Madeline Sturt and Jay Crouch are the winners of the 2022 Down Under Championship. The two CrossFitters managed to pace ahead of the respective Women’s and Men’s fields to capture their Individual titles at the contest that took place on Nov. 18-20, 2022, in Wollongong, Australia.
On the Teams side, LSKD Gold — featuring Briony Challis, Christee Hollard, and Emily de Rooy — took first place for the Women, while Men at Work — featuring Noah Ohlsen, Saxon Panchik, and Chandler Smith — won out for the Men.
Here’s an overview of the top five finishers in each of the participating competitive categories at the 2022 Down Under Championship:
Individual Women
- Madeline Sturt (584 points)
- Gemma Hauck (559 points)
- Christina Livaditakis (552 points)
- Grace Walton (535 points)
- Georgia Pryer (532 points)
Individual Men
- Jay Crouch (648 points)
- Jake Douglas (604 points)
- Peter Ellis (579 points)
- Zeke Grove (548 points)
- Evan Morris (510 points)
Teams (Women)
- LSKD Gold (680 points)
- Team LNMD (596 points)
- Awaside (584 points)
- Starr Strength Gals (577 points)
- Torian Pink (559 points)
Teams (Men)
- Men at Work (670 points)
- Downunder Dogs (665 points)
- Underway Full Senders (577 points)
- Superstarr’s (554 points)
- Batman, Robin, and JJ (544 points)
Here’s a quick rundown of the Individual results event by event from the 2022 Down Under Championship.
Event One — Randy
The first event gave the competitors six minutes to perform 75 snatches as fast as they could. The weight for the Women was 25 kilograms (55.1 pounds), and it was 35 kilograms (77.1 pounds) for the Men.
Katelin Van Zyl finished in two minutes and 40 seconds to win, while Sturt tailed just behind in two minutes and 52 seconds for the Women. On the Men’s side, Rees Machell (two minutes and 51 seconds) edged out Jay Crouch (two minutes and 53 seconds) by two seconds for the win.
Event Two — Nasty Girls V3
In the second individual event of the contest, the athletes had to work through the Nasty Girls V3 — finishing three rounds of 50 single-leg squats, 10 ring muscle-ups, and 10 hang cleans for time. The Women’s weight on the hang clean was 52.5 kilograms (117.5 pounds), and it was 80 kilograms (176.3 pounds) for the Men.
Sturt (eight minutes and 44 seconds) paced ahead of the Women, taking first place by 21 seconds. As for the Men, Peter Ellis (eight minutes and 47 seconds) bested Crouch (eight minutes and 50 seconds) by three seconds.
Event Three — John Cleary Shuffle
For this event, the CrossFitters were given 10 minutes to finish 11 sandbag cleans, a sandbag carry, nine sandbag cleans and a sandbag carry, and seven sandbag cleans and one sandbag bear hug carry. The Women’s sandbags weighed 45 kilograms (99.2 pounds), while the Men’s worked with 60 kilograms (132.2 pounds).
Grace Walton managed to finish her cycle in four minutes and five seconds for the Women’s victory, while Jake Douglas (three minutes and 31 seconds) strode ahead of a second-place Crouch (three minutes and 45 seconds) for the Men.
Event Four — Regionals 17.1
The roughly middle event of the 2022 Down Under Championship mandated respective time limits of 20 minutes (Men) and 23 minutes (Women). The athletes had to run 1,200 meters, then they had to do 12 rounds of four strict handstand push-ups, eight chest-to-bar pull-ups, and 12 squats. All of this happened with the Women wearing 14-pound weighted vests and the Men’s wearing 20-pound vests.
Marnie Sykes finished in 15 minutes and 19 seconds for the Women, and Crouch took the event win in 13 minutes and 57 seconds on the Men’s side.
Event Five — Regionals 12.5
Next, the CrossFitters had to perform a snatch ladder with double-unders during the Regionals 12.5. The Women began their snatches at 50 kilograms (110.2 pounds) and worked their way up to 90 kilograms (198.4 pounds). The Men started their snatches with 80 kilograms (176.3 pounds) and finished at 135 kilograms (297.6 pounds).
Christina Livaditakis won the event by completing the 87.5 kilogram snatch followed by 28 double-unders on the Women’s side. Isaac Newman won the Men’s tiebreaker over Douglas by working through 30 double-unders after a 130 kilogram snatch.
Event Six — Regionals 16.6
The second-to-last event of the competition was a doozy. It had both groups of Individual athletes ride 1,000 meters on a C2 Bike, do a 30-meters handstand walk, 10 overhead squats (70 kilograms/154.3 pounds for the Women and 100 kilograms/220.4 pounds for the Men), 500 meters on a rowing machine, 50 burpee box jump-overs, and five more overhead squats. The time limit was 16 minutes.
In what was undoubtedly instrumental in her eventual overall podium result, Livaditakis completed the entire exhaustive workout in 11 minutes and two seconds — 34 seconds faster than the next-best Women’s athlete. Meanwhile, Crouch started to cement his overall victory by concluding his workout in nine minutes and 17 seconds.
Event Seven — Regionals 16.7
To cap the competition, the CrossFitters had one more gauntlet during the Regionals 16.7 event. With a six-minute time limit, they had to perform 21 thrusters (30 kilograms/66.1 pounds for the Women and 45 kilograms/99.2 pounds for the Men), three legless rope climbs, 15 more thrusters, two legless rope climbs, nine more thrusters, and one final legless rope climb.
To put the cherry on top of her competition victory, Sturt won the event with a sterling time of three minutes and 27 seconds. Meanwhile, Peter Ellis snuck onto the final podium by winning this event.
As the 2022 CrossFit season draws to a close, Sturt, Crouch, and the respective other winners in the rest of the competitive divisions can hold their heads high. The 2023 CrossFit season awaits, and they may well be riding a wave of momentum into it.
Featured image: downunderchampionship on Instagram
