2023 CrossFit Games Event 8 “Intervals” Results
The eighth event of Individual competition at the 2023 CrossFit Games was a challenge of work rate at high heart rates. Burpees, box jumps, and rowing was the challenge, with the cut to the top 20 athletes for each division looming at the end of Saturday.
Roman Khrennikov maintained his dominant lead in the men’s division and knew his role was to play defense til the end of the weekend. Emma Lawson maintained the right to wear the leader’s jersey after the Cross-Country 5K, but Alexis Raptis was only seven points behind her in second place overall.
Below are the results for the eighth event, “Intervals”:
2023 CrossFit Games Event Eight — “Intervals”
Two intervals for total time:
- 21 box jump-overs — Women: 20 inches | Men: 24 inches
- 15-calorie row
- Nine burpee box jump-overs
- 21 box jump-overs
- 15-calorie row
- Nine burpee box jump-overs — Women: 36 inches | Men: 48 inches
Rest until the six-minute mark, then:
- Nine burpee box jump-overs
- 15-calorie row
- 21 box jump-overs
- Nine burpee box jump-overs
- 15-calorie row
- 21 box jump-overs
Time cap: 12 minutes
[Related: 2023 CrossFit Games Results and Leaderboard]
[Related: 2023 CrossFit Games Age Group Division Results — Fittest Teens and Masters Athletes]
Individual Women’s Results — “Intervals”
- Emma Lawson — 7:48.64
- Emma Cary — 8:01.67
- Arielle Loewen — 8:11.96
- Gabriela Migała — 8:17.58
- Emma Tall — 8:19.68
- Jamie Simmonds — 8:29.88
- Annie Thorisdottir — 8:29.89
- Laura Horvath — 8:32.50
- Katrin Davíðsdóttir — 8:35.32
- Danielle Brandon — 8:37.85
- Alex Gazan — 8:38.26
- Alexis Raptis — 8:39.20
- Kelly Baker — 8:41.90
- Emily Rolfe — 8:44.28
- Shelby Neal — 8:44.71
- Karin Freyová — 8:46.63
- Bethany Flores — 8:47.68
- Paige Powers — 8:50.10
- Paige Semenza — 8:42.18
- Olivia Kerstetter — 9:00.41
- Rebecka Vitesson — 9:00.74
- Baylee Rayl — 9:01.82
- Abigail Domit — 9:18.02
- Sydney Wells — 9:19.42
- Amanda Barnhart — 9:19.47
- Seher Kaya — 9:23.38
- Caroline Stanley — 9:25.78
- Elisa Fuliano — 9:43.79
- Christine Kolenbrander — 10:02.92
- Alexia Williams — 10:13.39
[Related: 2023 CrossFit Games Adaptive Division Results — Who Is the Fittest on Earth?]
Individual Men’s Results — “Intervals”
- Patrick Vellner — 7:21.36
- Jonne Koski — 7:45.38
- Bayley Martin — 7:50.05
- Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson — 7:53.52
- Dallin Pepper — 7:55.35
- Lazar Đukić — 7:56.38
- Jeffrey Adler — 7:57.16
- Samuel Kwant — 8:01.95
- Henrik Haapalainen — 8:01.98
- Jay Crouch — 8:03.51
- Jelle Hoste — 8:04.98
- Chandler Smith — 8:10.41
- Fabien Beneito — 8:15.32
- Will Moorad — 8:19.73
- Brent Fikowski — 8:20.39
- James Sprague — 8:22.99
- Roman Khrennikov — 8:24.09
- Noah Ohlsen — 8:24.31
- Justin Medeiros — 8:25.82
- Colten Mertens — 8:26.38
- Uldis Upenieks — 8:37.96
- Nick Mathew — 8:39.49
- Spencer Panchik — 8:41.42
- Bronislaw Olenkowicz — 8:46.89
- Luke Parker — 8:48.73
- Jack Farlow — 8:49.12
- David Shorunke — 9:00.15
- Ant Haynes — 9:01.09
- Moritz Fiebig — 9:08.88
- Samuel Cournoyer — 9:41.58
[Related: 2023 CrossFit Games Withdrawals]
Intervals Recap
The first women’s heat featured two distinct techniques in the field for the box jump overs. Some athletes shuttled to the other side of the box while others curtsy stepped down. Athletes aimed to apply the least amount of stress to their legs so the rower didn’t feel too punishing.
Wells was the first athlete through the rowers to the burpees and held a one-rep lead over Neal at the two-minute mark. Neal overtook the lead by the second round on the rowers, but they reached the last round of burpees in synch. Neal finished three seconds faster to win the first half of the heat before resting to the six-minute mark.
After a long pause due to a scoring error from an athlete accidentally tripping the timer, athletes were inadvertently allotted approximately 20 seconds of additional rest. Baker used that to her advantage to take the early lead, but Neal reclaimed it by the first box jumps.
