Event 1 for the 2018 CrossFit Games is in the books, and it didn’t disappoint. Athletes competed in the crit — a 10-lap bike race around a 1,200m course. While they’ve been on bikes before (as recently as last year’s Games), they haven’t done it like this.

Competitors were packed together like sardines, needing to maintain razor focus not only on their own performance but that of the athletes surrounding them. Why? Safety. Remaining stable on these bikes wasn’t the easiest, so just imagine taking those turns. Dave Castro warned there was a high probability of crashing, and he was right. One wrong move and an athlete could lose control and crash — and they did. Through the men’s and women’s races, we saw a few athletes go tumbling to the ground, like Brandon Luckett. Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured.

There was a noticeable strategy here. You might have noticed athletes actively trying to stay in second. This was for a reason. As one of the commentators noticed, this is the best place to be. The person in first does the most work. So, from both the men and women, we saw a pattern: stay in second and then try to get ahead in the last moments.

The Women

How cool was it seeing Dave Castro lead the competitors into the race?! Laura Horvath led the pack for the majority of the time, but in the end, in one hell of an adrenaline-pumping moment, Kristin Holte sprinted her heart out and took the event win.


Horvath finished second, and Katrin Davidsdottir — who sat comfortably in second for most of the race — finished third. Tia-Clair Toomey was not far behind in fifth.

The women did an amazing job setting the pace for Event 1. While we did witness a few spills, these competitors showed outstanding control and consistency. The athletes prioritizing strategy as much as fitness really shined. We all saw Sara Sigmundsdottir — a phenomenal athlete — push ahead to the front a little too soon and then possibly tire herself out, ultimately finishing in 21st.

The Men

What a race! While the women largely kept their heads down and pedaled, the men seemed to be interacting more. It appeared as though they were working together to not only make it through the turns safely but to also take turns near the front of the pack — this according to the commentators. They also seemed to be more outwardly competitive with each other, constantly looking to their left and right to see who they were up against.

Pat Vellner got a rough start. After his chain popped off, he had to stop on the side of the circuit and get a new bike. He did his best to catch up but finished in 24th place. Noah Ohlsen also hit rough waters after his pedal came loose. He too had to stop to replace it and finished in 29th. In the end, Adrian Mundwiler took first, James Newbury finished second, and Lukas Hogberg took third. Champion Mat Fraser took fourth. Also notable is Brent Fikowski, who enjoyed some time in second place during the race but finished in ninth.

The day has only just begun. Next up we’ve got Event 2 — 30 muscle-ups for time. Event 3 is the CrossFit Total and Event 4 is the epic marathon row. We hope the competitors are taking their active recovery seriously!

Stay tuned.

Main image: Kristin Holte/Instagram

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