Vellner, Sigmundsdottir Win Open. National Champions Crowned

CrossFit concluded their final video review from the 10th CrossFit Open and announced the overall winners and 239 national champions from 125 countries. Additionally, the top 20 worldwide is set and those invites have gone out.

One big thing: The deadline for the top 20 to register is Monday, January 13 at 5:00 PM, which means that any athletes declining to go team will have just under a week to make that decision. CrossFit HQ will backfill those positions until a total of 20 athletes are invited. 

• Men in the top 20 we expect to go team: Brandon Luckett, Rich Froning and Roy Gamboa. Both Luckett and Gamboa have already earned invites on teams and for Froning it just ain’t happening no matter how hard we try. 
• Men in line for those three spots: Sean Sweeney, Connor Duddy and Brent Fikowski. 
• Women in the top 20 we expect to go team: Andrea Nisler, Brooke Haas and Taylor Williamson. Nisler and Williamson secured their team spots in Dubai and Haas in Ireland. 
• Women in line for those three spots: Marykay Dreisilker, Sasha Nievas and Danielle Brandon. 

One thing that’s confusing people: If Patrick Vellner won the Open, then why is Jeffrey Adler the Canadian national champion?

• It doesn’t matter how well you do worldwide in a workout because the national champion race only takes into account how you perform against your countrymen and women. 
• Take 20.5 for example: Vellner beat Adler by 41 spots worldwide, which is equal to 41 points on the worldwide leaderboard. However, Vellner only beat Adler by three spots among Canadian competitors, which is equal to only three points.
• Adler actually has a lower average finish than Vellner when you compare the two: 2.6 to Vellner’s 3.0. Take a look.

For what it’s worth: The press release announced that the Games will be held from Wednesday, July 29 through Sunday, August 2, which is an update from their original release which listed the dates as Monday, July 27 through Sunday, August 2. 

Fun Facts: 

• Sara Sigmundsdottir has now won her second straight CrossFit Open. Only Sam Briggs has accomplished that feat in 2013 and 2014. She has also won the Open for her third time, the most of any female athlete. 
• Patrick Vellner is the first Canadian man to win the Open. He is also the first non-American man to win. 
• Ben Smith qualifies for his 12th consecutive CrossFit Games, the longest streak of any male or female athlete. 
• 116 athletes — 56 men and 60 women — are repeating as national champions.