2023 CrossFit Games Event 5 “Ski Bag” Results

The penultimate event for the Individuals on the second day of their 2023 CrossFit Games was a fast one combining ski erg and sandbag squats. The ski erg favored the heavier athletes, and the sandbag squats favored the shorter athletes.

Roman Khrennikov and Alexis Raptis entered as the overall leaders for the Individual men and Individual women, respectively. Below are the results:

2023 CrossFit Games Event Five — “Ski Bag”

For time:

• 30-calorie Ski Erg
• 30 sandbag squats — Women: 125 pounds | Men: 200 pounds
• 20-calorie Ski Erg 
• 20 sandbag squats — Women: 125 pounds | Men: 200 pounds

Time cap: six minutes

[Related: 2023 CrossFit Games Results and Leaderboard]

[Related: 2023 CrossFit Games Age Group Division Results — Fittest Teens and Masters Athletes]

Individual Men’s Results — “Ski Erg”

1. Colten Mertens — 4:30.60
2. Samuel Kwant — 4:34.75
3. Justin Medeiros — 4:51.88
4. Jelle Hoste — 4:53.48
5. Bronislaw Olenkowicz — 4:54.44
6. Patrick Vellner — 4:55.13
7. Chandler Smith — 4:57.11
8. Jeffrey Adler — 4:59.86
9. Roman Khrennikov — 5:00.83
10. Jake Douglas — 5:05.72
11. Nick Mathew — 5:08.11
12. Will Moorad — 5:09.43
13. Bayley Martin — 5:10.29
14. Jayson Hopper — 5:10.66
15. Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson — 5:16.12
16. Jonne Koski — 5:19.54
17. Fabien Beneito — 5:22.92
18. Moritz Fiebig — 5:23.54
19. Lazar Dukic — 5:27.54
20. Jack Farlow — 5:28.59
21. Brent Fikowski — 5:29.54
22. Jay Crouch — 5:33.46
23. Cole Sager — 5:36.10
24. Cole Greashaber — 5:39.70
25. David Shorunke — 5:42.01
26. Noah Ohlsen — 5:47.65
27. Samuel Cournoyer — 5:54.68
28. Kaique Cerveny — 5:57.00
29. Dallin Pepper — CAP
30. Henrik Haapalainen — CAP + Two
31. Uldis Upenieks — CAP + Four
32. Luke Parker — CAP + Four
33. Michal Wesolowski — CAP + Five
34. James Sprague — CAP + 10
35. Ant Haynes — CAP + 13
36. Spencer Panchik — CAP + 13
37. Alex Vigneault — CAP + 13
38. Arthur Semenov — CAP + 14
39. Kalyan Souza — CAP + 15

[Related: 2023 CrossFit Games Adaptive Division Results — Who Is the Fittest on Earth?]

Individual Women’s Results — “Ski Erg”

1. Laura Horvath — 4:36.18
2. Alex Gazan — 5:50.32
3. Olivia Kerstetter — 5:50.91
4. Ella Wunger — 5:54.35
5. Ellie Turner — 5:58.87
6. Amanda Barnhart — CAP
7. Karin Freyová — CAP + Three
8. Gabriela Migała — CAP + Three
9. Katrin Davíðsdóttir — CAP + Four
10. Paige Semenza — CAP + Four
11. Emma Lawson — CAP + Four
12. Kelly Baker — CAP + Five
13. Annie Thorisdottir — CAP + Six
14. Seher Kaya — CAP + Eight
15. Elisa Fuliano — CAP + 10
16. Emma Cary — CAP + 11
17. Arielle Loewen — CAP + 12
18. Danielle Brandon — CAP + 12
19. Caroline Stanley — CAP + 12
20. Emma Tall — CAP + 12
21. Alexia Williams — CAP + 12
22. Feeroozeh Saghafi — CAP + 13
23. Emily de Rooy — CAP + 14
24. Sydney Wells — CAP + 15
25. Rebecka Vitesson — CAP + 15
26. Christine Kolenbrander — CAP + 15
27. Michelle Basnett — CAP + 16
28. Emma McQuaid — CAP + 16
29. Paige Powers — CAP + 16
30. Victoria Campos — CAP + 19
31. Jamie Simmonds — CAP + 19
32. Baylee Rayl — CAP + 19
33. Emily Rolfe — CAP + 20
34. Bethany Flores — CAP + 20
35. Matilde Garnes — CAP + 22
36. Abigail Domit — CAP + 27
37. Alexis Raptis — CAP + 29
38. Manon Angonese — CAP + 30
39. Shelby Neal — CAP + 41
40. Shahad Budebs — CAP + 46

