2014 Reebok CrossFit Invitational 
By: Lauryn Lax 

Get ready to wear your country’s colors this weekend for the third consecutive CrossFit Invitational competition. On Sunday, November 9th, Team USA, Team Canada, Team Europe and Team Australia (each consisting of two women and two men), will go head to head, completing a series of select back-to-back workouts during the one-day event. 

 

The action goes down at the SAP Center, in San Jose, Calif. from 4-6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, you can catch all the livestream action on www.games.crossfit.com, WatchESPN.com and CrossFit’s YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/crossfit). ESPN2 will also carry all the coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. PST. 

 

This will be the first time in the Invitational’s history for the event to happen in the Land of the Free. Last year, the competition was held in Berlin, Germany, where Team World (made up of Europeans, Canadians and Australians) defeated Team USA, 24-19. In 2012, Team Europe lost to Team USA in the UK with a final score of 6-20 (Team USA).  This year also marks the first year that four, not two, teams will represent their respective countries. 

 

All four teams boast Games veterans, including:

 

Team USA

Julie Foucher

Emily Bridgers

Rich Froning

Jason Khalipa

Coach Becca Voigt

 

Both Froning (2014 CrossFit Games champ) and Khalipa (3rd Fittest Man, 2014) announced their retirement from individual competition this past year, following the Games, and are excited to represent the red, white and blue as part of the team. Foucher, a Cleveland Medical School student, finished 3rd overall at the 2014 CrossFit Games, AND returns to be part of Team USA after her first appearance in 2012. And, first-time 2014 CrossFit Games competitor, Emily Bridgers, who finished 6th overall as an individual at the Stub Hub Center this year, rounds out the team. The team is led by seven-time Games’ competitor, Voigt, who has experience as part of the 2012 Invitational team. 

 

Team Europe

Sam Briggs

Annie Thorisdottir

Lukas Hogberg

Bjorgvin Gudmundsson

Coach Mads Jacobsen

 

Briggs is back and better than ever. After missing out on a trip to the 2014 Games, on the tail of her 2013 Championship win, Briggs has been hungry to make her way back to Carson this year. In the mean time, she and Thorisdottir (2012 Fittest Woman in the World) make up one of the strongest female duos on the Invitational teams. The powerhouse ladies are joined by four-time CrossFit Games competitor and Swede, Hogberg (23rd 2014 CrossFit Games), and 21-year-old Gudmundsson from Iceland (26th overall at 2014 Games). Team Europe is led by Jacobsen, the coach who led Team World to a victory in 2013. 

 

Team Australia

Kara Webb

Denae Brown

Rob Forte

Khan Porter

Coach Chad Mackay

 

Webb has been around the block before, as part of Team World last October. The three-time Games competitor was forced to withdraw from this summer’s competition due to an injury in the Midline March event and now, back up to speed, is ready to bring some fight to the first-time Team Australia. Webb is joined by Brown, who took 17th overall at the 2014 Games after coming back from pregnancy and having a baby, and Aussie guys, Forte (four-time Games competitor) and Porter (27th at 2014 Games). Coach Chad Mackay, a three-time Games competitor, brings his own experience of competing on Team World last year, and supporting his gym, CrossFit Active compete at the Games in both 2013 and 2014. 

Team Canada

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet

Michelle Letendre

Lucas Parker

Paul Tremblay

Coach Reed Mackenzie

 

Leblanc-Bazinet, has been unstoppable since her personal disappointing 16th place finish at the Games in 2013, redeeming herself at the 2014 Games (1st place). The five-time Games veteran will make her second showing at the CrossFit Invitational after competing with Team World last year. Letendre was not far behind her this year, finishing 4th overall at the Games, a marked improvement from her inaugural 25th place finish four years ago in 2011. Every year since, she continued to climb the ladder, and most certainly has earned her spot to be part of the Invitational this weekend. The former ‘rivals’ at the StubHub Center partner with four-year Games veteran Parker, most known for his mountainous red beard and raw strength, and Tremblay, an individual rookie at the 2014 Games (31st overall) who bounced back from a debilitating knee injury that sidelined him from competing at the Games in 2013, and has been going strong ever since. Mackenzie has led four teams to compete at the Games and will lead the first-ever Team Canada at this week’s invitational. 

 

The stacked rosters leave everyone guessing, ‘Who’s it going to be?’ The ‘gold’ is anyone’s for the taking. Could a home-feel advantage prove the crucial link in solidifying a win for Team USA? Will jet lag throw some of the teams off? Are the other countries hungry to drive a stake in American soil?

 

Comments and insights are welcomed!