this event, but he was helped by Fikowski.

Event 2: Cyclocross

The event was held nearby in Quann Park and had bikes supplied by Wisconsin-based Trek Bicycle Corporation. The course's obstacles included logs, small wooden hurdles and a sand trap. The event was won by Mat Fraser and Kristin Holte.

Event 3: Amanda .45

Athletes performed 13 muscle-ups on gymnastic rings and then 13 snatches, followed by 11 muscle-ups and 11 snatches, etc. until finishing the sets of 5. The snatch weight was 135 pounds for the men and 95 pounds for the women. This is a variation of the event "Amanda" introduced at the 2010 CrossFit Games as a tribute to former Games athlete, Amanda Miller, who died in 2010 and was known for the pistol tattoos on her hips. The event was won by Dakota Rager for the men and by Jamie Greene for the women.
Mat Fraser injured his LCL on his knee while stretching after the first day competition, but kept quiet on his injury and continued to compete the next few days.

Friday, August 4, 2017

Event 4: Sprint O-Course

Competitors raced head-to-head in three rounds across an obstacle course consisting of a cargo net climb, wall climb, monkey bars, log balances, and a rope ladder. The event was won by Patrick Vellner and Tennil Reed-Beuerlein.

Event 5: 1RM Snatch

The event was won by Garret Fisher with a 305-pound lift and Kara Webb with a 203-pound lift. Fisher's 305-pound snatch was a Games record.

Event 6: Triple-G Chipper

The event was a "chipper," a workout involving multiple exercises done sequentially without returning for the fastest time. After the 100 pull-ups, the competitors performed 80 sit-ups on a glute-hamstring developer, a piece of equipment where the feet lock in and the sit-up is performed at a greater range of motion. After the sit-ups, athletes performed 60 one-legged squats, also called "pistols", alternating the movement between each leg. The 40-calorie row was performed on a Concept-2 rowing machine. The dumbbells for the push press were 100-pounds for the men and 70-pounds for the women. The event was won by Mathew Fraser and Kara Webb.

Event 7: Assault Banger

The competitors started on the Assault bike and the calories were 40 for men and 30 for women. After the bike, the athletes used a sledgehammer to hit a weighted block on a recessed track until it had moved 20 feet. The event was won by George Sanchez and Samantha Briggs.

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Event 8: Strongman's Fear

Competitors had to move a series of strongman elements; a yoke, two farmer's logs, and a sled. The objects had to be taken halfway down the field and then the competitor returned using a handstand walk. Once all objects were at the halfway mark, the competitors took the objects to the end of the field, also returning to the middle of the field with a handstand walk. The objects could be moved in any order. Brent Fikowski won the event for the men and Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir for the women.

Event 9: Muscle-up Clean Ladder

Competitors performed each round beginning with four muscle-ups on a pull-up bar followed by two cleans. After each round the weight increased starting with 225 pounds for the men and 145 pounds for the women and ending with 350 and 235 pounds, respectively. Mathew Fraser won the event for the men and Tia-Clair Toomey won for the women.

Event 10: Heavy 17.5

  • 10 rounds for time of:
  • *9 thrusters
  • *35 double-unders
A heavier version of a previous Open qualifier event in 2017. A double-under is a jumping rope movement where the rope passes beneath the athlete twice per jump. A thruster in CrossFit is a combination of a front squat and push press in one continuous movement and the weights were 125 pounds for the men and 85 pounds for the women. Mathew Fraser won for the men and Kara Webb won for the women.

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Event 11: Madison Triplet

5 rounds for time of:
Athletes ran around a 450-meter path outside of the stadium. In the stadium, there were five rows of hay bale walls. The athletes would enter the stadium and clean a sandbag up and toss it over the hay bale wall. They would then perform a burpee and then jump over the wall. The hay bale clean burpee would be performed seven times at the same hay bale wall before moving the sandbag to the next wall. After the sandbag is moved, the athletes ran back to the path to make another lap. The sandbags were 100 pounds for the men and 70 pounds for the women. The event was won by Patrick Vellner for the men and Samantha Briggs for the women.

Event 12: 2223 Intervals

4 rounds of:
  • 2 rope climbs
  • 10/7-calorie SkiErg
  • Maximum repetitions of overhead squats with remaining time
This was an interval event with the first three rounds consisting of two minutes of work and then one minute of rest. The final round was three minutes of work to get as many overhead squats as possible or a total of 75 through all rounds for time. For each round, competitors started with two 20-foot rope climbs. After the rope climbs, the competitors pulled 10 calories for men and 7 calories for women on a SkiErg, a machine built by Concept2 similar to their rowing machines but meant to simulate a cross-country skiing motion. With the remaining time in each interval, they accumulated as many squats as they could with 155 pounds for the men and 105 pounds for the women. The event was won by Mathew Fraser and Katrín Davíðsdóttir. Significantly for the women's competition, Kara Webb who finished second was penalized 6 seconds after a judge erroneously allowed her to finish before she had completed all her reps, which dropped her to fourth and more crucially lost her 10 points.

Event 13: Fibonacci Final

This event was won by Logan Collins and Ragnheiður Sara Sigmundsdottir. In the men's event, only Collins finished within the six-minute time cap with 2017 Games champion Mathew Fraser ending one lunge from the finish to take second in the event. On the women's side, Kara Webb had been in second-place overall below Tia-Clair Toomey. She edged out Toomey on the event by 0.19 seconds but did not overtake her in total points, finishing two points behind on the final standings.

Team events

Teams were cut to 10 after the Burpee Litter event,
  • Run Swim Run Relay
  • Muscle-up Snatch
  • Team O-Course
  • Clean and Jerk – two events, one male, one female
  • Rowing Worm
  • Drag & Drive
  • Couple Couplets
  • Worm Rotation
  • Burpee Litter
  • Worm Complex

Doping Violations

Ricky Garard, who was placed third in the men's competition, tested positive for two performance enhancement drugs, testolone and endurobol, after the Games were complete. Garard was disqualified, his podium ranking removed, and lost his $76,000 winnings. As the Games had already concluded, all his finishes were simply voided with all other competitors moving up one position in the final standings. However, the event points were not redistributed, but the prize money was. Patrick Vellner replaced Garard as the third-place finisher. Garard who was named "Rookie of the Year" also had that honor removed, although Jamie Simmons who was the next most successful rookie was not officially recognised.