The Sevan Podcast - #515 - Men's Predictions | 2022 CrossFit Games Insider

Episode Date: August 1, 2022

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welcome to the winners of the 2022 CrossFit Games featuring Brian Friend, John Young, Sevan Matosian, and C. Beaver on the back end. C. Beaver on the back end. Brian with a hamburger. Brian is in Madison. John is somewhere in the middle of the country. Caleb is in an undisclosed location. Caleb, you look tan.

Getting a little dark out here. It's interesting. It's interesting. Interesting. Lord Cleo, Chase Ingram, and Adrian Conway did this show a few hours ago, and they started the show by saying that we are on the heels of the CrossFit Games. I think what she meant to say is we are on the heels of the Sevan podcast. I think that's what she meant to say. It is becoming extremely suspicious

that every time I have a guest or an idea, they go up an hour or two or three or four before me. Drat it. I'd like to say that after watching that, I realized that I am the only person in the CrossFit space besides Justin's parents that say his name right. His name is Justin Medeiros. After watching that, I realized that I am the only person in the CrossFit space, besides Justin's parents that say his name right. His name is Justin Medeiros.

It's not Medeiros, but those are the kinds of things that you expect to get correct, and that's why you guys are tuned in here, especially you, Ron Sutton, MLK5240, CrossFit Corey, Elise Carr, Riddow, Brandon Waddle, etc. Yes, John, were were you gonna say something no you kind of leaned in you gave me a a non-verbal cue i'm just looking at other things sorry uh to make sure quality control is in place we brought john young um so that brian uh we know brian's been getting carried away with his picks and just fucking choosing every Tom, Dick, and Harry. And so we brought John Young in to keep him in check. And we shall see if that works.

Brian, do you feel confident with your picks? Much more confident in the women than the men. Okay. John, do you feel confident in your picks? Yeah. Similar to Brian, but yeah, I'm confident in both of them. I took a risk.

I'll just say this, this men's field is, was the most difficult field of athletes that I think I've ever had ranked for any CrossFit competition. And why is that? There's more people. There's a lot of depth and there's a lot of depth at, you know,

like throughout the leaderboard so even in the i would say up through like 33 or four guys i was still like really not not just having a hard time with one or two but like there were groups of four or five that i was like man i on any given weekend i don't like any of these guys could beat all of this group of people so when john you say there's more people there's not you mean there's more people who are good On any given weekend, any of these guys could beat all of this group of people. So when, John, you say there's more people, you mean there's more people who are good because it is the same amount of guys, right? Yeah, there's more people who are viable for the podium, who are viable for top 10 and the guys, for sure.

And then even the top 20, it's just different. There's different people, different newcomers and people who have been banned, people who have tried to come for four years and couldn't. There's a lot of different people. So based on how people are at previous CrossFit competitions where you've seen them compete, this is a really tight race. Yeah. this is a really tight race. Yeah. But, but,

but not at the very bottom. Really? Okay. Let me just ask this. Who do you have as your winner? Um, at the very, very top,

uh, John, I got Patrick Bounder. Is that just to make controversy or that's a serious, uh, that's a serious, no, I no no i i got him to you know it's very close and then i just picked who i wanted to win if it was close i tried to uh see if i could make any kind of an argument that velner could beat justin and i felt like it was really close whenever i looked at the events last year. And Veldor beat Medeiros more than Medeiros beat him, 8-7.

He took it off the gas in the last event, so that point spread would have been close. And Veldor's been swimming with Ryan Lochte. Really? Is that true? Is that true? I don't... Is that beneficial or did he just increase some drinking game? No, they're in the pool together on Instagram, and three days with Ryan Lochte is better than not three days

without Ryan Lochte. And the swim event's in the pool. All of this benefits Vellner. So I was like, man, if it's close, I want Vellner to win, and I took a chance on annie last year and it paid off for me huge and uh i'm doing the same with velner this year uh ryan stephen lochte born august 3rd 1984 is an american professional swimmer and 12-time olympic medalist along with natalie kaufman dara torres and jenna thompson he is the second most decorated swimmer in Olympic history.

Measured by a total number of medals behind only Michael Phelps. Seven individual Olympic medals. Wow. They just ran into each other at the pool? He's had multiple posts on Instagram with Lochte. Tear. Through tear. That's the TYR thing? Those are the rubber bands

or the tape? Same company. Gloves. Pads. What do they make? Grip pads? Pull-up? What do those guys make? They make tons of stuff. They make a lot of gym equipment. They're now his main apparel sponsor. I thought they made pull-up grips.

