Strength in Depth: Final Recap

The sold-out NOCCO Arena was treated to a show of CrossFit greatness on the final day of the Strength in Depth Sanctional on Sunday afternoon. The women’s and team competitions came down to the final event as Laura Horvath and Mayhem Freedom took their respected titles, while Mathew Fraser continued his dominance, winning the men’s title.

The battle for the individual Games invites went to two athletes who previously competed at the Games on teams and now will be making their first appearances as individual competitors in Madison.

Team Division: Mayhem Freedom punched its sixth consecutive ticket for the CrossFit Games in an epic comeback. After placing ninth in the opening event and sitting in fourth after day one, the team of Rich Froning, Tasia Percevecz, Chyna Cho and new team member Scott Panchik reeled off five straight wins to overcome Team WHEY’D for the lead. Heading into the final workout with just an 18-point lead over WHEY’D, Mayhem secured their second ever Sanctional title with a second-place event finish.

• Five event wins in London gives Mayhem Freedom a career total of 12 Sanctional victories, the most by any team since the implementation of the Sanctional format.
• Including the Games, Mayhem Freedom has won 17 out of a possible 35 events that they have competed in since the Sanctional format was introduced. The 17 wins are the most of any team.
• The automatic Games invitation for Rich Froning will be his 11th-straight. He competed as an individual from 2010-2014.
• For Panchik, he will be making his ninth-straight Games appearance and first as a member of a team.
• Cho will be making her seventh-straight Games appearance and second-straight with Mayhem Freedom.
• Team WHEY’D finished second, just 28 points behind Mayhem Freedom.
• CrossFit Roseland won the final event, beating Mayhem Freedom by five seconds.