The athletes in Miami have trained on land, in water, enjoying sunshine, and competing in the rain. All of it was for this day. The spotlights are the brightest on Sunday in Miami, Florida, even as night falls, and the 2020 champions of Wodapalooza have been crowned. Here’s the Sunday summary, along with this year’s Wodapalooza winners and CrossFit Games qualifiers.
Down-Up
The first event of the final day featured a lot of deadlifts and burpees. The team version called for tandems. The top three teams going into the day, Mayhem Freedom, Team GoWod, and Team Wit finished this event in that exact order. Mayhem Freedom finished in 6:02 with GoWod coming in 12 seconds later. Wit completed the workout in a little over seven minutes.
In the men’s field, it was Patrick Vellner who took the victory in this one and it was his second win of the weekend. Miami’s own Noah Ohlsen came in second with Jonathan Gibson taking 3rd place in this workout. Cole Sager finished in 19th place but was able to maintain the overall points lead going into the final event.
Tia-Clair Toomey was the only woman to finish this workout in under four minutes with a time of 3:53 and clinched her third win of the weekend as well as extended her lead over Sara Sigmundsdottir who placed 4th here. Second and third places went to Kristine Best and Kari Pearce, respectively.
Celebrate Life
The final event of Wodapalooza included wall balls, ski work, dumbbell snatches, box jump overs, and bar muscle ups. In a nail biting conclusion, Team GoWod came in first with Mayhem Freedom finishing 10 seconds behind in second place. Team Wit finished in third. Even though GoWod won this event, Mayhem Freedom held on by two points overall to win the competition. Team GoWod and Team Wit round out the top 3.
Early reports indicate both of those teams would decline the invite if they won it, so that means the qualification would go to the fourth place team, Mayhem Independence. (Team Mayhem Freedom has already qualified.)
On the men’s side, it came down to Patrick Vellner and Cole Sager, and it was actually Vellner who managed to get ahead on the muscle ups and hit the final Throwdown button to win the event by a few seconds. As a result, they actually concluded the weekend in a tie on points but since Vellner has won more events, he defends his title and is now a two-time Wodapalooza Champion. Sager finished in second place both in this event and in the competition. Ohlsen earns the bronze position.
As for the Games qualification, that goes to fourth place finisher Saxon Panchik.
The women were up last and this was what everyone came to see. Toomey vs. Sigmundsdottir were in the final heat with the overall victory hanging in the balance. There were times in the event they were both in sync, going rep for rep and jump for jump. The bar muscle-up is where Toomey pulled away and like Vellner, she is now a back-to-back Wodapalooza champion.
Another interesting battle fans had their eyes on was between Emily Rolfe and Colleen Fotsch. They were in 10th and 11th but they were also the highest finishers not yet qualified. It would be Rolfe who finished ahead of Fotsch and ended the competition in 10th place overall by four points to earn the spot at the Games.
Teams Final
Winner – Mayhem Freedom – 753 points*
2nd Place – Team GoWod – 751 points
3rd Place – Team Wit – 697 points
+Mayhem Independence (4th) likely qualifies for 2020 CrossFit Games
Men’s Final
Winner – Patrick Vellner – 714 points*(wins on tiebreaker)
2nd Place – Cole Sager – 714 points*
3rd Place – Noah Ohlsen – 666 points*
+Saxon Panchik (4th) qualifies for 2020 CrossFit Games
Women’s Final
Winner: Tia-Clair Toomey – 808 points*
2nd Place – Sara Sigmundsdottir – 770 points*
3rd Place – Kari Pearce – 724 points*
+Emily Rolfe (10th) qualifies for 2020 CrossFit Games.
*Already qualified for 2020 CrossFit Games
+Earned qualification for 2020 CrossFit Games
Featured Image: Instagram/Wodapalooza of Patrick Vellner.