What? I thought Tier like what are those things called you put you slip your two fingers through them and then it's got the thing that dangles and flaps around they might eventually but they as far as i know they do not now wow look at this much love from goose island crossfit i think we we talked about them the other day much love oh that's where you did the workout yeah much. Much love from Goose Island CrossFit. Rachel Laporte. Who do you have number one, Brian? I won't pick anyone other than Justin Medeiros until someone shows me they can beat Justin Medeiros.

How about Justin Medeiros? He's my pick. Okay. Justin Medeiros it is. Did you like how I said it? Yeah, I did. He's my pick. Okay.

Justin Medeiros it is. Did you like how I said it? Yeah, I did. And I say that because Adrian Conway had Saxon. He had Justin Medeiros as number one, but he had Saxon as number two and Fikowski as three. I'm sure we'll have a chance to talk about Saxon and Fikowski. Okay. All right.

Brian, can we just dig into your Instagram and just start working our way down from the top to the bottom? Yeah. And since we don't have, I don't have John Young's list in front of me. John, do you have your list? And you'll put, and you just tell us who you have in these places also, and I'll write it down and I'll start instigating shit. I mean, we're talking about it. If you can, the strength and weakness document, it's in that document if you're able to pull that up.

But I have it in front of me too, so either way works. Just email it to me, John. All right, Caleb. Number one, Justin Medeiros. But it's interesting. You're saying the exact same thing Chase did. Your argument is, what have you done for me lately? You're the winner, so I'm going to pick you as the winner until proven otherwise.

Well, yes, but I also think— But you as the winner until, until proven otherwise. Um, well, yes, but there's more than that, right? Yeah. Uh, every,

I mean, well, his, his competition performance starting last year at the games through semifinals of this year, every competition that he's done, he's been the best guy in it. I'm specifically talking about live competitions and he's been,

um, like increasingly impressive in each one relative to the next closest competitor. So what I mean by that is he beat Vellner at the games by about 80 points over 15 events. He beat Hopper at the semifinals by the same number of points over six events. So he's putting that margin against the field he's competing against in a much longer number of events. I also think based on – I mean, he doesn't put a ton of stuff out there for people to see what he's doing throughout the year. Felner posts a lot of his workouts, a lot of his training sessions,

but Justin doesn't do that so much. So you have to do a little bit more digging or know the right people to kind of find out what's going on with Justin in terms of his training. But everything that I've heard is suggestive of a better version of Justin Medeiros than last year at the games. Two things you didn't mention but that I think you definitely thought of is his coach, Adam Neiffer knifer totally stable crazy stable situation added an athlete ellie turner to the mix who justin at least uh see um from what we've heard

is extremely happy with and has uh helped his training and uh and his age how old was he last year 23 i think he's 24 now so we have to assume he got significantly better by significantly i mean within the margins of his level yeah well you know he he didn't win with like this like random display of performances he was mostly consistent he had a couple below average and a couple real you know top three finishes but so so when that happens you can hone in on on things in the offseason much more easily like he could pick a couple of things specifically to try to improve over the course of this year and i think that he's been successful in the pursuits of those couple things john when you pick patrick velner and then we start the show does part of you go like fuck i don't really want to argue this no i'd love to argue it okay

give it give it give it give it to me give it to me let me just say this let me say this while you're i think you're behind the eight ball before you dig in if you were to pick patrick last year i'd have been like okay because because i know patrick is smart um he's kind but he's extremely intimidating in his own way he has incredible presence and confidence um and uh there's a casualness to him that could mislead his opponents and he i could see maybe like possibly taking the edge by head fucking uh mad Medeiros. But now Medeiros has got to win. And so any two wins? He beat him at Rogue.

Okay. Right. Two wins. A CrossFit Games champion. He's going in as the fittest. And I just have to think that psychologically, Justin's in a better place and Patrick's in a lesser place. Psychologically, like how how Justin's the champ any any doubt he had

of whether he could beat the great Pat Vellner is now gone and any thoughts a little fire okay okay maybe okay you know Matt and Rich both had incredibly humiliating losses when everybody thought they were going to win. And then that fired them up to be unbeatable. Justin did not have that. He came in and he won and he didn't really, I don't know if he expected to win or not, but everything has been a perfect run for him. He's never, he's not running any adversity thus far as far as in a competition goes.

