The final day of the 2022 CrossFit Games had a doozy of an opening event. “The Alpaca” featured a custom sled filled with kettlebells and challenged the remaining athletes who survived the cut (anyone in 30th place overall or better on their respective leaderboard) to prowler pushes and kettlebell clean & jerks.
Defending five-time Fittest Woman on Earth®, Tia-Clair Toomey, held a 98-point lead over Mal O’Brien in second place. A sixth consecutive title seemed all but guaranteed for Toomey if she could avoid disaster on the final day. The race for the bronze in the Individual Women’s division was where the heat was, as Emma Lawson was only five points ahead of fourth-place Danielle Brandon.
Defending reigning Fittest Man on Earth®, Justin Medeiros, was 17 points ahead of second-place Ricky Garard on the overall leaderboard entering the final day. Roman Khrennikov was 22 points behind Garard, so while the Men’s leaderboard was likely going to be those three men, where on the podium they would stand was still in flux.
Event 11 — “The Alpaca” Results
Here are the full results:
Individual Women’s Results
- Laura Horvath — 6:46.96
- Dani Speegle — 7:25.72
- Karin Freyová — 7:57.17
- Ellie Turner — 8:00.90
- Gabriela Migała — 8:04.36
- Alexis Raptis — 8:06.83
- Emma McQuaid — 8:28.28
- Amanda Barnhart — 8:38.24
- Kara Saunders — 8:45.35
- Arielle Loewen — 8:49.08
Individual Men’s Results
- Roman Khrennikov — 6:23.92
- Sam Kwant — 6:39.88
- Pat Vellner — 6:41.12
- Guilherme Malheiros — 6:44.79
- Justin Medeiros — 6:46.48
- Jayson Hopper — 6:48.56
- Ricky Garard — 6:50.63
- Tim Paulson — 6:53.66
- Lazar Đukić — 6:58.07
- Jonne Koski — 7:01.54
[Check In: 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games Results and Leaderboard]
Event 11 — The Alpaca
For time:
- 126-foot Sled Push (decreasing in load)
- 20 Kettlebell Clean & Jerks
- 42-foot Sled Push with Two Kettlebells
- 15 Kettlebell Clean & Jerks
- 42-foot Sled Push with Four Kettlebells
- 10 Kettlebell Clean & Jerks
- 42-foot Sled Push with Six Kettlebells
Women: Six 24-kilogram kettlebells | Men: Six 32-kilogram kettlebells.
Time cap: 18 minutes.
The event initially programmed rope climbs, but the slick conditions caused by rain compelled the CrossFit Games Demo Team and Director of Programming Adrian Bozman to remove the rope climbs for safety concerns.
Athletes will start with a sled loaded with six kettlebells. They will progress down the field, unloading pairs of kettlebells as they go. Once to the other side, they will complete 20 kettlebell clean & jerks with the first pair. They will then load the kettlebells into the sled and push it downfield to the second pair of kettlebells. They’ll do 15 clean & jerks, load the sled, and continue downfield. Then they’ll do 10 clean & jerks with the third pair of kettlebells and push the fully loaded sled to the finish line.
[Related: Don Faul, a Retired Marine and Former Tech Exec, is the New CEO of CrossFit]
Event 11 Recap
All 30 remaining men in the competition took the field simultaneously for Event 11. The “Alpaca Sled” was designed by Rogue specifically for this event. Travis Mayer and Sam Kwant figured out the most efficient way to push it the quickest, as they were the first two to reach the first round of clean & jerks.
Vellner and Khrennikov joined Kwant and Mayer in the lead, but Khrennikov was the first back to the sled. Garard was towards the front of the field, but notably ahead of Medeiros, who was the only man in the event he cared to beat.
Justin Medeiros has fallen off the pace — currently eighth in the heat!
Khrennikov furthered his lead, but Garard and Kwant did their best to prevent Khrennikov from running away with it. Khrennikov paid them no heed as he took his second event win of the competition. Kwant was the runner-up with Vellner behind him. Medeiros surged at the final moment to overtake Garard and finish two ranks ahead, extending his lead over the Australian.
[Related: Kealan Henry Withdraws From the 2022 CrossFit Games on Day Three]
Women’s Heat
Rebecca Fuselier was in 30th place overall to make the cut at the end of day four and moved to the field with the other 29 remaining athletes. Brandon made a mistake early in the heat as she stopped pushing the sled at the wrong mark. Building the momentum back up cost her valuable time.
The kettlebells appeared to be very heavy as much of the field struggled with stability. Horvath was the first to finish the initial round of kettlebells and separated herself from the field. Freyová and Speegle joined Horvath at the second rank downfield but had a handful of clean & jerks to make up. Toomey was 17 reps behind Horvath.
Brandon sought to beat Lawson in the event to move into podium position and made up for her early stumble as Lawson suffered several unfortunate no-reps. Horvath finished her final clean & jerks in an almost casual fashion, thanks to the buffer she built between herself and the rest of the field. She crossed the finish line first in a time of 6:46.96. It was the fifth Games event win of her career.
Speegle crossed the finish line second, extending her excellent back half of the competition. Migała and Turner raced for third, and though it seemed like Migała was going to take it, she abandoned her sled too early and had to run back to push it past the finish line.
Featured image: @roman_khrennikov on Instagram
