2022 CrossFit Games Event Seven “Echo Press” Results — Moorad, Raptis Outpace the Field

August 5, 2022 by Phil Blechman

The final event of Day Three at the 2022 CrossFit Games for Individual competition had a lot of heat in the Women’s division. Reigning five-time Fittest Woman on Earth®, Tia-Clair Toomey, led the field by just five points. 2021 Rookie of the Year Mal O’Brien was in second overall and remained a threat to dethroning the long-standing champion.

On the men’s side, Ricky Garard had a fairly firm hold on the overall leaderboard. There was an 87-point gap between him and defending Fittest Man on Earth® Justin Medeiros. However, after Garard’s worst performance thus far at the Games, Medeiros cut 62 points off Garard’s overall lead.

Event Seven — “Echo Press” Results

Here are the full results:

Individual Women’s Results

Alexis Raptis — 6:41.18
Tia-Clair Toomey — 7:45.28
Emma McQuaid — 8:01.72
Caroline Conners — 8:36.64
Dani Speegle — 8:57.34
Paige Powers — 9:24.43
Seungyeon Choi — 9:31.93
Alex Gazan — 9:39.33
Emma Lawson — 9:43.37
Arielle Loewen — 10:04.54

Individual Men’s Results

Will Moorad — 6:30.15
Jayson Hopper — 6:57.82
Roman Khrennikov — 7:02.22
Enrico Zenoni — 7:07.08
Justin Medeiros — 7:29.07
Spencer Panchik — 7:38.91
André Houdet — 7:44.44
Colten Mertens — 7:55.89
Patrick Vellner — 8:08.35
Guilherme Malheiros — 8:10.35

[Check In: 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games Results and Leaderboard]

Event Seven — Echo Press

For time:

Echo Bike — Men: 30 calories | Women: 25 calories
10 block Handstand Push-up
Echo Bike — Men: 20 calories | Women: 15 calories
10 block Handstand Push-up
Echo Bike — Men: 20 calories | Women: 15 calories
10 block Handstand Push-up
Echo Bike — Men: 30 calories | Women: 25 calories

Women: two-inch deficit
Men: 3.5-inch deficit

Time cap: Men — 10 minutes, Women — 12 minutes

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Event Seven Recap

The men were first on the floor in the Coliseum. Fiebig cleared the first 30 calories on the bike first and got started on his wall-facing handstand push-ups. Houdet was close by, followed by a wave of the athletes. However, Mertens was the first to get back to the bike, with Houdet keeping par.

Magda moved into the mix for the lead with Houdet by the five-minute mark. He and Houdet made their way to the final set of handstand push-ups together. They both broke at the 94-rep mark, letting Mertens catch up. Richelme was in a deep fourth, so it seemed to be a three-person race for the heat win. Magda failed a rep, and Mertens darted to the final bike sprint. Houdet tried to catch up to him and had the height advantage.

Mertens was peddeling for his life!

Ultimately, Houdet overtook Mertens on the bike and won the heat in 7:44.44 seconds. Mertens crossed at 7:55.89. Magda finished in third at 8:28.21, with plenty of time away from the rest of the field. Five of the nine men in the heat did not finish before the time cap.

Men’s Heat Two

The second of four heats got underway with a zoned-in Fikowski in the center of the floor next to Malheiros. Crouch got to the wall first but was called for a no rep early on. Zenoni overtook the lead by the second round on the bike with Crouch moments behind him. The rest of the field fluttered in, and it seemed the handstand push-ups were already taking their toll.

Crouch made it to his second set of handstand push-ups first, but Zenoni’s reps looked to have the tighter position on the wall. So much so that Zenoni finished the set in under 40 seconds and headed to the third round on the bike alone. It quickly became his heat to win.

Zenoni sought to continue through the handstand push-ups unbroken as he had in the previous two sets. He did just that and flirted with the finish line with his final bike ride. A heat-winning time of 7:07:08 made him the new overall leader. Malheiros overtook Crouch in the final handstand push-ups and finished second in the heat with a time of 8:10.56.

