2024 CrossFit Games North America West Semifinals Day 2 Recap: Hattie Kanyo, Caitlin Bernardin Surprise in California

Alex Gazan. Arielle Loewen. Emily Rolfe. Olivia Kerstetter: These were the athletes expected to lead the way at the 2024 CrossFit Games North America West Semifinals.

But with three events down and three to go, it’s Canada’s Hattie Kanyo who is leading all competitors at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, CA, with 267 points.

Behind her sits two-time CrossFit Games veteran Gazan, but she’s tied in points with another surprise athlete, Caitlin Bernardin (264 points).

In fourth, also with 264 points, is 2023 Games rookie Abigail Domit, while four-time Games veteran Emily Rolfe sits in fifth.

Worth noting: Thirty-two-year-old Kanyo has been competing since 2018 and has Semifinals experience, placing 18th last year and eighth in 2022. As for Bernardin, this is her first time even qualifying to Semifinals. 

• Last season, Bernardin was 75th in Quarterfinals in North America West. The year before that, she was 1454th. 
• She qualified for Semifinals this season in 36th, so it’s definitely a surprise to see the 31-year-old Event 1 winner in the top three at the halfway point of the competition.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mind Over Matter Mgmt Team (@mindomatter22)

[Related: Powerbuilding Workout Routine]

Event 2 Recap

[Related: Best Pre-Workout Supplements]

Rebecca Fuselier, a 2022 Games athlete, put up a huge performance in Event 2, winning her heat easily. It also helped to keep her Games qualification hopes alive. She’s looking for her second Games invite after failing to make it last season.

The only woman who managed to best Fuselier’s time was Arielle Loewen in the final heat. Last year’s third Fittest Woman on Earth won the event, marking her 10th career Semifinals win.

• Gazan, who took 11th on Friday’s Event 1 and was therefore competing in the third of four heats, also had a strong performance. She finished third, helping her climb from 11th to sixth overall.
• Rolfe, second after day one, started strong but petered out in the final two rounds, dropping her to 13th on the event and seventh overall.
• As for Bernardin and Kanyo, they both put forth solid performances, finishing fourth and seventh, respectively.

Event 3 Recap

[Related: Best BCAA Supplements]

Saturday’s second and final event belonged to Gazan. With her hair down and blowing wildly, she looked possessed from start to finish.

• “We all knew Alex was going to smash it. She’s a savage at legless rope climbs, so we kind of knew we’d be chasing her time,” said fellow competitor Rolfe, who did her best to chase Gazan’s time from the third heat but ultimately came up short and finished second.

Once again, would-be rookies Kanyo and Bernardin finished in the top 10 on Event 3 (fourth and 10th, respectively).

One big thing: Two other athletes we expected to contend for one of the eight Games invites this weekend are last year’s rookie of the year, Olivia Kerstetter, and four-time Games veteran Dani Speegle. But currently, they’re sitting in 23rd and 17th, respectively, way back from qualification. 

• Speegle is 49 points out of eighth, and Kerstetter 92. Though we expect them both to be near the top in Event 5 — the snatch ladder — it might be too big of a hill to climb to get inside the cut line at this point.

On the bubble: Two more would-be rookie Canadians, Lynsey Martin and Janie Cheverie, sit right outside the bubble in ninth and 10th, just behind Kyra Milligan in eighth, who is also gunning for her first Games.

• Just behind them is Fuselier in 11th, but she’s only 21 points back of eighth.

The Big Picture

With three events and half the points up for grabs in North America West, there’s still plenty of time for a leaderboard shake-up on Sunday.

Currently, three of the eight spots are occupied by rookies, with two more would-be rookies knocking on the door on the bubble. Will the rookies break through, or will Fuselier get herself to the right side of the cutline?

And at the top of the leaderboard, will Kanyo and Bernardin maintain their positions in the top three, or will veterans Loewen, Rolfe, or Gazan end up on top?

2024 CrossFit Games North America West Semifinals Leaderboard – Day 2

Featured image: @hattiekanyo / Instagram