Tia-Clair Toomey and Mat Fraser have a lot in common. Both finished in second place during their first two years as CrossFit Games competitors. Both established early leads during the 2018 Games and maintained them for the majority of the competition. And both have repeated as Champions, giving Fraser his third title in a row and Toomey her second.
Tia-Clair Toomey and Mat Fraser are your 2018 Reebok CrossFit Games Champions. They won in convincing fashion, silencing any doubts surrounding their status as the Fittest on Earth™. And they cemented their status after a grueling series of events that included some of the longest endurance events in Games history, including a full Marathon Row and challenging “Crit” bike course.
After an extremely narrow win last year over fellow Aussie Kara Saunders, Toomey (Australia) repeated as champion in commanding fashion. She joins Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir — both of Iceland — as the third repeat/multi-time female Games Champion in history.
Earlier in the day, Rich Froning’s CrossFit Mayhem Freedom regained their Team Championship after finishing in second in 2017.
The final Individual Women’s podium is below, along with their respective points totals; note that these totals may be subject to change and scoring adjustments:
- Tia-Clair Toomey (1154)
- Laura Horvath (1090)
- Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (1020)
Last year’s second-place finisher and perennial podium contender Kara Saunders finished in fourth place overall with 1006 points. Annie Thorisdottir, last year’s third-place finisher, came in fifth with 866 points.
While Toomey’s dominance was certainly the story of this year’s Games on the women’s side, Laura Horvath’s second-place finish received significant attention both live in Madison and online. The Games rookie out of Hungary went toe-to-toe with Games veterans all week and earned her 2nd place finish in convincing fashion. Horvath joins Toomey, Fraser, and Rich Froning as notable veterans to finish second overall in their first Games appearances.
The women’s competition also included several notable withdrawals due to injury, including multi-time podium finisher Sara Sigmundsdottir and Games veteran Emily Bridgers.
On the men’s side, Mat Fraser (USA) made the three-peat look almost easy, cruising through event after event and only finishing outside the top 10 once (the Marathon Row). Fraser’s lead was so great on the final day of competition, he had first place locked up before the final event (“Aeneas”) was underway; there was no minimum work requirement for the Event that would possibly keep him off the top of the podium. Of course, in characteristic Fraser fashion, he did anything but take the last workout easy and capped off his weekend with another first-place finish.
Fraser’s third Games win places him one behind Rich Froning for the most Individual Games Championships in history.
Patrick Vellner, of Canada, finished in second place overall for his third-consecutive podium finish. Vellner finished third in 2016 and 2017. His placement in 2018 is perhaps even more impressive considering his difficulties on Day 1’s “Crit”, where a collision on the course resulted in his bike chain’s dislocation and a 35th place finish in that event.
In a close battle for third place overall that came down to the final event, Lukas Högberg (Sweden) edged out Brent Fikowski (Canada) for the final podium spot, though Fikowski finished higher in the last workout. Shortly after the Men finished the final event, Games Director Dave Castro announced a points tie for third place between the two. After bringing both competitors back to the competition floor, Castro walked the crowd through the tiebreaker system, which is based on which athlete had the highest place individual event finish. By that rule, Högberg’s victory on the “Two-Stroke Pull” event put him into third place.
The final Men’s Individual podium finishers are below:
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- Mat Fraser (1162)
- Patrick Vellner (942)
- Lukas Högberg (886)
Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson of Iceland finished in fifth place overall.
Congratulations to all the finishers from what many fans, spectators, and participants are calling the most challenging Games in history.
Featured image: @tiaclair1 and @mathewfras on Instagram