Week 1 of the 2016 Regionals is done and, thanks to live streaming and archived footage, we were able to see how the first batch of athletes handled the workouts on the competition floor.
I was looking forward to seeing Regional Nate in action, and Alethea Boon’s performance — she was the only female athlete coming within 10 reps of finishing the workout — made me immediately regret not having her as one of my picks for Week 1. But she wasn’t the only surprise of the weekend; over 67% of athletes who competed at the Games in 2015 failed to qualify for the 2016 Games after Week 1 of Regionals.
For Week 2, I have once again asked the “experts” to pick their Top Five Women, regardless of Region. There are only two regions competing this weekend, but that doesn’t make picking any easier. Will we see more household names struggle to make the cut? Will new names succeed in closing the gap, and punching their first ticket to the Games.
This week, our special guest is none other than 9-time CrossFit Games qualifier Becca Voigt. Read below to see which women Becca thinks will perform well in Week 2!
Here are this week’s picks, in alphabetical order:
Picks from Becca Voigt
(Becca is the first nine-time qualifier for The CrossFit Games)
Emily Abbott
Margaux Alvarez
Emily Bridgers
Carleen Matthews
Meg Reardon
Picks from Jay Adams
(Jay is a five-time CrossFit Regionals competitor and Head Coach at CrossFit Union Square)
Emily Abbott
Margaux Alvarez
Emily Bridgers
Alex Parker
Anna Tunnicliffe
Picks from Liz Adams
(Liz — an amateur rapper — will be competing in her fourth Regionals the last weekend of May, her second as an Individual)
Emily Abbott
Christy Adkins
Emily Bridgers
Alea Helmick
Cassidy Lance
Picks from Ian Berger
(Ian is six-time Regionals competitor, BarBend author, and occasional athletic-wear model)
Emily Abbott
Margaux Alvarez
Emily Bridgers
Alea Helmick
Anna Tunnicliffe
Picks from Keka Schermerhorn
(Keka has served as Head Writer for the CrossFit Regionals East and North East Regions)
Emily Abbott
Margaux Alvarez
Emily Bridgers
Alea Helmick (Bonus Pick!)
Carleen Matthews
Anna Tunnicliffe
Picks from Brooke Siem
(A former ballerina, 2015 was Brooke’s first year competing at Regionals; you can read about her experiences here)
Emily Abbott
Emily Bridgers
Cassidy Lance
Alex Parker
Anna Tunnicliffe
Picks from David Tao
(David didn’t do so well with his Week 1 picks)
Emily Abbott
Margaux Alvarez
Emily Bridgers
Talayna Fortunato
Courtney Walker
Last weekend, Queen Kara performed as predicted. This week, there are two more names making their way onto all of our experts’ lists. Emily Abbott and Emily Bridgers are this week’s most common inclusions, and everyone we asked picked them to advance.
What do you think about this week’s list? Are we missing someone? Leave your picks below to see how you stack up against our experts.
