The Best Moments from the 2015 CrossFit Games Behind the Scenes
Last week, CrossFit HQ started releasing their annual behind the scenes documentary of the CrossFit Games. As in previous years, the footage follows athletes throughout the entire week, giving fans exclusive insight into the lives of their favorite athletes.
Clocking in at between 40 minutes and an an hour and a half per episode, watching the entire series takes up a significant amount of time. Die hard fans may pour over every second and dissect the speech patterns and implications of everything Dave Castro says, but the rest of us have our own lives to live and just want to know about the good stuff. We’ve even formatted the videos so they start right at the moment we’re talking about. You’re welcome.
And there are plenty of good nuggets to be found after you’ve finished wondering why filmmaker/interviewer Sevan Matossian seems so concerned with Dan Bailey’s love life. (But much like trying to analyze Castro’s cryptic Instagram posts, deciphering Mattossian’s questions is a futile endeavor, so we’re just going to blow right past it.)
One big thing to pay attention to as we enter into Regionals and the 2016 Games is whether or not Mikko Salo’s prediction for Jonne Koski comes true. After Koski wins Event 1 of the 2015 CrossFit Games, coach Salo bluntly states Jonne can win the CrossFit Games, “but not this year.” Salo’s candor is refreshing, especially after he mentions that he taught Koski everything he could and that it’s time to move on. Koski and Salo parted ways as planned after the 2015 Games, so only time will tell if Koski fulfills Mikko’s prophecy.
When the documentary was announced, we were all wondering how HQ would handle the whole Murph situation. With so many athletes severely injured or forced to withdraw due to the conditions, it was clear that the documentary couldn’t ignore the aftermath of Murph, but they did appear to make an effort to minimize the carnage.
More surprising, though, is that before the event, the athletes didn’t seem all that concerned with the heat. Whether it’s because they truly didn’t think it would be that much of an issue, or perhaps they were just trying to stay resilient in front of the camera, it’s shocking to watch these athletes claim the heat isn’t that bad when we all know what’s about to happen.
In the weeks after the Games, Kara Webb and Annie Thorisdottir both remained relatively quiet about what actually happened to them during Murph. We finally get to hear the details from the heat of the moment in Part 3. It’s shocking that Webb was able to finish out the weekend strongly after she didn’t even remember finishing Murph and needed three bags of fluid to regain consciousness.
Dan Bailey gets a lot of well deserved air time during the documentary, but his most badass moment comes when, during the sprint event, he loses his sunglasses while hurdling. Instead of just letting them fall off, he somehow manages to catch them while running and hurdling at full speed and ends up winning the entire event. Someone give that man a sunglasses commercial.
Even though Sara Sigmundsdóttir didn’t top the podium, her performance during the 2015 Games forced everyone to pay attention. Her coaching staff was not shy about their plan for dominance, which surely ruffled a few feathers. Regardless, it’s fascinating to listen to their future plans for Sara.