Baker churned through the box jumps to take the lead again by the burpees and extended it by a pair of pulls on the rower. Neal’s rows did not appear as forceful as Baker’s, but they stayed within a rep of each other in the box jumps. Baker’s efficiency during box jump transitions allowed her to cross the line four seconds before Neal.
Annie Thorisdottir entered the event in 12th place overall and led the second heat by three reps by the box jumps. She employed a technique of jumping to the box and landing on one foot, so her transitions were more efficient.
Emma Cary was the closest competitor to Thorisdottir by the burpees. Still, the former two-time Fittest Woman on Earth® maintained fast transitions to finish the first round in sub-four minutes.
Fuliano and Tall joined Thorisdottir to set the pace down the back half of the course. Cary joined the mix with a heightened sense of urgency.
Cary utilized a squat atop the box to move through her jump overs, while Thorisdottir stood taller while stepping down. There were pros and cons to both, as the squats allow for a faster step off the box but are more taxing on the legs.
Cary moved alone to the rowers and held a five-rep lead in the final set of box jumps. Cary entered the event in 16th place overall and needed a strong performance to remain on the right side of the cut line at the end of the day. She finished in sub-four minutes to win the heat.
Lawson commanded the center lane on the competition floor in the final heat for the women as the overall leader. The majority of the heat utilized the low-squat-atop-the-box technique through the opening section.
The leader was the first through the rowers, with Migała but a single rep behind. Lawson extended the lead to two reps over Loewen as Migała fell off the lead pace.
Thoridottir’s first interval time of 3:58 was the mark to beat. Lawson cleared it by five seconds. Migała recouped some time to finish a second behind Thorisdottir’s pace.
Lawson continued to set the pace in the back half of the heat. By the box jumps, she held a five-rep lead over Loewen. Migała, Davidsdottir, and Raptis turned on the jets to not fall too far off Lawson’s pace.
The red and white attire of the leader gave away no time transitioning between sections. By 3:17, she was at her final 21 box jumps. She converted not only the two fastest interval times but tacked on another 100 points to her overall total.
Beneito set the early pace for the men’s opening heat. By the burpees, Ant Haynes claimed the lead by a rep thanks to faster transitions over the box.
Haynes and Beneitor stayed rep for rep with Haapalainen in tow through the box jumps. The lead trio attacked the rowers silhouetting each other in the camera’s adjacent shot.
Once to the final burpees in interval one, Haynes appeared to have fallen off the pace, but his faster transitions saved him again. Haapalainen crossed the finish first narrowly under four minutes.
The second interval for heat two was a scorcher out of the gate by Mathew. Mathew entered the event in 21st place overall and was battling for his Games life. Haapalainen remained unphased and maintained a similar pace and reclaimed the lead by the box jump overs.
Haapalainen’s low landing position on the box made for smooth transitions. Mathew fell off the lead pace. Sprague and Beneito increased their tempo to catch Haapalainen, but Haapalainen declined their invitation to share the lead and took the heat win.
Ohlsen flirted with the “red line” out of the gate for men’s heat two, meaning that he blitzed through the initial section to reach the rowers. Koski overcame the gap Ohlsen set to take the lead by five reps by the box jumps.
Koski remained composed throughout the interval and scored the top time of 3:48.16. Pepper, Kwant, and Medeiros battled for second place. By the burpees, Mertens joined that group.
Moorad and Koski shared the lead for the second interval. Kwant was on the bubble facing elimination at the end of the day, and his sense of urgency was palpable as he burgeoned into the leading pace.
Koski’s fluidity through the burpees offered Kwant no space to breathe. Dallin Pepper entered the leading mix with Kwant and Koski, but it appeared Koski’s consistency would be too much to overcome. Koski claimed the top time in both intervals to win the heat.
The final heat of the event featured Khrennikov in the center lane as the overall leader. He and Đukić set the early leading pace knowing Koski’s time was the mark to beat.
Khrennikov miscounted his reps on the box jumps and suffered some confusion about where to go during the transition as a result. It cost him about two reps worth of time, but he made up the difference on the rowers.
Fikowski and Vellner found the leading pace, and the Canadians overtook the heat. Khrennikov made another blunder by racing past the box jumps to the rowers, costing him even more valuable time.
Khrennikov’s gap on the overall leaderboard meant he would unlikely be too punished by his multiple mistakes. Still, Vellner aimed to take advantage, scoring the fastest interval of any heat thus far at 3:36.41.
Vellner maintained his leading pace to kick off the last interval of the event. He held a five-rep lead through the first rowers. Khrennivkov appeared to have gassed himself out, as his pace was significantly slower through the second interval.
By the burpees, there was no doubt Vellner would close the deal for 100 points. He cleared both intervals in the fastest times of any athlete in either division.
Saturday Continues
The final workout for day three of Individual competition is titled “Intervals.” It features two 21-15-9 rep scheme workouts comprised of rowing and box jump overs with six minutes of rest in between. It will be a barn-burner with a 12-minute time cap to close out the penultimate day of competition.
Featured image courtesy of CrossFit LLC.