The 2018 Dubai CrossFit Championship is a four-day CrossFit Inc. sanctioned competition held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from December 12th – 15th, 2018. It is also the first CrossFit sanctioned event of the CrossFit Games season, and the first competition to reward an elite individual man, woman and team a qualification to the 2019 Reebok CrossFit Games.
In order to qualify and earn a spot in the finals at the Dubai CrossFit Championship, all athletes had to complete three workouts in a three week online competition. Then the top 37 male and female athletes, and 10 teams who successfully completed the online qualifier were invited to the finals. The Dubai CrossFit Championship consisted of 10 Events over 4 grueling days. The team events were similar to the individual events (seen below), but teams worked as pairs and in a relay format. Learn more about the team events here.
Day 1 consisted of Event 1 and 2:
Event 1 – Arabian Gulf Swim
15 Min Time Cap (Must Finish)
21 – 15 – 9
Dual KB Snatch 24 kg / 16 kg
Dual KB Front Squat 24 kg / 16 kg
350m swim
Event 2 – Baywatch
16 Min Time Cap
800m Assault Air Runner
350m swim with lifeguard tube
Athletes dealt with some pretty gnarly waves that progressively got worse as the day went on. To make matters even more challenging they also had to hold a buoy while they swam. There were certainly some trip ups, with a mix of familiar CrossFit Games veterans, and up and coming CrossFit athletes finishing on top. Mat Fraser, Sara Sigmundsdottir and CrossFit Invictus took the win in Event 1 and Alex Kotoulas, Harriet Roberts and CrossFit Invictus took the win in Event 2.
Day 2 consisted of Event 3:
Event 3 – 4×4
90 min Time Cap
8K Desert Run
4K w/ 20/14 lbs plate carrier
4K without
Athletes had to deal with all the elements of the desert, and were pushed to their limits on day two. The tactical weight vests plus sand were challenging and had athletes sport some very different techniques in the 8K desert run. Mikaela Norman was one of the athletes to use plastic bags to protect her feet and prevent sand from entering her shoes, and she took the Event 3 win. Brendan Willis finished the event with a substantial lead between him and second place, with an impressive time of 34:19. And it was Team Sweden who took the win for Event 3.
Day 3 consisted of Event 4, 5 and 6:
Event 4 – Max Snatch
5 min to establish a 1RM Snatch
Event 5 – Under Pressure
10 Minute Time Cap
20m Yoke Carry @280/180 kg
15 parallette HSPU (regular for men / 20kg plate + abmat for women)
Then 3 rounds:
15 box jumps over (30 / 24)
10 Ring Muscle ups
20m Yoke Carry @ 280/180 kg
Event 6 – Acid Bath
7 Min Time Cap Women
6 Min Time Cap Men
500m SkiErg
500m Row
1000m BikeErg
Day three began with Laura Horvath feeling super strong and hitting a lifetime personal record of 93kgs on the heavy max snatch. But it wasn’t enough to take the event win with Mia Akerlund snatching a whopping 104kgs. And the one and only Mat Fraser took the win for Event 4 with a 137kg max snatch. Next up athletes got the chance to work on a heavy yolk carry and there gymnastics moves, with Mat Fraser and Jamie Greene taking the win for Event 5. And for the last event of the day Roman Khrennikov and Laura Horvath took the win for Event 6. Unfortunately this was Laura’s last event of the weekend, as she had to withdraw from competition due to significant back issues. Team Omnicide won Event 4 ahead of Invictus by just 6 seconds, CrossFit Pro1 took Event 5 and Cassidy, Jen, Adrian and Lukas took the win for Event 6.
Day 4 consisted of Event 7, 8, 9 and 10:
Event 7 – Monkey Business
9 Minute Time Cap for Women
8 Minute Time Cap for Men
9 Rope climbs
40m Handstand Walk
6 Rope climbs
40m Handstand Walk
3 Rope climbs
40m Handstand Walk
Event 8 – Sprint
3 Minute Time Cap
20m Sandbag carry (150lbs/100lbs)
12/10 Burpee box jump overs (24/20)
30/20 cal Assault Bike
12/10 Burpee box jump overs (24/20)
20m Sandbag carry (150lbs/100lbs)
Event 9 – Lift off
6 Minute Time Cap
15 snatch 90kg / 60kg
15 clean & jerk 110kg / 80kg
Event 10 – Surprise
13 Minute Time Cap
4 Rounds
6 bar muscle-ups
3 devils press 85lbs /55 lbs
3 Rounds
15 toes-to-bar
60 double unders
2 Rounds
30 wall balls 20lbs / 14 lbs
5 cleans 100kg / 70kg
Then
20m single arm OH lunge 85 lbs / 55lbs
Day four did not disappoint. Mat Fraser headed into Event 7 with a 40 point lead, but the top four women on the leaderboard were neck and neck. Anything could happen. The anticipation of the last day of events, plus Event 10 as an unknown had everyone on the edge of there seats.
Mat Fraser was on fire and showed us why he is the reigning Fittest Man on Earth, taking the win for Event 7, 8 and 9. Jamie Greene took the win for Event 7, Samantha Briggs took the win for Event 8, and Dani Speegle took the win for Event 9. And for the Teams, Central Beasts took the win for Event 7, Team Butchers Lab took the win for Event 8a, Team Omnicide took the win for Event 8b, and CrossFit Invictus took the win for Event 9.
Event 10 was a surprise event, it was announced just 30 minutes ahead of show time and it had a little bit of everything. Athletes were challenged right off the bat with heavy devil presses and bar muscle ups, and finishing with cleans and single heavy OH lunges. Needless to say they were pushed to their ultimate limits with a tight 13 minute time cap. Winners of Event 10 would also take a bonus of $30K for the win, which gave the athletes another burst of adrenaline for the final workout of the weekend. It wasn’t surprising that veteran Mat Fraser was the winner, and the only male to finish the event under the time cap in 12:47 minutes. And veteran Samantha Briggs was the winner, and the only woman to finish the event under the time cap in 12:49 minutes. And Team Omnicide took first place with a 11:46 minute finish and 9 second win over CrossFit Pro1.
It was Mat Fraser, Samantha Briggs and CrossFit Invictus who were resilient and fought to the very end and were the winners of the 2018 Dubai CrossFit Championships, and the very first athletes to qualify for the 2019 Reebok CrossFit Games. This will also be CrossFit Invictus’s 11th consecutive year going to the CrossFit Games.
Top 3 Individual Men Winners:
- Mat Fraser – 935 points
- BK Gudmundsson – 823 points
- Willy Georges – 798 points
Top 3 Individual Women Winners:
- Samantha Briggs – 817 points
- Jamie Greene – 811 points
- Sara Sigmundsdottir – 805 points
Top 3 Team Winners:
- CrossFit Invictus – 993 points
- Team Omnicide – 946 points
- Cassidy, Jen, Adrian, Lukas – 946 points
Congratulations to all 10 Teams, and 33 Individual Men and Women that competed and gave it their all at the Dubai CrossFit Championship. You should be super proud of your accomplishments and all your hard work and efforts. We look forward to you coming back stronger than ever before in the 2019 CrossFit Games season.
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