And I mean, that's credit to him his execution on events is is is flawless that's that's a trait of his that's really good but if you look at velner's last day on in 2021 well justin madaris was born in like lodi or stockton that's pretty fucked up but anyway go on sorry but the last day in 2021 for CrossFit Games, Vellner was first, first, and then it didn't matter because Justin was too far ahead. And then he just didn't try.

And he wasn't first in the yoke. I think the yoke was the first event that day. Vellner's event finishes, the it was a second first and then whatever he took in the final yeah but he was i liked it better the way john said it first first why do you have one of the greatest last days there was to have until it didn't matter anymore and he didn't try because it didn't matter he had second locked up the last event's kind of just there to be um i just think it's much closer than people want to think. They want to try to make Medeiros into the next Frazier,

and I have not seen that from him. He doesn't look like the next Matt Frazier to me. And this year, he could win by 130 points, and then he's going to be untouchable. But this is the year for Vellner to win, and if he's going to be untouchable but this is the year for velner to win and if he doesn't win this year i don't think it will happen and i think madaris will go on a run because i don't see anybody beating him unless roman makes this huge gain that i don't know about what don't you see that that uh that um uh froning and uh fraser have the only thing that i see

different is madaris has a better coach than either froning or matt ever had he's a better training partner than either matt or fraser ever had and uh he is um better than better than them all around in comparable metrics that's a i would be careful with that statement i mean matt did train with t at one that's your job to be careful and rich did train with matt at one point. That's your job to be careful. And Rich did train with Matt at one point. Yeah. There you go.

There's my point. And to be fair, Rich trained with Miko Salo, Dan Bailey, Josh Bridges. But Madaris has a lot of stability in his camp that Matt didn't have. Yeah, but I almost think that would work against him if somebody has you know everything is hunky-dory for him like there there is something to being like i don't ever want to let this happen to me ever again like that can fire up people so much to get so good and how many years did t and matt train together how many years did T and Matt train together? How many years did T and Matt train together? One, two? Since 2018. Oh, they did train that long together?

Basically two years. Two years. Yeah. Look at people piling in. I mean, the thing that John's saying that is accurate is Medeiros holds the edge over Vellner in terms of

execution. And in particular, when I think about Vellner, there are some specific events that he has fit, you know, failed to execute on when it mattered the most in recent competitions being the last event of semifinals, the last event of rogue event eight at the CrossFit games last year.

Those are the three that stand out to me. Event eight was the handstand walking workout where he should do well on that. But the points he gave away there, in my opinion, were more detrimental than the points he gave away on the swimming workout. Because that's a workout that he, yeah, for Velma. Because that's a workout where you look at it and you say, he has top five potential here. for velner because that's a workout where you look at it and you say he has top five potential here but if you but he kicked up and missed implement after implement after implementing that workout

and justin didn't he just you know he wasn't as good on paper but he was better on the field of play and then you come to you look i mean last year velner out snatched him in the snatch event a couple months later you go to rogue and it's a couple squat snatches at 205 under pressure and under that pressure velner misses one and then you come to the final event of atlas games where he's been locked in locked in with uh adler and you know going back and forth all weekend vying for the title there and you know pat wants to win the title and he makes three mistakes in a three-minute. And I was like, those things, if he, if he cleans those up, if he doesn't have those this week, he will be in the mix to win the games. But the fact that he's consistently had an event like

that and Justin hasn't is enough for me to say, Justin's the favorite. And I don't dispute that. I think he is the favorite, but I think it's much closer than people think. And if it's much closer than people think and if it's close i'm gonna pick the guy that i want to win just i did the exact same thing with annie last year i keep bringing her up because nobody had her finishing that high and it happened and so i picked the guy that i want to win and it's that guy falling off the ladder this is uh ladies gentlemen please take a moment to uh study john young's pick for the 2022 crossfit games uh champ can you guys hear the i better turn the volume off i got

shut down last time for that here we go oh oh a little something ah he's a bully where's he gone ah yes whoa oh my goodness that's brutal this is something you have to love about pat though he's not afraid to laugh at himself no not at all he he he's a cool cat that's for sure um okay okay yeah i saw earlier today and he said equity hug that's good tell him to stop worrying about that tell him to stop worrying about that we'll get back to that later uh okay so uh in in first we got brian has justin madaris uh uh john young has a patrick velner um brian will you be surprised if patrick velner wins First, we got Brian has Justin Medeiros. John Young has Patrick Vellner. Brian, will you be surprised if Patrick Vellner wins?

