Rolfe, Đukić Score Huge Wins in Event 10 at the 2021 CrossFit Games

July 31, 2021 by Phil Blechman

As the sun rose on Day Three of Individual competition at the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games, four-time Fittest Woman on Earth® Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr held the overall lead in the Women’s Division. She has held the top spot on the overall leaderboard for the entire competition and has a 138-point lead over Laura Horváth in second place.

In the Men’s Division, 2020 CrossFit Games bronze medalist, Justin Medeiros, held the top overall spot with a 24-point cushion over Brent Fikowski who closed out Day Two of Individual competition with a win in Event Nine.

For Event 10, athletes were tasked with a three-mile run broken up by large sets of toes-to-bar.

Here were the results:

Individual Event 10 — Top Five Men

Lazar Đukić — 21:10.18
Bayden Brown — 21:14.81
Uldis Upenieks — 21:22.73
Cole Sager — 21:28.18
Will Moorad — 21:31.84

Individual Event 10 — Top Five Women

Emily Rolfe — 21:12.73
Kristi Eramo O’Connell — 21:13.90
Haley Adams — 21:36.45
Samantha Briggs — 21:37.22
Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr — 21:49.77

Individual Event 10

For time:

30 toes-to-bar
Run 1.5 miles
30 toes-to-bar
Run 1.5 miles
30 toes-to-bar

Men’s Division

Noah Ohlsen was the first man to finish the first round of toes-to-bar, but the rest of the field was only moments behind. As a large group, they filed into the opening run. Uldis Upenieks assumed the leadership role on the run with Bayden Brown on his heels.

Chandler Smith, Medeiros, Jason Smith, and Jay Crouch were in a tight pack behind the two leaders as the first lap of two in the opening run came to a close. During the second lap, Brown made his move to take over the lead.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by B.Brown (@bayden_brown)

Scott Panchik entered this event in 13th place overall and clearly struggled on the run as he was tending to an aggravated left knee (meniscus issue sustained in Event One). He would finish in 29th place in this event because of it.

By the start of the second 1.5-mile run, it appeared to be Brown’s event to lose. Medeiros pushed himself into the runner-up position as he was the second to finish the middle round of toes-to-bar. Fikowski was towards the back of the pack in towards the end of the second run and it appeared that he was nursing his left leg — his groin was covered in a lot of kinesiology tape. He finished in 26th place.

The final stretch of the run shuffled the group a bit, but Brown had a clear lead to start the second round of toes-to-bar — he brought chalk with him on the run to save time. However, he was unable to cycle the final toes-to-bar fast enough and Lazar Đukić snuck into the lead to cross the finish line first. Brown took second, Upenieks scored third, Sager in fourth, and Moorad closed out the top five.

Jeffrey Adler was in 20th place overall after the event to survive the cut. He ranked just one point above Chandler Smith, who is cut on the bubble in 21st place.

Women’s Division

All 30 remaining women made their way through the first round of toes-to-bar around the same time. In the early portion of the first run, Sam Briggs jumped out to an early lead. Toomey-Orr, Kristin Holte, Haley Adams, Emily Rolfe, and Kristi Eramo O’Connell were in the small pack behind Briggs. This positioning held through the entirety of the first run.

Briggs was the first woman back to the second toes-to-bar with Adams moments behind her. Briggs, Adams, Rolfe, Toomey-Orr, and Eramo O’Connell all completed their second set of toes-to-bar unbroken and began the second run.

By the home stretch of the second run, Eramo O’Connell and Rolfe overtook Briggs for the lead. Adams was several lengths behind her and the returning champion was several lengths behind Adams.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Emily Rolfe (@emily_rolfe19)

Eramo O’Connell and Rolfe reentered the Alliant Energy Center together and sprint to their final toes-to-bar. Both athletes were rep for rep, but it was Rolfe who took it home on the final sprint across the finish line. Eramo O’Connell crosses second. Adams got the best of Briggs in the sprint for third took place. Toomey-Orr crossed in fifth.

Brigg’s fourth-place finish in this event was only enough to push her up into 21st place overall. That means she was the first athlete out of the top 20 and will not advance to Event 11.

The Games Continue

The remaining 20 athletes in both the Men’s and Women’s divisions will compete in two more events on July 31 and three more on Aug. 1, 2021 — a total of 15 events in the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games. Here is the known schedule of events (all times in EST):

IE11 — 3:00 p.m.
IE 12 — 4:45 p.m.

Feature image courtesy of CrossFit.