Wodapalooza 2020 is officially a wrap. Let’s talk about what went down on the fourth and final day of competition and who’s walking away with the CrossFit Games invites. The Elite individuals and teams competed two events on the Sunday. The first event, ‘Down-Up,’ put athletes through a brutal couplet of heavy deadlifts and bar-facing burpees. The second and final event of the day, ‘Celebrate Life,’ was a chipper that required high-power output and sound strategy. 

Vellner started the day in second place, 64 points behind Cole Sager; 64 points with only 200 points left up for grabs is not an easy deficit to make up, but Vellner somehow found a way. Kicking the day off with an event win in ‘Down-Up,’ Vellner made up some serious ground on Sager points-wise, as Sager finished in 19th place in the deadlift intensive event. Vellner still trailed Sager heading into the last event, but not by much, making for an incredibly exciting final event. Sager and Vellner battled it out for first place throughout the entire final. The event win came down to the final movement of the workout, bar-muscle ups where Vellner was able to hold on edge out Sager for the top time. With both event wins Vellner was only able to tie Sager in total overall points but was awarded first place due to having more event wins than Sager throughout the weekend. 

Over on the women’s side Tia-Clair Toomey kicked off the final day in stunning fashion with a first-place finish in the ‘Down-Up’ event. This event win expanded Toomey’s lead over Sigmundsdottir in the point race, but not enough to put her out of reach. In the final event Sigmundsdottir needed Toomey to finish two spots or more below her in order for her to have a chance at winning the competition. Sigmundsdottir and Toomey were neck and neck throughout the ‘Celebrate Life’ chipper, but Toomey was able to cross the finish line and slam the buzzer first for the event win. 

Despite the final 38-point gap between Toomey and Sigmundsdottir, the race for the women’s title this weekend was much tighter. Sigmundsdottir had an absolutely impressive weekend against a strong field of women and was able to push Toomey in events unlike any other competitor has recently. That being said, Toomey still walked away as the champion and finished the competition with two back-to-back wins when she needed them. That type of laser-focus and execution are the things that separate Toomey from her fellow competitors. 

Mayhem Freedom and Team GoWod continued grabbing all of the points in the team division during the final day of competition. Mayhem Freedom opened the day with a first-place finish in the ‘Down-Up’ event, edging out GoWod by twelve seconds. Going into the final event Team GoWod needed to not only beat Mayhem Freedom but also have another team place between them in order for them to win overall. Team GoWod came out strong in the ‘Celebrate Life’ chipper narrowly taking the lead over Mayhem Freedom in the first half of the workout. Mayhem Freedom however was able to pick up their pace on the dumbbell snatches and box jumps and catch up with GoWod going into the final movement, bar-muscle ups. Team GoWod flew through the synchro bar-muscle ups and were able to take the event win. The race then came down to whether Team WIT, who were able to pull even with Mayhem Freedom on the bar-muscle ups, could beat Mayhem Freedom to the finish. Mayhem Freedom and Team WIT finished their muscle-ups nearly at the same time, it then came down to a foot race of which team could make it to the buzzer the quickest. Mayhem Freedom was able to edge out Team WIT by 0.03 seconds to snag a second-place finish behind GoWod and effectively lock up the Wodapalooza title. 

Who Gets The CrossFit Games Invite? 

As we get deeper into the Sanctional season this question gets exponentially more and more confusing. Let’s take a look at the men’s side as this invite is a little bit clearer cut. On the podium we have Pat Vellner, Cole Sager, and Noah Ohlsen all of which have already earned their CrossFit Games Invites. Just behind them in fourth place is Saxon Panchik who will receive the Games invite because he hasn’t earned one anywhere else yet. Saxon had a standout weekend and showed that he is more than worthy of competing at the CrossFit Games this year.

The situation with the Games invite gets a tad more confusing when we take a look at the women’s field. We have to go all the way down to tenth place on the women’s side to find our women’s Game’s invite recipient, Emily Rolfe. Rolfe had to battle Colleen Fotsch and Jessica Griffith, who are also chasing a Games invite, for points during the last two days of competition to earn her Games invite. Emily Rolfe you may remember earned the Game’s invite from the Granite Games in 2019. Rolfe is a more than capable competitor and it will be exciting to see what she can do in Madison this year.

In the team division the question of who gets the invite is maybe the most confusing, so let’s jump in and figure it out. Mayhem Freedom already secured their ticket through Strength In Depth, so scratch them off. In second we have Team GoWod, GoWod’s team includes Andrea Nisler and Taylor Williamson who are already qualified and registered on another Games team that earned their ticket through Dubai making their team ineligible to receive the invite. Moving down to Team WIT in third place now. Team WIT is technically eligible to receive the Games invite, but both women on their team, Samantha Briggs and Harriet Roberts are qualified and going to the Games as individuals and the official rules from CrossFit explain that a team can only substitute one male and one female, so even if Team WIT accepts the invite they wouldn’t be able to field a team at the Games. This means that Team Mayhem Independence will most likely be the team that ends up with the Wodapalooza Games invite. 

That’s all from Wodapalooza 2020. It’s hard to believe that the four-day fitness festival is already over. What were your favorite moments from the weekend? Let us know and be sure to stay tuned and follow along for more Sanctional coverage during the 2020 season.