Let's get this straight: none of the Open workouts are easy. Every one of them could wreck you if you push hard enough. But which one is the most devastating workout? Here are the five most devastating Open workouts of all time:

1. 15.5

For time: 
27-21-15-9
Row for calories
Thrusters (95/65)

Notable scores:

Mat Fraser - 5:19
Rich Froning - 5:35
Colleen Fotsch - 6:26
Kara Webb - 6:36

The most devastating CrossFit Games Open workout is also one of the shortest. Between the power output requirements of rowing for calories and the brutal simplicity of light thrusters, 15.5 is an epic kind of painful that hits all the marks of an unforgettable experience. 

2. 14.5/16.5

For time:
21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Thrusters (95/65)
Burpees

Notable Scores:

Josh Bridges - 7:15
Noah Ohlsen - 7:38
Sam Briggs - 7:36
Kristin Holte - 7:41

Oh, 16.5/14.5. The first workout in Open history that was for time and still one of the toughest workouts out there. There's a point during this workout that pretty much everyone gets to: a point during the burpees when you're sure that you're moving as quickly as you can, yet you're still moving slower than molasses during winter. Even worse, the "light at the end of the tunnel" moment during this workout doesn't really happen until the round of nine, and by then, you've already questioned your existence multiple times.

3. 13.5

AMRAP 4:
15 thrusters (100/65)
15 chest-to-bar pull ups

*if three rounds are completed in the four-minute mark, the workout becomes an eight-minute AMRAP. If another three rounds are completed by the eight-minute mark, another four minutes are added, etc.

Notable scores:

Josh Bridges - 254
Ben Smith - 229
Camille Leblanc-Bazinet - 244
Michele Letendre - 240

In 2011 and 2012, the CrossFit Games Open concluded with the same workout: a seven-minute escalating ladder of thrusters and chest-to-bar pull-ups. In 2013, we saw the first version of the "time-gated" workout, in which the athlete gets more time the more work they do. This format punishes people for being fitter and the fittest in the world completed almost 2.5 chest-to-bar Frans in 12 minutes, which is insane. At the event announcement, Rich Froning took on Jason Khalipa and after Khalipa failed to hit the second time gate at eight minutes, he literally just collapsed onto the floor. I guess that's what happens when the workout gets harder according to how much fitter you are.

4. 16.2

On a 4 minute clock:
25 toes to bar
50 double unders
15 squat cleans (135/85)

If you complete this in under 4 minutes, you get another 4 minutes and the second round is:

25 toes to bar
50 double unders
13 squat cleans (185/115)

If you complete this in under 8 minutes, you get another 4 minutes and move immediately into round three:

25 toes to bar
50 double unders
11 squat cleans (225/145)

If you complete this in under 12 minutes, you get another 4 minutes and move immediately into round 4:

25 toes to bar
50 double unders
9 squat cleans (275/175)

If you complete this in under 16 minutes, you get another 4 minutes and move immediately into round 5:

25 toes to bar
50 double unders
7 squat cleans (315/205)

If you complete the fifth round, your score is your time.

Notable scores:

Ben Smith - 16:54
Rich Froning - 17:00
Kara Webb - 15:07
Brooke Wells - 16:05

Another time-gated workout, this time with a ton of toes-to-bar and heavy cleans. For the best in the world, this is a brutal workout because they're asked to do this as quickly as possible. For the rest of us, this is a brutal workout because you either kill yourself to make the next time gate and pay the price when you get there or you kill yourself to make the next round and watch it slip away from you with only a few reps left.

5. 14.4

AMRAP 14:
60 calorie row
50 toes to bar
40 wall ball (20/10)
30 power cleans (135/95)
20 muscle ups

Notable scores:

Rich Froning - 277
Ben Smith - 265
Sam Briggs - 256
Kara Webb - 236

This is a workout designed to end with the best in the world exhausted and pulling on the erg for petty, stingy calories. For the normal CrossFitter, they'll likely get caught at the muscle-ups and not make it back to the row, but even then this workout becomes an awful waiting game until your muscle-ups come back just enough for you to get another rep in.