For the first time in the Semifinals era, South America will send three men and three women to the CrossFit Games after the strong performances by the collective field in the CrossFit Open and Quarterfinals.
The final standings in the women’s division were:
Victoria Campos — 555
Julia Kato — 546
Andreia Pinheiro — 510
Emily Andrade — 443
Lucia Viretti — 420
The final standings in the men’s division were:
Guilherme Malheiros — 573
Kalyan Souza — 528
Bruno Marins — 528
Benja Gutirrez — 489
Henrique Moreira — 474
The biggest storyline on the men’s side was whether or not Guilherme Malheiros could return to the CrossFit Games in 2024 after finishing just below the cutline in 2023.
To punch his ticket, Malheiros had to compete alongside 2023 CrossFit Games rookies Kalyan Souza and Kaique Cerveny, Games veteran Agustin Richelme, and several other up-and-coming athletes from South America.
For the women, Victoria Campos, who finished 38th at the CrossFit Games last year, looked to win her third consecutive South America CrossFit Semifinal. Her toughest competition was expected to come from 2022 CrossFit Games athlete, Julia Kato.
Here’s how it played out.
Women’s Division
After starting slow with an eighth-place finish in Event 1, Victoria Campos found herself on top of the leaderboard after Event 2 when she finished second behind Amanda Fusuma.
Campos then won Event 3, taking a 15-point lead going into the final day.
On the cutline, Emily Andrade started the final day 24 points out of a qualifying position. She managed to eliminate all of that in Event 4 by winning the event and pulling into a tie with Andreia Pinheiro for third.
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Campos built on her day-two lead with a second-place finish, four spots ahead of Julia Kato.
In Event 5, Julia Kato took the event win by only a second to close the gap on Campos to 12 points for the overall lead.
The battle for the third and final Games invitation stayed tight as Emily Andrade edged out Andreia Pinheiro by one spot to take a three-point lead into the final event.
Julia Kato came from behind on the lunges to edge out Campos in the final event and clinched her spot at the CrossFit Games.
Campos, who finished second in the event, took home the South American Semifinal for the third year in a row.
In the battle for the final Games ticket, Andreia Pinheiro did what she needed to do, finishing third in the event, securing third place overall, and earning a spot at the CrossFit Games.
Andreia Pinheiro won the age group Semifinal (Women, 40-44) and already earned her spot at the Masters CrossFit Games.
She finished second in the 40-44 division at the 2023 CrossFit Games.
Men’s Division
In the men’s competition, Kaylan Souza started the competition right where he left off last year with an event win.
After stumbling in Event 2, finishing 16th, Souza bounced back with another win in Event 3, placing him in a qualifying competition for the weekend.
In the early battle for the top spot, Bruno Marins took and held the lead until the final day of competition after winning Event 2 and placing second in Event 3.
Guilherme Malheiros also showed consistent top form, placing sixth, second, and third in the first three events of the competition.
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Going into the final day of competition, 27-year-old Bruno Marins was eight points ahead of Malheiros.
In Event 4, Kalyan Souza picked up his third win of the weekend, while Marins stumbled with a 17th-place finish.
This gave Benja Gutierrez and Kaique Cerveny a new life in the competition, as they were now only three and 21 points, respectively, behind the third-place Marins.
Malheiros built his lead in Event 5 after claiming the world record at 5:07, going touch-and-go on the final bar, and taking a 36-point lead into the final event.
Cerveny did his best to fight back into a qualifying position with a second-place finish in the event, but as Marin finished third, Cerveny was still 18 points out of a qualifying spot.
Souza maintained his second-place spot, although by only three points after his seventh-place finish in the event.
In the final event of the weekend, Malheiros put the world on notice that he is back in the upper echelon of the sport.
With his second event win of the day, Malheiros secured his second Semifinals title.
Kalyan Souza clinched his second trip to the Games with a fourth-place finish in the final event, capping off an impressive weekend that included three event wins.
Bruno Marins finished off his breakout competition with a third-place finish in the final event to secure his first-ever trip to the CrossFit Games.
After a strong performance in Event 5, Kaique Cerveny joins the list of athletes who fell victim to the walking lunges, as a 37th-place finish dropped him to seventh place on the final leaderboard.
Team Division
The competition was fierce, with only two spots up for grabs this weekend.
However, Vittoria CrossFit Centr 1 Movimiento and AR-1 CrossFit Mayhem Unity both proved themselves head and shoulders above the rest of the pack, with a 54-point separation from the third-place team.
AR-1 CrossFit Mayhem Unity joins the four other teams representing Mayhem at the Games this season, including their affiliate team, CrossFit Mayhem from North America East.
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Vittoria CrossFit Centr 1 Movimiento — 476
AR-1 CrossFit Mayhem Unity — 456
Q21 CrossFit — 402
The Big Picture
With the South American CrossFit community sending three men and three women to the CrossFit Games in 2024, it will be interesting to see if they can translate their early-season success into the CrossFit Games.
Except for Guilherme Malheiros, no South American athlete has finished better than 30th at the CrossFit Games.
Featured image: Fabio Prado
Source link : https://barbend.com/2024-crossfit-south-america-semifinal-winners/
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Publish date : 2024-06-02 16:15:29
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