Our 4 Favorite Friday Night Lights Moments at the CrossFit Games
There are very few constants when it comes to CrossFit, especially at the Games when the unknown and unknowable are on full display.
- A Friday Night Lights event is one of the few certainties we can count on — and this year, it’s under a bigger spotlight as a celebration of the Texas tradition will play a part in the 2024 CrossFit Games as it heads to Fort Worth for the first time.
The details: While the CrossFit Games team has been keeping most details of the weekend quiet, they did announce a Friday Night Lights event will be open to the public on Friday, August 9, at Farrington Field.
- With the CrossFit Games just a few short weeks away, we’re looking back at some of our favorite moments from Friday Night Lights of the past.
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Legless (2013)
We’re going to start by taking it way back to 2013 in Carson, CA.
- The “Legless” event — a couplet of thrusters and rope climbs — was the first time athletes saw the legless version at the Games. It was held at the Tennis Stadium and drew a rowdy crowd excited to see what damage this brutal couplet could do.
The Highlight: The event marked the start of a truly exciting weekend, including fireworks and the singing of the national anthem that Friday night. Many athletes wore gloves at the time as they tried to navigate the new movement.
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The Battle: Josh Bridges set the time to beat going into the final heat with a time of 6:07.3.
In the final heat, Jordan Troyan, reigning CrossFit Games champ Rich Froning, and Marcus Hendren were tied going into the last round of nine thrusters. The men navigated the legless rope climb with relative ease and kept glancing at one another between reps.
The event ended in a photo finish for Troyan and Hendren, after Hendren somersaulted onto the finish mat just a tenth of a second faster because Troyan celebrated before getting his chip timer across the line.
Froning took eighth place in the event but finished the weekend on the podium.
Double DT (2016)
Coming on the heels of Heavy DT in 2015, the crowd was in for a show as the 2016 Games athletes took on Double DT on Friday night.
- This was Tia-Clair Toomey’s second year at the Games and the era when Iceland’s Katrin Davidsdottir and Sara Sigmundsdottir reigned supreme.
While on the men’s side, future five-time CrossFit Games Champion Mat Fraser was looking to earn his first title of Fittest Man on Earth.
The Battle: Women competed outside on Friday, while men were brought inside under the stadium lights.
- Fraser sat in first place heading into the event and ended up taking second place behind Sam Kwant, who set the time to beat in the prior heat.
On the women’s side, Davidsdottir outpaced her competitors by over 15 seconds and continued to dominate over the weekend to become the Fittest Woman on Earth.
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The Highlight: The hero workout DT is in honor of USAF SSgt Timothy P. Davis, who was killed in 2009 after his vehicle was struck by an IED.
- The Games have honored heroes for many years, taking hero workouts and putting a twist on them or just doing the traditional workout as written.
Whatever the variation may be, it’s always a reminder of what brings the CrossFit community together.
Fibonacci (2018)
The Fibonacci Final was a retest from 2017 and is still an iconic workout due to its epic 89-foot lunge finish.
- The parallette handstand push-ups, coupled with very heavy kettlebell deadlifts, was the final event of 2017, and it returned the following year for a Friday Night Lights battle for the ages.
The Battle: In 2017, Sigmundsdottir ended up winning Fibonacci, but she couldn’t hold onto her position the following year.
- She ended up finishing in sixth place during the event and 37th overall in the competition.
Davidsdottir battled it out with fellow Icelander Annie Thorisdóttir during the final heat of the event.
Both did unbroken kettlebell overhead walking lunges, but Davidsdottir started with a slight lead and held onto it to win the event.
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The Highlight: The winner of the Fibonacci Final in 2017 was Logan Collins. He still held onto a top-three spot in 2018 but handed off the first-place finish to Fraser, the only man to clock in under five minutes.
Noah Ohlsen took second in the event, followed by Collins, who took third.
Mary (2019)
We love when the Games brings in one of the girls, and that’s exactly what happened in 2019 when individual athletes took on Mary.
- The benchmark is a 20-minute AMRAP of five handstand pushups, 10 pistols, and 15 pull-ups.
Ohlsen and Kari Pearce, both upper-body specialists, were some favorites going into the event. That year, the Games were held in Madison, WI, at the Alliant Energy Center.
The Highlight: To the surprise of no one, Pearce was dominant throughout the entire event. She ended up finishing 20 reps ahead of the second-best woman, Kristin Holte.
- Pearce performed strict handstand pushups the entire time — a truly impressive feat. She finished 23 rounds and 5 HSPU into the 24th round and beat all the men.
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The Battle: As expected, Ohlsen came out HOT in the first few rounds and was able to hold onto a slight lead.
Once they had completed 15 rounds, athletes moved to a second rig, and Ohlsen was the first to get there.
- He, Fraser, and Jacob Heppner battled it out the rest of the way for the top three spots.
Ohlsen ended up winning the event at two pull-ups into the round of 23. While Fraser took second and Heppner took third.
One Last Thing
While Friday Night Lights has been and will continue to be a fixture at the Games, it holds even more meaning this year since it takes place in the birthplace of the prolific tradition.
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