It came as a stark reality check to hopes of a normal 2021 season when the Dubai CrossFit Championship cancelled their event, which was due to take place in December, earlier this month.
The competition is the biggest of the Sanctional season and acts as a big payday for elite athleten. But with the complications surrounding international travel which look likely to continue late into the end of 2020 at least, the decision was made to call off the Championship.
A new format had been set to take place next season too, with the organisers promising creative workouts to test areas of fitness that are not normally challenged in CrossFit events and pledging to cover the expenses of all qualifiers.
Thankfully, a new event was announced in its place - the DCC2020 Online Challenge which is already underway. Competitors are going head to head in three workouts across three weeks, with an end date of June 6th.
The winners of the men’s and women’s divisions will earn $10,000 each, while even the age-group divisions will be competing for big cash. Prizes of $5,000 will go to the winners of the 40-49 and 50+ categories, along with $3,000 dollars for the best under-18.
The first round has now come to a close, with athleten asked to complete as many reps of alternating single-arm devil presses as possible, and some of the best names in the sport have put themselves forward.
One is Sara Sigmundsdottir, who unsurprisingly sits joint top of the women’s leaderboard having managed 142 reps - a tally only Canada’s Carolyne Prevost could match.
Britain’s Samantha Briggs has also entered and completed 141 reps, agonisingly falling just one short of the leaders, which puts her third - the same place she came at the 2019 Dubai Championship only a few months ago.
Other big names in the women’s division include Ireland’s Emma McQuaid, who is 10th after round one, and Andrea Nisler, currently in sixth.
On the men’s side, entrants include Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson, the Icelandic champion who came third at the Games last year and placed fourth overall in this season’s Open and Dubai Championship respectively. Gudmundsson currently sits well poised in 11th.
He is joined by fellow Games invitee Jeffrey Adler of Canada, who placed seventh in the first workout.
