Speegle Sprints to Victory: 2023 Rogue Invitational CrossFit Event 5 “The Duel III” Results
By the time “The Duel III” began on Saturday, Oct. 28, the leaderboard had already undergone its share of shake-ups at the 2023 Rogue Invitational. The day began with Pat Vellner sitting out of a three-way tie for first on the men’s side, and reigning CrossFit Games champ Laura Horvath leading the winningest Individual in CrossFit Games history, Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, by five points on the overall leaderboard. By the end of “The Duel III,” Dani Speegle and Jayson Hopper had claimed event wins and the leaderboard had shifted once again.
This event was battled out with brackets, with the fastest athletes from the first three heats advancing to the second round. The top five women and the top five men coming into the event automatically earned a spot in the second round, but that didn’t guarantee them advancement through all five rounds.
[Stay Tuned: 2023 Rogue Invitational CrossFit Live Results and Leaderboard]
The fastest two athletes in each division faced off head-to-head in the final rounds. It came to a battle of Speegle versus reigning CrossFit Games champ Laura Horvath and Hopper versus Games veteran Brent Fikowski. Here’s how it all shook out.
2023 Rogue Invitational CrossFit Event Five Results — “The Duel III”
- Over Under Over Log
- 3 Sandbag to Teeter
- Bracket Style
Below are the full results:
Men’s Division
- Jayson Hopper — 5 (19.94)
- Brent Fikowski — 5 (20.43)
- Pat Vellner — 4 (21)
- Travis Mayer — 4 (21.39)
- Jelle Hoste — 4 (21.44)
- Dallin Pepper — 3 (22.02)
- Ricky Garard — 3 (22.10)
- Tudor Magda — 3 (22.12)
- Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson — 3 (23.11)
- Bayley Martin — 3 (25.29)
- Jeffrey Adler — 2 (24.99)
- Jay Crouch — 2 (25.21)
- Roman Khrennikov — 2 (26.84)
- Will Moorad — 2 (28.20)
- Noah Ohlsen — 2 (28.21)
- Garrett Clark — 1 (26.43)
- Victor Hoffer — 1 (26.61)
- Lazar Đukić — 1 (26.62)
- Chandler Smith — 1 (26.74)
- Jonne Koski — WD
Women’s Division
- Dani Speegle — 5 (21.75)
- Laura Horvath — 5 (21.83)
- Paige Semenza — 4 (23.04)
- Alex Gazan — 4 (24.58)
- Danielle Brandon — 4 (24.61)
- Arielle Loewen — 3 (24.89)
- Christine Kolenbrander — 3 (24.99)
- Manon Angonese — 3 (25.20)
- Emma Lawson — 3 (26.87)
- Lauren Fisher — 3 (27.01)
- Gabriela Migała — 2 (27.03)
- Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr — 2 (27.43)
- Emily Rolfe — 2 (27.93)
- Paige Powers — 2 (28.53)
- Emma Cary — 2 (29.78)
- Shelby Neal — 1 (30.55)
- Kyra Milligan — 1 (30.78)
- Bethany Flores — 1 (32.38)
- Karin Freyova — 1 (34.45)
- Elena Carratala Sanahuja — 1 (1:15)
2023 Rogue Invitational CrossFit Event Five — “The Duel III” Recap
The details of this event were publicly released mere minutes before the workout was set to begin. This event saw a first round of three heats in each division, with the top 10 times from each heat moving into the last round. The top five competitors overall would get an automatic pass to round two, which could be an advantage in terms of less fatigue, but could serve as a distinct disadvantage in terms of experience with the strategy and being able to improve your technique each round.
This would be a straightforward, fast race. It promised to be a sprint, the whole way through. Without a rope climb (which was eliminated for safety reasons due to the weather), The Duel III was all about speed.
[Read More: 2023 Rogue Invitational CrossFit Event 1 “Texas Heavy” Results]
Women’s Division, Round One, Heat One
Dani Speegle made her way to the sandbags incredibly quickly, finishing in front of Paige Powers and Shelby Neal. The heat was over in about 30 seconds.
Women’s Division, Round One, Heat Two
Danielle Brandon and Alex Gazan were the first to the bags, with Gazan beating Brandon over the finish line, followed by Paige Semenza, who took a spill over a log.
Women’s Division, Round One, Heat Three
Lauren Fisher was the first in a four-athlete sprint to the bags, but fumbled a bit on the bags. Christine Kolenbrander ultimately beat this heat, followed by Arielle Loewen and Manon Angonese.
Women’s Division, Round Two, Heat One
The top five ranking women got an automatic buy-in into round two, and they made a show of it. Laura Horvath was the first woman to the bag, followed closely by Toomey-Orr. Horvath crossed the line first, followed by Emma Lawson and Gabriela Migala. Toomey-Orr rolled in fourth in the heat, ahead of Emma Cary. It would ultimately not be enough to advance to the next round for Toomey-Orr.
