CrossFit Strength in Depth, the sixth Sanctional of the season, crowned three new champions and established the new athletes that have earnt an invitation to the 2020 CrossFit Games.
The competition ran between January 24 and 26 and included elite male, female and team categories, as well as Masters categories and an affiliate cup.
Mayhem Freedom, Laura Horvath and Mat Fraser were crowned winners of the 2020 edition. While the first day of competition didn’t finish with either of their names on the top of the leaderboard, all athletes went on to show their dominance throughout the rest of the weekend.
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CrossFit Games invites went to Mayhem Freedom, Kelsey Kiel and David Shorunke.
After two seventh-place finishes at the start of the competition, Horvath won every event but one, where she finished second, from Saturday on.
Fraser took five out of seven event wins and, while his race to the finish against Bronislaw Olenkowicz (last year’s winner) on the last event of the competition was exhilarating, Mat won the Sanctional with a 136-point lead over second place.
Reigning CrossFit Games team champions Mayhem Freedom tested out their new roster at Strength in Depth since the addition of Scott Panchik. They also won five out of the seven events, securing a Sanctional win and with it their invitation back to the Games.
Between many other workouts, Strength in Depth re-tested the final 2019 CrossFit Games event, The Standard, and saw athletes try out their skills rowing on water.
Worth knowing:
- The rowing event wasn’t a full score vent, offering the winner 50 points instead of 100.
- All sculls were “weight-adjusted” using sandbags, meaning the competition made sure all sculls and judges weighted the same for every athlete so as to ensure fair competition.
RELATED: What’s Behind Strength in Depth’s On Water Rowing Event?
The pace that most athletes run at is impressive to say the least. The finishing average speed for 6,000m on the men’s field was a 5:47 minute mile (that’s 3:35m/km). On the women’s side, the average speed was 6:15 minutes per mile (3:53 minutes per kilometre) according to Chris Hinshaw.
On the team side, only half the team had to complete the 6km, as two team members were allowed to drop out after 3km. This made the event really interesting, as the placing was no longer determined by the slowest runner but by the two fastest/strongest, revealing weaknesses on their end too.
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LEADERBOARDS
Female Elite
- Laura Horvath
- Gabriela Migała
- Haley Adams
- Camilla Salomonsson Hellman
- Kelsey Kiel
Being Hungary’s, Poland’s and Sweden’s National Champions respectively, Horvath, Migala and Salomonsson Hellman have already qualified to the CrossFit Games. So has Adams with her Top 20 Open finish, so the 2020 CrossFit Games invite from Strength in Depth goes to Kelsey Kiel.
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Kiel is a three-time CrossFit Games team athlete but has yet to compete individually.
Male Elite
- Mathew Fraser
- David Shorunke
- Lukas Högberg
- Bronislaw Olenkowicz
- Giorgos Karavis
The CrossFit Games invite could have almost been anyone’s going into the final event, so the race was real as none of the four athletes sitting behind Fraser had earnt their invite to the CrossFit Games yet.
Giorgos Karavis and David Shorunke sat one and two spots respectively from earning their invitations through the Open. Bronislaw Olenkowicz won his 2019 Games invite at Strength in Depth but has yet to qualify this season. Lukas Högberg decided to sit out the Open and return to the Games through a Sanctionals invite.
Shorunke, the local athlete, had to finish ahead of Högberg to earn the invite on the final event, and he did so, one place and eight seconds ahead, earning so a spot at the 2020 CrossFit Games. These will also be Shorunke’s first Games as an individual athlete.
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Team Elite
- CrossFit Mayhem Freedom
- Team Whey’d
- Trainlikefight.Com
- Vondelgym Motion
- CrossFit Roseland
Captained by Irish National Champion Emma McQuaid, Team Whey’d put on a fight against Mayhem Freedom, but it was the reigning CrossFit Games champions who walked off with a win and the CrossFit Games invite.
Have a look at the full leaderboard here or explore the Sanctional’s workouts here.
CROSSFIT STRENGTH IN DEPTH PRIZES
The Sanctional announced they’ve doubled the prize purse from 2019 and, alongside a sponsor donated “stash”, athletes will receive the following prize pot for each division:
Elite individual male, female and team
- First place £5,000
- Second place £3,000
- Third place £1, 500
Masters
- First place £500
Affiliate Cup
- First place £1,000 + Affiliate Cup Trophy
- Second place £750
- Third place £500
WATCH CROSSFIT STRENGTH IN DEPTH 2020
Re-live all the action through the links below:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Image Sources
- strength-in-depth-recap: RXd Photography (Strength in Depth)