CrossFit Strength In Depth Report: Mat Fraser & Mayhem Freedom Take Titles

The CrossFit Strength in Depth was dominated by two of the biggest names in the sport as Mat Fraser won the men’s division and Rich Froning helped Mayhem Freedom to the team title.
Fraser, who celebrated his 30th birthday on day two of the competition in London, won the final four events to seal the biggest margin of victory at a Sanctional this season. The American was 116 points ahead of Britain’s David Shorunke, who booked his own spot at the Games in Madison due to Fraser already having an invite.

Shorunke travelled back from Sweden, where he is now based, to compete but was
disappointed with is performances on Friday, posting to Instagram: “Day 1 at Strength in Depth didn’t go well. I could do [a] ‘woe is me’ post about how I’m not feeling myself, or I could just get my head down and fucking bring it tomorrow. #SeeYouAtWork.” The 29-year-old then produced some consistent results over the weekend to leap up the leaderboard.

There were also strong displays from two of his countrymen who have already booked their places at Madison as Built for Athletes ambassador Zack George finished 12th and Joshua Al-chamaa came 13th.

The top of the women’s division was a much more tense affair as the 2018 Games runner-up Laura Horvath went into the last event of the weekend with a slim five-point lead over Gabriela Migala, and kept her cool to land her first Sanctional title by 562 points to Migala’s 541.

Horvath of Hungary had already secured her spot at the Games, as had the other top four athletes, so the invitation was handed down to fifth place Kelsey Kiel.

Britain’s Tayla Howe and Carys Webster managed top-10 performances with eighth and ninth respectively.

The team division was another exciting encounter as Mayhem Freedom fought back from a below-par ninth place in event one by taking five consecutive workout wins to finish 28 points ahead of Ireland’s Team Whey’d.

That ensures the reigning champions will compete at the Games yet again this year, with their star-studded line-up including Froning and Scott Panchik.