[Related: 2023 CrossFit Games Withdrawals]

Individual Men’s Ski Erg Recap

Heat one for the men was the Samuel Kwant welcome party. He was the first athlete to clear the ski erg. He cleaned the sandbag and went unbroken through the first round of squats.

Douglas was the closest athlete to Kwant by the time the former Games runner-up returned to the ski erg, but Kwant gave no ground. He had an eight-rep lead in the final set of squats and scored the heat win with a time of 4:34.75.

Olenkowicz, Farlow, Shorunke, and Hopper were in the lead at the beginning of heat two, showing the advantage of being among the bigger athletes on the floor. Olenkowicz was the speediest on the first round of squats and reached the second ski erg first with Moorad in tow.

Olenkowicz furthered his lead through the second ski erg, holding a five-rep gap to cross the finish line 20 seconds behind Kwant’s time.

In heat three, the mad dash out of the gate on the ski erg saw Mertens take an early lead. Mertens’ prowess in the squat allowed him to speed through the clean and clear his way down the course. He never let up and scored the time to beat at a hair over four and a half minutes.

Athletes in heat four had the chance to strategize their run to challenge Mertens’ top time. There was little separation among the pack in the opening ski erg.

The entire heat marched to the sandbags together. Cournoyer and Khrennikov had the lead pace by approximately a rep but remained tight to the second ski erg.

Khrennikov was the first to the final round of squats with Adler on his tail. Mertens’ time was in no danger of being eclipsed. Smith overtook Khrennikov in the final moments to take the heat win by two seconds.

Individual Women’s Ski Erg Recap

The 10 women in the opening heat stayed tight through the first ski erg. Kaya was the first to descend into a squat but wasn’t alone for long as Wunger joined her out front.

Wunger raced to the second ski erg first. She maintained a seven-rep lead over the field entering the final round of squats.

It was Wunger’s heat to lose as she approached the five-and-a-half-minute mark. She was the lone athlete in the heat to complete all the work.

Heat two for the women showed signs of redemption for Emma Cary following her struggle in the rope climbs in “The Alpaca Redux.” She was first to the squats and had a lead.

However, Cary had to reclean the bag and received a no-rep, costing her time and allowing Barnhart and Semenza to pull ahead. Ellie Turner joined them, and Cary fell to fourth by the second ski erg.

Cary reclaimed the lead on the second ski erg and was joined by Turner and Barnhart on the final round of squats. Turner cleared the squats and won the heat as the only athlete to finish within the time cap, but she did not best Wunger’s time.

Heat three was the Katrin Davíðsdóttir show through the first ski erg. She reached the sandbags with a four-rep lead. She took no rest and got to work on the squats. Kerstetter was four reps behind with Brandon breathing down her neck.

Davíðsdóttir received a no rep that gave Kerstetter some time back. The former two-time Fittest Woman on Earth® cranked away on the ski erg and re-extended her lead into the second squats.

Another no-rep in the squat for Davíðsdóttir was enough to cause Davíðsdóttir to drop the bag, leaving the door open for Kerstetter to set the new time to beat as the lone athlete in the heat to complete the course.

Only three women finished the event, with heat four stepping onto the competition floor. Horvath was the first through the ski erg, with Thorisdottir and Tall not far behind.

Horvath made quick work of the first round of squats. She held a near-double-digit rep lead walking to the second ski erg, well ahead of the split time needed to score the event win.

At the 3:30 mark, Horvath reached the final round of squats. There was no doubt she would rack up another 100 points, and that’s exactly what happened. It marks her eighth career event win at the CrossFit Games.

Finishing Day Four

The last event on the second day of competition for the Individuals is “Helena,” a variation of a benchmark workout. We’ll see if Medeiros can continue to mount his comeback following the worst start to any Games in his career as Khrennikov tries to maintain his overall lead.

Featured image courtesy of CrossFit LLC.