With Wider Margins, Event Wins, Small Mistakes More Crucial Than Ever
After four events of the CrossFit Games Finals, the value of an event win has become more obvious than ever.
Case in point: Jeffrey Adler. After four events, Adler has two fourth place finishes, on event 1 and 2, as well as two fifth place finishes, on Event 4 and in Stage 1 of the Games, yet he sits in third overall.
- Adler sits in third purely on the strength of his Event 3 win — the CrossFit Total. The win guaranteed him 100 points. And considering it was the dominant Mat Fraser who placed second, Adler gained a whopping 45, 65 and 85 points on his other three competitors, Noah Ohlsen, Sam Kwant and Justin Medeiros.
Remind me: In Games of the past, a first place finish earned 100 points, while second place got 96, and third place place 92. WIth this year’s scoring format, first place earns 100 points, second 75, and third 55, making an event win much more consequential to the overall leaderboard.
One big thing: Heading into event 4, Brooke Wells sat in fifth place after taking fifth place in events 1 and 2. She was 50 points out of second position.
- After a big event win in the Handstand Sprint, Wells earned 100 points, gaining 85 points on Tia-Clair Toomey in the process. While Wells is still only in fourth, her event win cut the point spread considerably, and she’s only 15 points (just one event placing) out of second heading into event 5.
- “The difference between even first and second is so big because of the points. It makes a huge difference whether you get first or second, so I think that kind of adds a little motivation to push you more because you do want those extra 25 points. I definitely needed that after having not such a great start,” Wells said after event 4.
The big picture: The new scoring system, and having only five competitors in the field, also means each mistake is even more costly than usual.
- We saw this play out during event 2 — the Corn Sack Race — when Medeiros made a rookie error and got complacent in the final strides of the hill sprint, allowing Adler to take him down in a photo finish. That one small misstep cost Medeiros 20 points. Without that mistake, Medeiros would sit in second, as opposed to fourth, overall.