First in 2020, Mayhem Leads Off U.S. Sanctionals

After a three week break, the 2019-2020 CrossFit Sanctional season resumes with the first of seven Sanctionals on U.S. soil. CrossFit Mayhem will host the Mayhem Classic in Cookeville, Tennessee on January 10-12.

What’s on the line: Two more 2020 CrossFit Games invitations will be up for grabs, one each in the male and female divisions. A prize purse of $81,000 provided by Reebok and AdvoCare will pay out to finishers first through tenth in both divisions.

• First — $15,000
• Second — $10,000
• Third — $5,000
• Fourth — $3,000
• Fifth — $2,500
• Sixth — $2,000
• Seventh — $1,500
• Eighth — $1,000
• Ninth — $500
• Tenth — $250

Worth noting: Mayhem does not have a team division.

Who to watch: Thirty-three of the 60 athletes competing have CrossFit Games experience, including two individual champions and two athletes that were members of a championship team.

• Three-time and defending Fittest Woman on Earth Tia-Clair Toomey will take the competition floor for the first time this season. Toomey, who trains at Mayhem, has secured an invitation for this year’s Games as the Australian national champion in the CrossFit Open.
• The 2015 Fittest Man on Earth Ben Smith will compete in his first Sanctional of the season. He has secured his 12th-straight Games appearance with his 28th place finish in the Open.
• Joining Toomey and Smith are ten other athletes who have received invitations to the 2020 Games.
• For the women, Kristi Eramo-O’Connell (14th in the Open) and Brooke Haas (22nd in the Open) have received invites. Haas is expected to decline hers to go team with ROMWOD Meatsquad who won the team division at the Filthy 150 to earn an automatic berth in the Games.
• Danielle Brandon placed 10th in the Games as a rookie last year. She is expected to receive a 2020 Games invitation due to Haas and two other females above the line going team.
• On the men’s side, the 2020 Games qualifiers include a trio from Quebec led by Canadian national champion Jeffrey Adler. Samuel Cournoyer (12th in the Open) and Alexandre Caron (23rd in the Open) round out the Quebecers representing their province in Cookeville and the Games.
• Tyler Christophel (ninth in the Open), Scott Tetlow (17th) and Chandler Smith (22nd) comprise the rest of the 2020 Games qualifiers competing at Mayhem.
• Two other men’s division athletes are awaiting their Games invitations. Connor Duddy is currently below the projected cutline but is expected to receive his invite due to athletes declining to compete in the team competition. Tola Morakinyo finished ninth at the Dubai CrossFit Championships but is also expected to receive an invite through that Sanctional after the Open invitations have been finalized.
• Matt Hewett makes his return to the competition floor as a hometown favorite. Hewett helped CrossFit Mayhem to three Affiliate Cup Championships.
• Mitch Spjut is also a former champion competing in Cookeville. Spjut was a member of the 2017 Affiliate Cup Champions, Team Wasatch CrossFit.

What to watch for: Rich Froning and the Mayhem team have programmed and tested all the weekend’s events. This is the second Sanctional that Froning has programmed: he programmed most of the team events at the Dubai CrossFit Championship.

• Froning will take the floor to compete, but only in exhibition. The Good Dudes, consisting of Froning, Dan Bailey and Josh Bridges will compete against one another in four scheduled events throughout the weekend.
• Froning commented on the latest Talking Elite Fitness podcast that fans can expect other special guests to compete in the exhibition, including current CrossFit Mayhem Freedom athletes Scott Panchik, Chyna Cho and Tasia Percevecz.
• The Sanctional will be broadcast live on the CrossFit Mayhem YouTube channel starting with the first Good Dudes event on Friday, January 10 at 6:00pm CST.
• The Morning Chalk Up crew will be on site to deliver updates throughout. You can follow our coverage on the Mayhem Classic Sanctional page and on Instagram and YouTube.