Malheiros, Toomey-Orr Sprint to Victory in Event Three of the 2021 CrossFit Games
Heading into the third of four events on the first day of Individual competition at the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games, four-time reigning champion Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr stood atop the women’s leaderboard with back-to-back event wins. 2020 CrossFit Games fourth-place finisher Haley Adams was 24 points behind her in second. On the men’s side, Jonne Koski narrowly held his lead from his Event One win. He ranked nine points ahead of Lazar Đukić, Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson, and Brent Fikowski, all tied with 161 points.
Event Three consisted of a 550-yard sprint — a “good, old-fashioned foot race,” according to the broadcasters. There was one corner along the course that required athletes (and one very game cameraman) to change directions sharply.
Here were the results from Event Three:
Individual Event Three — Top Five Men*
- Guilherme Malheiros — 1:15.37
- Will Moorad — 1:15.59
- Patrick Vellner — 1:15.72
- Saxon Panchik — 1:15.94
- André Houdet — 1:16.77
*Editor’s Note: the CrossFit leaderboard currently shows Jonne Koski in second place, which isn’t correct to BarBend‘s knowledge. We will amend this article once the CrossFit leaderboard is amended.
Individual Event Three — Top Five Women
- Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr — 1:24.17
- Brooke Wells — 1:24.43
- Haley Adams — 1:25.74
- Kristin Holte — 1:26.67
- Danielle Brandon — 1:27.20
Event Three — 550-Yard Sprint
Both divisions had four heats. There was no clock on the field, so athletes did not know the times to beat before their heats.
Men’s Division
The first men’s heat went by quickly. Giorgos Karavis came out of the gate hot, but he could not sustain the pace until the end. Sam Stewart broke past him on the final length and scored the win.
The second heat kicked off just as fast as the first. Noah Ohlsen and Luka Đukić took the early lead, but Đukić broke away from the pack. Jayson Hopper caught up on the last length to take things to a photo finish. Đukić held the lead by just two-tenths of a second.
For men’s heat three, Patrick Vellner took an early lead, but it was ultimately Guilherme Malheiros who took the heat win and assumed the overall lead in the event. Will Moorad was able to overtake Vellner for second place. Vellner still ranked third in the heat — an impressive showing for him, according to the broadcast team.
Koski was in the final heat, as was the only returning 2020 CrossFit Games medalist Justin Medeiros. Fikowski used his longer stride to get to the front early, but Alex Vigneault broke away from the pack. In the final length, Guðmundsson unloaded the tank and took the heat win. However, he finished in eighth overall in the event. Heat three posted the top five fastest times.
Women’s Division
The first heat for the women had only four athletes in it. Danielle Brandon was out to an early lead and never gave it up. She scored a heat-winning time of 1:27.20.
The second heat was officially labeled heat number three. Sasha Nievas took an early lead and held it through the first turn. At the final length, Jessica Griffith turned on the jets to score a heat win with a time of 1:30.18.
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Heat four went third due to a lineup shuffle. 2020 Games Finalists Katrin Davíðsdóttir and Brooke Wells were featured in this heat, the latter taking an early lead. Wells had a lot of separation from Davíðsdóttir behind her. Davíðsdóttir had a lot of separation from the rest of the pack. Wells scored a heat-winning time of 1:24.43 seconds.
The final heat for the women (heat three) featured the overall leader, Toomey-Orr. The four-time champ got out to an early lead with Adams on her tail. On the final length, Toomey-Orr turned on the gas to hit an event-winning time of 1:24.17 seconds. She has won all three events of the Games thus far.
The Games Continue
Here are the time slots for the final events for day one of the Individual competition. All times are in Eastern Standard Time (EST).
- IE4 (Men): 5:30-6:20 p.m.
- IE4 (Women): 6:30-7:20 p.m.
Featured Image Courtesy of CrossFit.