Years in the past, when coaching for an OPEX certification, considered one of many ideas the unique CrossFit Video games champion, James Fitzgerald, taught was that “the pacer at all times wins.”
It was an intriguing idea, and that intrigue has grown over time — particularly due to present two-time CrossFit Video games champion Justin Medeiros, who appears to know this precept extremely nicely. His capability to execute constantly on the highest stage, with the broadest ranges of time domains and assessments, has set him aside from the sphere over the previous two years.
Beneath, we dissect Medeiros’s spectacular capability to win the Video games whereas solely profitable a single occasion between his two Video games, proving that Fitzgerald’s knowledge nonetheless holds up.
Lack of Occasion Wins
Regardless of profitable the final two Video games (2021, 2022), the 23-year-old Medeiros has truly performed little or no profitable on the Video games. In two years on the Video games, he’s solely managed one occasion win (the ultimate occasion of 2021), which is low for a two-time Video games champion.
The chart beneath reveals how multiple-time champions fared event-to-event of their first two Video games wins.
Athlete First Yr Occasion Wins Second Yr Occasion Wins Whole Occasion Wins Wealthy Froning 2011 3 2012 3 6 Mat Fraser 2016 1 2017 4 5 Annie Thorisdottir 2011 3 2012 2 5 Tia-Clair Toomey 2017 2 2018 2 4 Katrin Davíðsdóttir 2015 1 2016 3 4 Justin Medeiros 2021 1 2022 0 1
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So How’s He Doing It?
To look at Medeiros’s consistency in motion, I rewatched each warmth he competed in on the 2021 and 2022 Video games to see the place he was relative to his warmth after one-third of the exercise, two-thirds of the exercise, and on the finish of the exercise.
In lots of cases, there are additionally folks from different heats who ended up beating him on a exercise, however it’s robust to tempo towards ghosts.
As such, the stats in each charts beneath characterize how Medeiros did in his warmth at the start, center, and finish of every exercise.
2021 CrossFit Video games Occasions
In his first championship run, Medeiros established a sample that held true for 10 of the 14 (71%) related occasions; he by no means gave away a single place because the exercise progressed. As an alternative, he picked folks off who began forward of him almost each time.
2021 CrossFit Video games Occasion First Third Second Third Warmth End General End Occasion 1 not in prime 5 ? 5 5 Occasion 2 4 2 6 15 Occasion 3 8 6 4 11 Occasion 4 t-1 1 1 2 Occasion 5 7 t-4 3 4 Occasion 6 5 4 2 6 Occasion 7 4 3 2 7 Occasion 8 5 1 1 2 Occasion 9 10 7 6 9 Occasion 10 4 8 6 6 Occasion 11 9 7 6 10 Occasion 12 – – 7 7 Occasion 13 7 3 3 3 Occasion 14 t-1 2 2 2 Occasion 15 t-5 t-3 1 1
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The exceptions had been on:
Occasion 2 with the pig flip/sled drag combo on the finish of that exercise.
Occasion 10, the place he gave away floor on the second one-and-a-half-mile run.
Occasion 14, the place he went from tied with Patrick Vellner to narrowly shedding to him on the end line, nicely forward of the remainder of the sphere.
Sustaining this stage of self-discipline is sort of spectacular. It additionally requires super self-awareness to presumably permit the sphere to tug away, trusting that your health will prevail as time goes on. Nevertheless, coming into the 2021 Video games, nobody was essentially anticipating Medeiros to win.
As soon as he achieved the title of Fittest Man on Earth®, although, quite a bit modified for him, together with that stage of expectation. The query turned, might he do it once more?
2022 CrossFit Video games Occasions
It solely appeared prudent to acknowledge Talent Pace Medley as three separate and distinct “occasions” as a result of a lot was on the road in every spherical of the exercise. Subsequently, for 2022, we’re contemplating 16 alternatives to check Medeiros’s efficiency relative to his warmth.
2022 CrossFit Video games Occasion First Third Second Third Warmth End General End Bike to work 3 2 3 3 ability velocity medley QF warmth 7 4 2 – ability velocity medley SF warmth 2 2 2 – ability velocity medley Finals 5 2 t-3 3 Eliz. Elevated 5 5 5 12 shuttle to overhead A 7 4 ? 18 shuttle to overhead B t-1 t-2 3 5 Capitol ? 14 8 8 Up and Over 5 5 2 2 Echo Press 3 3 2 5 Rinse N Repeat* 4 4 7 7 Hat Trick 1 1 1 3 Sandbag Ladder – – 5 5 The Alpaca 8 7 5 5 Again 9 4 3 2 3 Jackie Professional – t-1 2 4
Of these 16 alternatives, he solely ever gave even a single placement again to the sphere 4 instances — that means 75% of the time (a slight enhance from 2021); he was capable of enhance his positioning in his warmth because the occasions wore on.
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The exceptions this 12 months had been:
The ability velocity medley finals, the place Guilherme Malheiros handed him on the press to handstand plus parallette traverse.
Shuttle to Overhead B, an occasion wherein he nonetheless wound up taking fifth total.
Rinse N Repeat, which all got here all the way down to the final dash within the pool after which ripping on the ski erg. (He paced this occasion extremely nicely, and I might contemplate this considered one of his extra spectacular total performances this 12 months.)
Throughout Jackie Professional, already having the title in his sights, he gave one place again to Roman Khrennikov on the bar muscle-ups on the finish.
In all, it appears that evidently Medeiros was capable of enhance on an already spectacular sample of out-pacing, or out-strategizing, his opponents and closest rivals (these in his warmth, which, by the way in which, was virtually at all times the ultimate warmth).
The Pacer All the time Wins
Though the game is comparatively younger (2022 was the sixteenth CrossFit Video games), it has advanced in some ways since 2007. A number of nuances and adjustments have gotten us thus far, from location and qualification course of to depth of discipline and scoring techniques.
Contemplating all of that, it’s fairly cool to see, utilizing information, that the present two-time CrossFit Video games champion is profitable by executing a precept the unique CrossFit Video games champion makes use of in his instructing.
Doing it again in 2007 was one factor — to have the ability to do it now, towards a worldwide discipline of rivals, most of whom have super assets at their disposal, is sort of frankly exceptional.
Whereas Medeiros’s resume concerning occasion wins doesn’t stack as much as the 5 different two-time champions of their first two victories, it virtually makes what he’s doing extra spectacular. Certain, occasion wins are big on the CrossFit Video games, however the capability to not often give something away towards the sphere as exercises put on on has been fairly the recipe for fulfillment within the case of Medeiros these previous two seasons. I suppose the query now could be, what occurs if he additionally begins to win occasions?
Featured Picture: William Johnson