Scenario Saturday: The Battle For the Invite

As the 2019 Dubai CrossFit Championship heads into the final day of competition, the state of play is anything but certain. More than the overall prize purse, a coveted spot at the 2020 CrossFit Games is up for grabs.

One big thing: We don’t yet know how many workouts athletes and teams will face on day 4. All we know is that the first event starts at 1:00 PM and the last workout ends at 7:50 PM.

• We’d guess that there are three individual events and two team events tomorrow.
• There have already been nine scored events for teams and seven for individuals.
• It seems like that we won’t know the final details until mid-day Saturday.

The hunt for the invite: Men.

• The race is between Tola Morakinyo (501) and David Shorunke (447). Baring a disaster on day 4, Morakinyo is in a relatively strong position to secure his first trip to the CrossFit Games as an individual.

Brent Fikowski, who’s currently sitting in second, technically doesn’t have an invite to the Games, but here’s why he’ll likely get a backfill spot in the Open.

• Fikowski finished 32nd in the Open, four spots away from a qualifying spot.
• There are three athletes currently in qualifying spots that plan to compete on a team: Rich Froning (Mayhem Freedom), Brandon Luckett (Odd Squad) just qualified by winning SouthFit, and Roy Gamboa (MisFit P10 Performance), who are in a qualifying position going into the final day in Dubai.
• With those three athletes going team, that would mean Fikowski would secure an invite via the Open.

The hunt for the invite: Women.

• The race is between Samantha Briggs (561) and Emily Rolfe (516), but with Briggs strong competition record, 45 points is a lot to makeup. Rolfe’s best finish this weekend was third in event 1 and she’ll need a lot more than her average finish of 7.7 to make up the distance.

Current Standings:

1. Roman Khrennikov (599) | Sara Sigmundsdottir (617) | MisFit 10 Performance (880)
2. Brent Fikowski (574) | Karin Frey (581) | We Got Cake (855)
3. Jason Smith (553) | Samantha Briggs (561) | Team Prepared (820)
4. Patrick Vellner (552) | Gabriela Migala (552) | Team Finland (765)
5. Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson (529) | Alessandra Pichelli (545) | CrossFit YAS (723)
6. Jeffrey Adler (507) | Jamie Greene (527) | The Traktor (719)
7. Tola Morakinyo (501) | Emily Rolfe (516) | Aarhus Supreme (680)
8. Jonne Koski (489) | Julie Hougard (501) | CrossFit Alioth (659)
9. Lazar Dukic (486) | Emma Tall (476) | NA
10. Elliot Simmonds (461) | Mikaela Norman (462) | NA