Mayhem’s Historic First Day In The Team Competition

Perhaps the cruelest thing that Rich Froning and the Mayhem team do to their competitors, is give them the illusion that they might win. After going three for three in the first three workouts of the day, fans held their breath as Pro-1 sought to take home victory on the 4th workout of the day.

But Froning was not going to let that happen. Stepping up to the final set of seven thrusters with teammate Andrea Neisler, they picked up the bar with Pro-1 already three reps ahead of them. With confidence in each rep, Froning and Neisler performed seven unbroken thrusters, jumping over the bar and onto the finish lines, as Froning let out a victorious roar for his fans.

One big thing: Those seven unbroken thrusters sealed Mayhem as the first team in CrossFit Games history to win the first four workouts of team competition.

• It was a feat that even Tia Clair-Toomey failed to do herself yesterday in the individual competition.
• But with confidence and ease, Mayhem took home the win with a clean margin on every single workout that Castro threw at them that day.

More than just first: Not only did Mayhem take first in every single workout today, their margin of victory was significant in almost every workout.

• In the swim, they beat Pro-1 Montreal, the second place team by close to 90 seconds.
• They then went on to be one of five teams in the second event to finish under the time cap.
• The third event however, was perhaps their most victorious. While no teams finished under Castro’s unforgiving time cap, Mayhem came the closest, with just one rep remaining as time closed in. The next closest team finished with 34 reps still to go in the workout.

Pro-1’s chase for Mayhem: While many teams would love to put an end to Mayhem’s victorious streak, the one team that looks like they might be able to upset Mayhem this weekend, is Pro-1 Montreal.

• In two out of the four events of the day, Pro-1 remained right on Mayhem’s tail, finishing the final event just seconds behind Mayhem. 
• While Mayhem has had an exceptionally victorious first day, the team competition is only just beginning.
• With three more days remaining in competition, Pro-1 and their fellow competitors will have to fight hard to catch Mayhem, who currently sits 21 points out of second place after just four workouts.