Men’s Heat Three

The next 10 men towards the top of the leaderboard jumped on their bikes, and heat three was on. In synchronized fashion, Hopper and Moorad stepped to their respective walls first. The rest of the heat joined them, but Moorad got a trio of reps ahead to move on to the second round on the bike.

Hopper overtook the lead on the bike, using his height to his advantage, but conceded the lead right back to Moorad on the handstand push-ups. The two parried back and forth again, with Hopper reaching the third round on the wall first. At the 5:15 mark, Moorad got back to the wall and finished the set unbroken. He had a three-rep lead over Hopper.

Moorad sprinted through the final bike ride to cross the finish line first at a time of 6:30.15, eclipsing the best time in heat one by nearly 37 seconds. Hopper closed at 6:37.82 and seemed very happy with his performance as he thumped his chest to a cheering crowd. Spencer Panchik finished at 7:38.91, with a whopping 30 reps between him and the rest of the field.

Men’s Heat Four

The final heat consisted of the top 10 on the overall leaderboard. Lazar Đukić literally hopped onto his bike as though it was already moving and the final heat for the men on Day Three was off. Khrennikov made unbelievably fast work of the bike. He was four handstand push-ups in before anyone else joined him on the wall.

Khrennikov’s pace through the second round on the bike was a “blink, and you’ll miss it” speed. The event was nearly a runaway from the start. Ohlsen, Medeiros, and Saxon Panchik parried each other for a hold-over second place. They all watched as Khrennikov extended his lead.

The overall leader entering the event, Garard, was noticeably lagging towards the back of the heat. Khrennikov was in a heat all his own, reaching the final set of handstand push-ups before the five-minute mark. He slowed a bit on his final handstand push-ups, but his lead was so great that it didn’t seem to matter. Khrennikov had about 16 seconds before Moorad’s time would hold as the overall winning.

Khrennikov closed at 7:02.22, strong enough for third overall in the event. A fifth-place overall time for Medeiros of 7:29.07 put a significant dent in Garard’s lead, who was still way back in his final handstand push-ups. Garard finished 28th in the event, conceding 62 points of his overall lead to Medeiros.

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[Related: Kealan Henry Withdraws From the 2022 CrossFit Games on Day Three]

Women’s Heat One

Heat one for the women got underway with Sigurdardottir taking a quick lead over Moosbrugger on the bike. Choi caught up to both of them and was the first to reach the wall with Moosbrugger alongside her. Spencer went unbroken through the first round of handstand push-ups and moved into the lead.

Choi didn’t let Spencer get too far ahead, but the battle for first place in the heat was effectively a two-person race with Kolenbrander in third with a six-rep deficit to make up. The range of motion in the handstand push-ups proved the most challenging part of this event for many of the athletes in this heat. Several no-reps from Choi’s judge allowed Spencer to move to the third round on the bike with time to burn through eight of the requisite 15 calories.

Spencer did not let go of her lead and crossed the finish line at a time of 8:36.64. Choi struggled on her final round of handstand push-ups but was alone in that section of the floor. Kolenbrander made it to the final wall as Choi moved on to her last bike. Choi claimed a second-place time in the heat of 9:31.93.

With a minute left before the time cap, none of the other athletes were yet at their final bike effort. Sigurdardottir made it to the bike before the whistle but could not reach the finish line.

Women’s Heat Two

The camera cut back and forth from Rayl and Speegle at the start of heat two. Speegle was the leader by a few reps by the end of the first bike ride, and she approached the first round of handstand push-ups first. Speegle had a lot of arch in her back in the first few handstand push-ups, but they were still clean reps, though they looked uncomfortable. She went unbroken and got onto the second round of biking.

Gazan also moved swiftly through the handstand push-ups and got a taste of the lead from Speegle. The Titan Games champion remained unfazed by Gazan checking her pace. Speegle moved casually to the second wall and stayed the course.

