Today we’ll talk everything you’ll ever need to know about and the important stories to follow at WODAPALOOZA in Miami this weekend.
Good morning and welcome to the WODDITY podcast for news about CrossFit. We are a daily podcast, Monday through Friday, doing CrossFit news in five minutes or less.
My name is Ben Garves and today is Wednesday, the 19th of February, 2020.
Mundwiler in the Chase
Adrian Mundwiler is on the hunt as one of the top athletes yet to have earned an invite to the 2020 CrossFit Games. With a significant amount of athletes in the men’s field having already qualified, this could be Mundwiler’s chance to reclaim his status as a top athlete in the sport.
It’s a battle of the brothers out there.
We were pretty sure Ben Smith would go team this year, but he has proven us wrong once again. He qualified through the CrossFit Open, but is here in Miami taking on his brother Alec, who competed on (and earned a podium spot with) CrossFit Krypton’s team in the 2019 CrossFit Games. At the same time, we see twin brother Saxon and Spencer Panchik going head-to-head while their other brother Scott Panchik competes with CrossFit Mayhem Freedom on the team side.
Perennial Power
This WODAPALOOZA we’re seeing a list of athletes only rivaled by the Rogue Invitational. Cole Sager, Noah Ohlsen, and 2019 WODAPALOOZA winner Patrick Vellner are all back in Miami. Well, Florida is Ohlsen’s home, but still. These athletes have 13 CrossFit Games appearances among them, and a couple good events could very quickly turn the weekend for one of them.
Anglo-French War of the George
We’re hyping this up a little bit, but it’s fun to think about. Willy Georges from France and Zack George from the United Kingdom will both be present this weekend. Nothing like a little battle of the Gorges from two countries with a rich history.
Brooke Wells, Dani Speegle, Haley Adams
Here are three fan-favorite CrossFit Games athletes, all in varying places in their careers, going head-to-head early in the season. Brooke Wells has a ton of Games experience, Dani Speegle had a huge breakout year in 2019, and Haley Adams has proven she’s more than just a teen phenomenon. We haven’t seen Speegle since her Colorado car accident this winter, Wells has been training with Ben Bergeron and Katrin Davidsdottir, and Haley Adams can’t ask for a better coach in Rich Froning. This is a matchup we’re all (thanks to FloSports) going to pay to see.
Sara Sigmundsdottir vs.Tia-Clair Toomey
This is a matchup the South China Morning Post put on paper this week. We’re watching a three-time CrossFit Open winner (Sara Sigmundsdottir) taking on a three-time CrossFit Games champion (Tia-Clair Toomey). Who will win?
Super Lineup of Super Teams
Super teams are the name of the game this weekend. Not only are we going to see Mayhem Freedom (Rich Froning, Scott Panchik, Chyna Cho, Tasia Percevecz), who qualified mere weeks ago at Strength in Depth, but Mayhem Independence (with Chase HIll, Royce Dunne, Kristin Miller, Fee Saghafi) will be alongside them. Throw in these other teams, and who NEEDS the CrossFit Games? We’ll see:
- Team WIT (Harriet Roberts, Michael Smith, Samantha Briggs)
- Team Victory Grips (Meredith Root, EZ Muhammad)
- Team GOWOD (Streat Hoerner, Taylor Williamson, Andrea Nisler)
- ROMWOD Meat Squad (Brooke Haas, Kelly Baker, Tim Paulson)
This episode is sponsored by WOD on the Waves. Visit WOD on the Waves here and book using discount code “FITNESSM8”.
And that’s it for news about CrossFit for Wednesday, February 19th. Thanks for listening. Please be sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share. For WODDITY, I’m Ben Garves. Behave yourselves out there.
