Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is fueled by RXBAR.

Long trip home? Extra space in your suitcase? Make sure to stop by booth #280 and stock up on your own customized mix of RX products! 12 bars for $20. 10 nut butters for $15. Don’t miss this special offer!

“I went for it, made a mistake at the end, that’s the way she goes,” Patrick Vellner

JUSTIN’S TAKE:

Scenario Sunday and the Sentiment Over Cuts

Lay of the land: At the press conference last night, Dave Castro announced that tomorrow AM will kick off with a swim event down down on the lake.

• Humble brag: We called the Sunday water event more than a week ago when we dug up permit records at the City of Madison’s Legislative Information Center.
• The details of the event will be revealed tomorrow AM as athletes gather on the shore.
• Given the defined event and viewing area and the smaller field of athletes, we think it will be paired with some kind of lift and/or movement.
• There has never been a barbell paired with a swim in CrossFit Games history.

Sunday Preview

• There will be three events. You can access the schedule in your local time zone here.
• How events are scored: Every place down the leaderboard is 10 points which could add to some major leaderboard swings. For example, if Noah Ohlsen (649 points) gets 5th on the next event and Fraser (634 points) gets first, Fraser will be ahead by 35 points.
• The two races to watch on the men’s side: Ohlsen v. Fraser with only 15 points separating the two, and BKG v. Scott Panchik for third with only 3 points separating them. With three events to go, there’s still enough points for other scenarios to emerge.
• Tia is not out of the clear yet but she has a nice cushion. But get this: If Toomey places third or worse over the next three events and Holte sweeps first, then Holte will win.

Current leaderboard.

1. Noah Ohlsen (649) | Tia-Clair Toomey (721) | Mayhem Freedom (635)
2. Mathew Fraser (634) | Kristin Holte (636) | CrossFit Krypton (478)
3. BK Gudmundsson (568) | Jamie Greene (591) | Central Beasts (437)
4. Scott Panchik (565) | Kari Pearce (564) | OC3 Black (426)
5. James Newbury (488) | Katrin Davidsdottir (534) | Don’t Stop (399)
6. Jacob Heppner (484) | Ann Fragkou (500) | Invictus (397)
7. Adrian Mundwiler (482) | Amanda Barnhart (476) | Invictus X (396)
8. Matt Mcleod (461) | Haley Adams (471) | CrossFit Alioth (339)
9. Saxon Panchik (447) | Thuri Helgadottir (471) | PRO1 (314)
10. Will Moorad (435) | Bethany Shadburne (459) | Team JST Compete

The developing narrative: We’ve heard nearly universal criticism about the cuts from 20 to 10, that there weren’t enough tests before the cuts. The two arguments athletes are making are 1). The cut never should have been based on a specialized event like a sprint, and 2). That at the 20-athlete stage, there should have been more events before the cuts.

• Annie Thorisdottir: “I don’t believe we have had enough tests to be able to make a top 10 cut just yet.”

Near universal opinion was that they should have cut after three events on Saturday:

• Patrick Vellner: “I think it should be top 20 until the end of today then cut to 10 for the last day…a lot depends on the order of events. If your best event came up just now, you make it into the top 10 and you’re safe for five more events with no cuts.”
• And it’s not just those who got cut expressing disappointment.
• Tia-Clair Toomey on the floor of the Coliseum: “They deserve to be here and I hope that they know they can walk away with their heads held high.”

QUICK BRIEF

Quick Reads for the Day

1. Saturday Cuts Rip Through Games Veterans: Morning Chalk Up caught up with athletes, including Pat Vellner, after being cut in the Sprint event. Several athletes expressed frustration over using a sprint specialty event to cut the field to ten athletes for the remainder of the competition.

2. Swimwear Outfitted for Athletes Friday Night: In their second fitting after competition friday night, the top 20 athletes were given swimwear in their new package. One of our reporters also found a sign announcing that the docks will be closed early Sunday morning.

3. Greg Glassman Hosts Lunch for National Champs : “This is my favorite Games ever,” he told them as he gifted each of them with parallettes. “Each of you is a Crossfit champion…our Games is a better Games because you are here. My question is, who is coming back?”

4. Heavy Barbells Debut at the CrossFit Games in FITAID’s One Ton Challenge: Hundreds of fans packed into the FITAID lounge last night to watch athletes take on the One Ton Challenge, an attempt at accumulating 2,000 total pounds over six lifts: back squat, deadlift, bench press, clean, jerk and snatch and emcee’d by the legendary C.T. Fletcher.

5. CrossFit Games Fan Experience: Morning Chalk Up reporter Brittney Kleyn made her way over to the ROMWOD Warrior Course to experience it herself. 

DAILY DIGITS.

CrossFit Games by the Numbers

46: The age of the oldest individual male athlete: Sion Brinn.

44: The age of the oldest individual female athlete: Patricia Trujillo.

28: The average age of male individual athletes.

29: Average age of female individual athletes.

186: The average weight of all individual males.

140: Average weight of all individual females.

63: The age of the oldest male masters competitor: David Hippensteel.

62: The age of the oldest female masters competitor.

14: The age of the youngest female and male teenage competitors: Sophia Shaft and Elias Simbürger.

113: The number of first-time male individual Games athletes.

109: The number of first-time female individual Games athletes.

19: The number of competitive divisions.

Today’s edition of the Morning Chalk Up is fueled by

THE DETAILS.

Broadcast Schedule and Heat Times.

We are streaming all individual and team events live on Facebook and YouTube.

Day 4 Live Stream: YouTube | Facebook 

• 9:25 AM CT: Morning Chalk Up Show YouTube | Facebook 
• 10:00 AM CT: Individual Event 9 (Lake Monona)
• 11:00 AM CT: Team Event 8 (Lake Monona)
• 12:25 PM CT: Morning Chalk Up Show YouTube | Facebook
• 1:00 PM CT: Individual Women Event 10 (Coliseum)
• 1:45 PM CT: Individual Men Event 10 (Coliseum)
• 2:45 PM CT: Team Event 9 (Coliseum)
• 3:30 PM CT: Individual Women Event 11 (Coliseum)
• 4:00 PM CT: Individual Men Event 11 (Coliseum)
• 4:25 PM CT: Morning Chalk Up Show YouTube | Facebook

​All workout details and heat times in your local time zone are on Morningchalkup.com.

Things to do Around Madison.

There are plenty of ways to experience the 2019 CrossFit Games and Madison. Here are a few places to start.

• Drop-in to CrossFit Recursive for an OUTWOD at 9:00 AM. Drop-in fee is $25.
• Join Christmas Abbott in the FITAID booth for a meet and greet from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
• From 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM is the Power Monkey weightlifting foundational principles with Mike Cerbus at the FITAID booth.
• Get in a WOD at the Assault Fitness Spectator Workout Area the Alliant Energy Center. You’ll need to sign-up with Zen Planner to reserve your spot in the classes, featuring a workout programmed by Invictus.
• The Official After-Party of the 2019 Reebok CrossFit Games at Liquid at 9:00 PM.

And if you are still in town on Monday, make sure to see Katrin Davidsdottir read from her book, “DOTTIR” at A Room of One’s Own from 6:00 -7:30 PM CT.