Pleasantly surprised. Okay, but surprised. And John, will you be surprised if Justin Medeiros wins? No. Okay. Okay. Oh, I put that up. That was my fault. I mean, people know that I'm friendly with Pat Vellner,

a huge fan of Pat Vellner. I think it would be amazing for his career if he won. I also think that it would be really good for the landscape of the men's division if someone other than Justin won because, you know, we haven't had that in a while where it's like people trading blows type of situation. It's just like the next guy up and then they win until they leave and the next day up and they win until they leave type thing. So I would, you know, I think then they went until they leave and the next day up and they went until they leave type thing. So I would,

you know, I think for the sake of the sport and the competition, anyone that that's able to be Justin this year would be a really positive thing. And I think it's the opposite. No, it would motivate him to be better. He'd have that adversity that John's talking about.

And everyone would then say like, no, the guy's beatable. Lance Armstrong. He, Justin Medeiros is going to be the Lance Armstrong. Sorry, Justin, that doesn't end well for Lance. I don't think he would want that comparison. He's going to be the Lance Armstrong of, of course it's winners,

repeated winners that helped the sport. I don't know. 2015 through 2017 for the women. You don't remember how exciting it was. It's rivalries. It's rivalries that people want to see. For those of us who are invested already, the rivalries are cool. But for those from the outside, if you want to draw new people, it's like, hey, man, come watch the CrossFit Games.

Are you more excited to watch Tia this year, or are you more excited to watch Laura, Gabby, Haley, Mel, Danielle, Calcara? Bye for the podium. Yes. And I don't know if that was a yes or no question. I think it's just my way of dodging it. Haley, Mel, Danielle, Calcara bye for the podium yes and I don't know if that was a yes or no question I think it's just my way of dodging it but did Torian Pro sell out because Tia was there or did it sell out because people wanted to see the up and comer Ellie Turner

Ellie who? sold out last year oh did it really? I think so they always have good pros I know that you fucked me up Oh, did it really? I think so. They always have good pros. I know that. You fucked me up.

The CrossFit fans in Australia turn up for competitions. Oh, I am very excited to watch Tia. I think she's joking, right? Is that what that sweat head means, that she's joking? I don't know. I mean, the thing is, everyone should be excited to watch Tia, but it's not going to be that fun of a competition it's just going to be an impressive performance uh tom tom hoffman says rivalries would be better yeah i hope the next christmas party where you uh you go to there's three chippendales talking

to your wife let's see let's see how you like that and a menorah in the corner i think about savannah say say belner wins the games this year, and then at Rogue, Roman wins, and then you've got the three of them going to the CrossFit Games in 2023. You don't think that would be so much fun? It is. It is. It is.

It is. I'm not saying it's a close second for me. Don't get me wrong. I would still enjoy it. But I really – I'm really excited to see Justin, the Justin Medeiros dynasty. I'm pumped. Okay, number dos.

Can we go back to the slides, Caleb? Number dos. We've pretty much done one and two. Yeah. Adrian said this will be the most exciting games ever uh and uh i i cannot disagree this will be the most exciting exciting games ever and i say with all humility because um the sevan podcast is covering it so he forgot to say that at the end okay uh number two patrick velner brian picks patrick who do you got justin okay well shit brian was right we did know this okay number three brian

number three i'm taking a roman krennikoff oh wait before we go there tell me what happened last year when you picked annie what was that john you were flexing on us a little bit about annie tell me about how that played out last year what did you tell us i kind of remember that you had i think i think i i think that i wasn't on for last year 2021 games but at rogue i picked annie second and you all thought i was on crack for having her over laura and it ended up that's what happened. Okay. And was that the same kind of circumstance where you were picking who you liked more? Yeah. What's not to like about Laura Horvath? She's so personable, chatty, catty, and sweet.