Speegle opted for a wider stance for the push-ups while Gazan stacked her shoulders over her wrists. Both techniques were fruitful as the heat was a race between those two and a fast-approaching Paige Powers as the rest of the field fell behind.

Powers went through her first eight reps before taking a break, while Speegle took a break every three reps. A costly no rep for Speegle let Powers take a two-rep lead. Speegle got back in gear while Powers took a longer break and the duo dashed to the final bike. Neither would eclipse Spencer’s time from heat one. Speegle crossed the line first for heat two at a time of 8:57.34.

The final bike appeared to be a hurdle for Powers, who finished nearly 30 seconds after Speegle. Gazan came in 15 seconds after Powers. Campos was over 20 reps behind Gazan but looked like she would finish before the time cap, and she did at a time of 11:06.86.

Women’s Heat Three

Heat three began with the athletes knowing Spencer’s time from heat one remained the time to beat. Kara Saunders looked around at the packed Coliseum during the buy-in bike ride. Garnes cleared the bike first at the one-minute mark but took a long break of nearly 40 seconds before starting her handstand push-ups.

Barnhart wasted no time starting her handstand push-ups, and Dahlstrøm had to get a feel for the range of motion as she started with a no rep. The announcer in the Coliseum could be heard relaying the info to the crowd:

A lot of no-reps!

Emma McQuaid made her presence felt and overtook the lead. Helgadottir was a trio of reps behind her as Barnhart lost any lead she had due to some unfortunate no-reps on the wall. Horvath kept getting no-repped and took a break with a cheeky smile to her judge.

McQuaid extended her lead by the five-minute mark, and a runaway heat was in the making. Former Fittest Woman on Earth® Sam Briggs, a training partner of McQuaid, was seen in the crowd cheering McQuaid. McQuaid had two minutes to spare against Spencer’s time as she hopped on her final bike ride. An event-leading time of 8:01.72 won the heat.

Helgadottir was a massive 31 reps back when McQuaid crossed the finish line. Campbell and Saunders were within a handful of reps from Helgadottir, who reached her final bike at about the 9:20-mark. McQuaid got back onto the floor to cheer Helgadottir on as Campbell hopped onto her final bike on the opposite end of the floor at the 10-minute mark. Helgadottir couldn’t hold off Campbell, who crossed the line second at 10:40.04. Helgadottir finished 12 seconds later.

Women’s Heat Four

Toomey had a five-point lead on the overall leaderboard over Mal O’Brien, but O’Brien bested Toomey in the 2021 Games event that involved similar walls (wall walks in 2021). O’Brien got a five-rep lead on Toomey and got to the walls first for handstand push-ups.

Raptis moved swiftly through the first round of handstand push-ups and got out to a double-digit rep lead. Toomey went through her first round of handstand push-ups unbroken and appeared to be a predator lurking toward the second bike ride. O’Brien struggled with the range of motion on the wall and fell very far behind Toomey.

The second set of handstand push-ups was met by Raptis first, who cleared it quickly again despite a no-rep halfway through. By that time, only Toomey and Lawson were at the wall, everyone else was still at the previous bike ride. Toomey was 14 reps behind Raptis but second in the heat.

Raptis maintained her pace, reaching the third wall before the five-minute mark. She blitzed McQuaid’s event-leading time by over a full minute at a time of 6:41.18. Toomey was second to the final bike ride and crossed the finish line at 7:45.28 to claim second place overall in the event.

On To Day Four

The fourth day of competition will be similar to the third in that there are three Individual events on the schedule. At the time of this article’s publication, all three events remained mysteries. Event eight is scheduled for 11:00 a.m CDT. Events nine and 10 are scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. CDT, respectively. There will be a cut of 10 athletes in each Individual division before the final day of competition on Aug. 7, 2022.

Featured image: @willmoorad on Instagram