Haley Adams Is the Next BIG THING in CrossFit

Haley Adams is the youngest competitor in this year’s CrossFit Games field, but even at 19 years old, she’s a seasoned competitor. That experience and drive was enough to land her at 3rd overall after Stage 1 of this year’s CrossFit Games.

She built her experience in the Games’ Teen Division, and her transition to Open Individual competition in 2019 went extraordinarily well: She surprised a lot in the community by finishing in sixth place overall at the 2019 Reebok CrossFit Games. This year, Adams is in familiar position as one of the top 10 athletes.

Even better for her, a Top 5 finish out of Stage 1 ensures her spot in the CrossFit Games Finals, which will take place between October 22nd and 25th at the CrossFit Ranch in Aromas, California. She’s fighting to become the first American woman on the CrossFit Games podium since 2014. And she’s still just a teenager!

[Related: The 5 Most DOMINANT Performances of Stage 1 in this year’s CrossFit Games!]

Haley Adams During Stage 1 of the 2020 CrossFit Games

Find out why Haley Adams was one of our Top 10 CrossFit Athletes to watch — all the way back in January 2020!

00:00 Haley Adams, the youngest competitor in this year’s field
00:34 Background on Haley Adams
00:52 Her CrossFit Mayhem pedigree
01:25 Does Haley Adams have any weaknesses?
01:58 The story of Haley Adams in Stage 1
03:05 What can we expect from Haley Adams moving forward?

Haley Adams Finals Performance

Event One — 2007 Reloaded

For time:

• 1,500-meter row

Then five rounds of:

• 10 bar muscle-ups
• 7 shoulder-to-overheads — 145 pounds

Adams came out of the gates swinging with a big second-place finish in event one Tia-Clair Toomey. Although she was about eight to 10 reps behind for most of the event, Adams had a comfortable gap between her and the third-place finisher Kari Pearce. The biggest obstacle for Adams seemed to be the shoulder-to-overheads as she had several failed attempts towards the end and needed to take small breaks, but ultimately a fantastic showing for the 19-year-old early in the Finals.

Event Two — Corn Sack Sprint

For time:

320-meter hill sprint with a corn sack — 30 pounds

It wasn’t looking good for Adams early on. As the competitors hit the first hill, Adams found herself bringing up the rear. As the sprint went on and the inclines got more difficult, Adams’s steady pace allowed for her to overtake those who were slowing down. Notably, Wells was in the second position for the majority of the race before phasing slowly behind all the way to fifth place.

In the last hill, Adams was neck and neck with Pearce. Adams actually dropped her corn sack, which could have cost her, but she recovered and snuck between two tree trunks on the trail to score a third-place finish with a time of 3:24.49.

Event Three — CrossFit Total

For total load:

1-rep-max back squat
1-rep-max shoulder press
1-rep-max deadlift

Coming into the event, it wasn’t a secret that Adams was not going to challenge for a first or second place position as the heavy barbell movements are not her forte. However, she only seemed to get stronger as this event went on and a battle for fourth place between her and Davidsdottir became its own storyline. In the end, Davidsdottir failed her last deadlift attempt which opened the door for Adams to pass her with a fourth-place total of 712 pounds.

Here were Adams lifts:

• Squat — 265 pounds
• Shoulder Press — 127 pounds
• Deadlift — 325 pounds

Event Four — Handstand Sprint

For time:

100-yard handstand walk

In an absolute nail-biter where the top three competitors in this event were separated by just three seconds crossing the finish line, Adams took third place behind Wells and Pearce, respectively. Her time was 16 seconds faster than Davidsdottir and 41 seconds faster than Toomey.

Event Five — Ranch Loop

Run along 3-mile± course through varying terrain

For the majority of the race, Adams found herself at the front of the pack. In the front half of the run, she was alongside Toomey, on the back half, she was alongside Davidsdottir. Adams earned another second-place finish to finish second overall at the end of day one.

Event Six — Toes-To-Bar/Lunge

30-20-10 reps for time:
Toes-to-bar
Kettlebell lunge (yards) — 24-kilogram kettlebells 

Adams started out slow on Day Two with a fifth-place finish after struggling to keep pace on the thrusters. Her official time of 4:21.20 was eight seconds behind fourth-place Pearce and nearly a minute behind Toomey’s winning time.

Event Seven — Snatch Speed Triple

For time:

One snatch at each bar

• Quarterfinal:
    Women 145-150-155 pounds
  
• Semifinal:
    Women 160-165-170 pounds
  
• Final:
    Women 175-180-185 pounds
  

Although this event went extremely fast, it was strength based — what proved to be a weakness on the weekend for Adams. She fell to another fifth-place finish on Day Two.

Event Eight — Bike Repeater

10 rounds:
440-meter bike sprint
One legless rope climb — 15 feet

Adams proved over and over on the weekend that she excels in the endurance based events and that was on display here. No one was able to keep up with Toomey, but Adams held her own and scored yet another second-place finish in the Games.

Event Nine — Happy Star

Four rounds:

200- to 300-meter hill run

5-7-9-11 reps of:

• Burpee
• Thruster — 95-105-110-115 pounds

The barbell based events did not favor Adams as it put another last-place finish on her Games record and third of Day Two. Her official time of 10:18.46 was a minute and a half behind Toomey’s winning time.

Event Ten — Swim ‘N’ Stuff

Four rounds, each for time:

• Air bike calories (10 | 15)
• 50-meter swim
• 10 GHD sit-ups
• 10 ball slams 40 pounds
• Rest

Begin a new round every four minutes.
*Rounds two and four performed in reverse

Adams showed off an impressive cycle speed on the GHD sit-ups that gave Toomey a run for her money. Unfortunately for Adams, Toomey was a torpedo in the water and simply could not be caught. However, a second-place finish for the 19-year-old Adams was a huge start to Day Three.

Event Eleven — Sprint Sled Sprint

• 100-yard sprint
• 100-yard sled push — 80-pound sled
• 100-yard sprint

In an event that was over in a couple of blinks, Toomey and Wells claimed first and second, respectively. Adams fell behind on the sled push, but was able to salvage a fourth-place finish, besting Pearce.

Event Twelve — Atalanta

While wearing a 14-pound vest:

• One mile run
• 100 handstand push-ups
• 200 pistol squats
• 300 pull-ups
• One mile run

This final event was absolutely brutal. Most of the way through the pull-ups had taken a toll on Adams hands, which were a bloody mess from skin tears and required hand wraps afterwards that made it look like she was going to step into a boxing ring. She managed to only beat out Wells for a fourth-place finish ending the Games in fourth place overall.

Who are you most excited to see compete in this year’s CrossFit Games Finals? Let us know in the comments below!