The 2019-2020 CrossFit season is seeing an increase in Sanctional events taking place and one of those is being promoted by a former Fittest Man on Earth. That event will now feature another former Fittest Man on Earth competing in it.
2015 CrossFit Games Men’s Champion Ben Smith will now be competing in the inaugural Mayhem Classic which is promoted by four-time champion Rich Froning. The announcement was made on the Mayhem Classic Instagram page and then shared by Smith himself.
The Mayhem Classic is scheduled to take place January 10-12 at the CrossFit Mayhem facility in Cookeville, Tennessee. Smith may have already clinched his qualification at the 2020 CrossFit Games thanks to his efforts in the most recent Open. As Smith told BarBend, there is a strategy in play here.
“This is a good opportunity for me to jump into a Sanctional and see where I’m at and get that feeling of competing again. I found that I do best when I compete two to three times a year. If I do more than that many big competitions then I find I struggle at the Games. So I’m doing this one now and may jump into another one later on as the Games gets closer.”
As for why this event in particular was the one he picked, he referenced his previous visits to Cookeville and working with Froning.
“I’ve always had great experiences there and I know Rich will put on a great event. He’s a former Games champ, an expert, probably the best expert out of anyone, and he knows competitions from an athlete perspective. I’m looking forward to this and am excited to go and compete there.”
This season is going a lot more positively for Smith in comparison to last season. After having knee surgery, he was unable to secure a qualification to the Games in any of the Sanctionals he competed in. He would ultimately go thanks to a wild card invite. That extended his record of consecutive appearances on CrossFit’s biggest stage to 11, and he placed 28th in Madison.
Thanks to a 22nd place overall effort in this season’s Open, he is currently sitting in a position that he may already have his ticket to the Games punched. The 29 year-old has said that since then he feels he has only gotten better.
“The training has been going great. I’ve been getting stronger and more confident and I’m excited about where I’m at right now. I anticipate 2020 to be a great year.”
Featured Image: Instagram/mayhemclassic
