Dubai CrossFit Championship Day 1 Recap

EDITOR’S NOTE: The archived footage of Day 1 is currently unavailable due to copyrighted music playing in the background. The Dubai CrossFit Championship team is working to get the footage made available.

Two events at the beach for Individuals and Teams were on tap to officially kick off the 2019 CrossFit Games season. Below is a recap of the big stories from Day 1.

Out of Competition

Ben Smith, Dean Linder-Leighton (injury), Alex Anderson (injury) and Hilary Steele (personal reasons) all withdrew from competition before event 1. They join Annie Thorisdottir on the sidelines.

Women

The big surprise for the women was the performance of former team athlete at the Games Harriet Roberts. Roberts finished the first event in 4th, then took home and event win from an earlier heat in event 2 to finish the day in 2nd overall ahead of some of the sports biggest names.

The top spot however, belongs to none other than Sam Briggs. Briggs finished both events in 2nd place and sits in 1st place overall, 5 points ahead of Roberts.

Jamie Greene rounds out the top 3, and favorites Laura Horvath and Sara Sigmundsdottir sit in 5th and 6th respectively after day 1.

— Women: 1). Sam Briggs (190), 2). Harriet Roberts (185), 3). Jamie Greene (175), 4). Karin Frey (163), 5). Laura Horvath (160), 6). Sara Sigmundsdottir (155), 7). Bethany Shadburne (144), 8). Dani Speegle, 9). Mikaela Norman (136), and 10). Chantelle Loehner (132).

Men

It’s still early but three-time reigning CrossFit Games champion Mat Fraser is NOT in 1st after day 1. Instead it’s a pair or relative unknowns, Alex Kotoulas and Matt McLeod, who sit tied for the overall lead after day 1. Both notched a pair of top 3 finishes behind strong performances in the water.

For Fraser, the day started strong as he won the opening event but some struggles with the lifeguard buoy in the water meant a 9th place finish in the 2nd event, dropping him down to 4th place overall heading into day 2.

Defending Dubai Champion Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson had a strong start, finishing the day in 3rd just one point ahead of Fraser. He finished both events in 4th and was never outside of the top pack of athletes throughout.

— Men: 1). Alex Kotoulas (190), 2). Matt McLeod (190), 3). BK Gudmundsson (170), 4). Mathew Fraser (169), 5). Willy Georges (155), 6). Connor Duddy (153), 7). Travis Mayer (153), 8). Streat Hoerner (142), 9). Lazar Dukic (142), and 10). Bauden Brown (126).

Teams

Invictus (not to be confused with Invictus X) dominated day 1 going 2 for 2 in event wins. The pair of Regan Huckaby and Rasmus Anderson smoked event 1 before Lauren Fisher and Tommy Vinas kept the team perfect for the day by winning event 2.

FUN FACT: Emelie Lundberg of Team Super Hero Project, finished her portion of event 3 in 10:38, which would have been good enough to place 6th in the individual division.

— Teams: 1). Invictus (200), 2). Team Sweden (185), 3). Cassidy, Jen, Adrian, Lukas (175), 4). Invictus X, 5). Team Omnicide, 6). Training Think Tank (158), 7). Central Beasts (147), 8). Super Hero Project (146), 9). CrossFit Pro1 (140), and 10). Team Butcher’s Lab (136).