[Read More: 2023 Rogue Invitational CrossFit Event 2 “Seat at the Bar” Results]
Women’s Division, Round Two, Heat Two
Semenza and Angonese were the first to the bags, but Angonese slipped during loading. Semenza ultimately beat out Fisher and Angonese over the finish.
Women’s Division, Round Two, Heat Three
In the final round of round two, Speegle once again was the first to the bag after sliding under the second log. She then beat out Loewen by 0.02 seconds in a foot race over the finish line.
Women’s Division, Round Three, Heat One
Brandon and Angonese were first to the bags, but it was Gazan and Brandon who wound up in a foot race to the finish. Angonese ran into a third-place finish in the heat to Brandon’s first and Gazan’s second.
Women’s Division, Round Three, Heat Two
This round saw all the women with the fastest scores so far facing down directly. Semenza was the first to the bag, along with Speegle and Horvath. Speegle wound up winning the heat, followed closely by Horvath.
Women’s Division, Round Four
Speegle and Semenza were neck and neck to the bags, with Speegle sprinting over the line way ahead of her competitors. Horvath tore into a foot race with Semenza, which could prove huge for her on the overall leaderboard. With Toomey-Orr finishing 12th overall in this event (having not made the final rounds), Horvath’s finish here could cut significantly into that lead.
Women’s Division, Final Round
It was Speegle versus Horvath out alone on the field for this final round. Coming into the event in 17th place, Speegle had a lot on the line, and she ran like it. The women were rep for rep, sprinting over the finish line together, yelling, laughing, and hugging after crossing the finish line within 0.12 seconds of each other. It was Speegle who ultimately came out on top of the event.
Men’s Division, Round One, Heat One
Dallin Pepper took a spill on the final log while Bayley Martin won heat one. Pepper recovered impressively, though, and wound up in second place for the heat.
Men’s Division, Round One, Heat Two
Will Moorad was the first man to the bag, but Jayson Hopper and Jelle Hoste were the first over the line. Hopper and Lazar Đukić both forgot to touch their boxes at the finish line, which could prove costly to the final standings if they were to be penalized for it.
Men’s Division, Round One, Heat Three
Ricky Garard was the first man to the bags, but Travis Mayer beat him over the line for the heat win. Mayer was aggressive with loading the bags and as such was able to edge out the competition that way.
Men’s Division, Round Two, Heat One
The top-five ranked men in the competition thus far took the field, touching these implements for the first time. The logs gave Pat Vellner no problem, while Jeff Adler took a spill on the log. Vellner continued on to take first in the heat, followed by Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson. Adler recovered well enough to claim third in the heat, ahead of Roman Khrennikov.
[Read More: 2023 Rogue Invitational CrossFit Event 3 “The Circus” Results]
Men’s Division, Round Two, Heat Two
Brent Fikowksi was the first man to the bags this time, coming across the line ahead of Pepper and Magda. Pepper was second-to-last to the bags, but he still managed to make short enough work of the bags to earn second in the heat.
Men’s Division, Round Two, Heat Three
This heat promised to be fast, and the athletes did not disappoint. All five athletes dove into a foot race to the finish in an exhilarating sprint to the finish. Less than one second separated first place from fifth, with Mayer coming in a mere tenth of a second before Hopper, who was followed closely by Garard, Martin, and Hoste.
Men’s Division, Round Three, Heat One
Vellner and Gudmundsson were the only men in the top five of the overall standings who moved into round three, meaning potentially great things on the competition leaderboard for them and Fikowski.
Vellner was the first man through the third log, but Magda caught him on the foot race to the bags. But Hoste was the first man done with the bags and over the line, with Vellner close on his heels.
Men’s Division, Round Three, Heat Two
Fikowski, Hopper, Garard, and Martin all hit the bags at the same time. Hopper took the victory while Garard wound up in fourth after getting caught up on the bags. Mayer brought in the end of the sprint to the bag but still crossed the line second in the heat.
Men’s Division, Round Four
Vellner and Hopper both positively vaulted the logs to get to the bags first. Hopper was unambiguously the first to cross the line, and Fikowski just barely beat out Vellner to advance to the finish, literally sliding into second.
Men’s Division, Final Round
Hopper and Fikowski went toe to toe all alone on the field for the final round. They dove and leaped neck and neck with Hopper pulling slightly ahead on the sprint. He loaded his last bag slightly ahead, too, and he was first over the line. Fikowski was still all smiles as the men embraced after a thrilling race.
[Read More: 2023 Rogue Invitational CrossFit Event 4 “10th Inning” Results]
More Than Halfway
With five events in the books, we are more than halfway to the end of the 2023 Rogue Invitational CrossFit competition. The strongman victor will be crowned tonight, but CrossFit still has another day and a half to go. Watch live on YouTube and stay tuned to BarBend‘s coverage to find out which of your favorite athletes will come out on top.
Featured Image: @rogueinvitational on Instagram