Jeffrey Adler is one of the fittest men on the planet. That much is clear from his Top 5 performance during Stage 1 of this year’s CrossFit Games. He finished in 5th place, just two points ahead of American Chandler Smith. That was enough to get the Canadian Adler a ticket to The Ranch in Aromas, California, for the CrossFit Games Finals.
Adler is the lone non-American male in this year’s Final Five. In this video, we break down exactly what got him that coveted spot.
[Related: How to Watch the 2020 CrossFit Games Finals]
Jeffrey Adler’s CrossFit Games Stage 1
How will Jeff Adler shape up during this year’s CrossFit Games Finals Events? His performance from Stage 1 — as well as his impressive improvement from 2019 — may give us some clues.
00:00 Jeffrey Adler, elite athlete
00:50 It’s not Adler’s first rodeo
01:30 The only non-American male in the Top 5
01:45 Breaking down Adler’s Stage 1 performance
02:00 His make or break moment in Stage 1
Jeffrey Adler’s Finals Performance
Adler was the lone athlete in the Finals field not representing the United States.
Event One — 2007 Reloaded
For time:
- 1,500-meter row
Then five rounds of:
- 10 bar muscle-ups
- 7 shoulder-to-overheads — 235 pounds
Adler’s early performance was steady and consistent, but not quite at a pace fast enough to contend with Mat Fraser, who won the event, and Justin Medeiros, who finished in a close second. Adler and Samuel Kwant battled back and forth in the middle of the pack and ultimately Adler finished the first event of the Finals in fourth position, ahead of Noah Olsen who fell to last place.
Event Two — Corn Sack Sprint
For time:
320-meter hill sprint with a corn sack — 50 pounds
At approximately a third of the way through the sprint, Fraser had taken the lead with Kwant behind him. It was Ohlsen, Medeiros, and Adler in the back of the pack. That sequence is the same order that the athletes crossed the finish line except for a big push right at the finish line from Adler to pop in front of Medeiros and sneak a fourth place finish with a time of 3:20.87 — just .22 seconds ahead of Medeiros.
Event Three — CrossFit Total
For total load:
1-rep-max back squat
1-rep-max shoulder press
1-rep-max deadlift
Adler made some big moves in this event. He showed just how strong he is with a 1,244 pound total that was good enough for his first event win of the 2020 Games and prevented what was an unblemished run thus far by Fraser, who came in second in this event. Adler PR’d every one of his lifts in this event:
- Squat — 470 pounds
- Shoulder Press — 207 pounds
- Deadlift — 567 pounds
Event Four — Handstand Sprint
For time:
100-yard handstand walk
Although Adler excelled in the strength event of the competition, he was on the opposite side of that in the gymnastics portion. His pace was good in a vacuum, but against the field on this day, his time of 1:54.39 led to a last place finish.
Event Five — Ranch Loop
Run along 3-mile± course through varying terrain
In the front half of the run, as Fraser and Medeiros battled for first, Adler and Ohlsen bounced back and forth for third. Had the twist of having to run the course in reverse not been sprung on the athletes, Adler would have placed third. However, Ohlsen was able to take advantage of the additional time and pushed Adler back into a fourth-place finish.
Event Six — Toes-To-Bar/Lunge
30-20-10 reps for time:
Toes-to-bar
Kettlebell lunge (yards) — 32 kilogram kettlebells
This wasn’t the best event for Adler. He finished in last place by more than 20 seconds.
Event Seven — Snatch Speed Triple
For time:
One snatch at each bar
- Quarterfinal — 225-235-245 pounds
- Semifinal — 245-255-265 pounds
- Final — 265-275-285 pounds
This was a much better event for Adler than event six was. He cruised his way into the final round and although he failed to take another win from Fraser, he was at his last barbell well before Kwant was. Adler took a long break, waiting to see if Kwant would hit is 275-pound snatch within the time cap before attempting his final snatch again. Once Kwant cleared his second bar, Adler hit his final lift and crossed the finish line for second place.
Event Eight — Bike Repeater
10 rounds:
- 440-meter bike sprint
- One legless rope climb — 15 feet
Adler gave a great performance despite not training much on the bike by his own admission. By round eight, it was a tight race between Adler and Fraser for first place and it wasn’t until the final sprint that Fraser was able to pull away. Back-to-back second-place finishes for Adler was a great early half of Day Two.
Event Nine — Happy Star
Four rounds:
200- to 300-meter hill run
5-7-9-11 reps of:
- Burpee
- Thruster — 135-145-155-165-pounds
Adler kept up his consistent Day Two with a third-place finish. His official time of 8:40.17 was only bested by Fraser and Kwant.
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 — 60 pounds
- Rest
Begin a new round every four minutes
*Rounds two and four performed in reverse
Adler’s strength was not in the pool as he was the slowest competitor in the men’s division in this event. The first event of Day Three saw him hit a last-place finish with a time nearly 30 second behinds the fourth-place Ohlsen.
Event Eleven — Sprint Sled Sprint
100-yard sprint
100-yard sled push — 105-pound sled
100-yard sprint
In what was becoming a weak Day Three, Adler landed in last place again with an official time of 57:28.45.
Event Twelve — Atalanta
For time while wearing a 20-pound vest:
- One-mile run
- 100 handstand push-ups
- 200 pistol squats
- 300 pull-ups
- One-mile run
Dave Castro deemed this event as the most difficult of the Finals and he wasn’t joking. Adler ended up in fourth place when all was said and done, besting only Kwant. His Day Three results only added 65 points to his total and dropped him to last place overall.
What did you think of Adler’s performance at the Finals? Let us know what you think in the comments!