I'm pretty sure you're the one who said Annie is CrossFit's darling, right? No, I didn't. But I've heard rumors of such. Okay. Roman Krennikoff. rumors of such okay roman uh uh roman krennikoff brian um he seems a little unapproven to be putting on the podium so this is a good example of the difference when i put out power rankings compared to predictions my power rankings throughout the season i'm much more conservative in the way that i place athletes based on the totality of their career and at the games i, I'll take a little bit more risk. And this year, yeah, I'm taking a risk with this pick

of Roman. And I'm taking that risk based on basically exactly the opposite of what you're suggesting, is that I think he has set himself up with what competitions he's been able to do over the last four years, to the point where he has enough competition experience that he'll be well equipped to manage the weekend that is the CrossFit Games. There were certainly going to be some new things that you can't replicate because there aren't any competitions that are this long, this many events, this depth of field of athlete. But I think that Roman can draw on enough competitions that he's been at to have confidence coming in that he can hang with these guys. Um, and you know, most, most people haven't really had a chance to see him do, do any competitive events since probably the last time he competed in Dubai, which he did very well at,

but he's been progressing in the things that were the biggest problems for him back then. And in particular, he's been getting stronger. While it's seemingly still maintaining his, you know, aerobic capacity and gymnastics as he's gained weight. And that's like, that's always the check. If you're going to be an athlete that's trying to gain weight and get strong but your gymnastic suffers at the expense of it that's a problem i don't think that's the case for rope uh i'll be back with a question in one second john who do you have number three so i'm going to stipulate we did not look at each other's uh ranking

predictions before we made them i made mine like three weeks ago. And I have Roman Krennikoff at three as well. You guys are fucking nuts. Let me ask you something. Do you think Lazar Dukic is good? Yes. Do you think Ricky Gerrard's fit? Yes. Roman

beat them by 100 points at Dubai. He's 100 points better than them. It was Roman and then everybody and then Ricky and Lazar. No, no, no, no, no. Behind Roman by 100 points was Bjorkman Carl Gudmundsson. BKG is there too. Lazar and Ricky were the podium. Oh, you're talking about this year?

I'm talking about three years ago. Yeah, he beat him as well. Then I'm putting Roman at number one. I just knocked him and Medeiros out. Okay, but here's the thing. Here's the thing. Let me ask you this about Roman. Let me fuck with your guys' head a little bit.

If Roman were outside the top ten, would you be surprised? Yes. Brian. Yes. If he was out the top five, would you be surprised yes brian yes if he was out the top five would you be surprised yeah less surprised but but a little a little surprised if you're asking what i think his range of finishes are i would say it's three to six i was gonna say three to eight or nine so it really and okay and let me go the other way. John, you first. Would you be surprised if Roman Krennikoff won the games?

I would be, but I don't put it out of the possibility. It's not like that shit crazy. I would be less surprised if he won than if he finished 12th. Yeah, same. Wow. Okay, so it really is one of the greatest guys in crossfit games history has been sitting on the sidelines for how many years now because he couldn't come to the country four four wow crazy three this will be four i guess crazy and the hit like his only

weak spot is his strength and he put on 30 pounds. This last year in Dubai, they didn't know who he was because he was so thick. He weighs like 220. And I thought his cardio would suffer, and it hasn't. What about those ears? Those ears aren't going to slow him down on a 3.5-mile run or the swim? Oh, you'll be excited to see him on that running event. I bet he wins that event.

Hey, are him and Ricky just going to pull away on that? Like they're just going to be out there just running by themselves, just shooting the shit? I think Roman will handle the pig a lot better, and then Ricky will run a lot faster, and it'll come down to the Hussafel, and I think Roman will carry that better than Ricky. And Fagowski will be in the mix too in that, but that's what I think will happen.

Okay. Anything else you guys want to say about Mr. Roman before we move on to number four? I think Roman's going to make a lot of fans this weekend. Good. Yeah. Roman is basically Ivan Drago if he was likable, he's a monster. People just don't know him.

Well, we're about to know him. He's going on the big stage. I saw him at the check-in today, and Artur Seminov was with him. That guy is big, too. I wonder if there's any chance Roman, if he, let's say he wins the games, let's say he does well, If he doesn't go home. I think that would call into question Madero's last year win. Oh, that's interesting.

You know what's up, Ryan? Well, I mean, there's nothing. You can never take anything away from someone who beat the field that was presented before them. But it makes for a fun conversation. But as far as who is the fittest man in the world, though. He didn't show up because he was stuck in Russia. He wasn't there. We'll find out. I don't think that would have happened.

I don't think that's going to happen. But, you know. So you're saying Justin might have been the fourth fittest last year? Because him, Ricky, and who else? Who else didn't show up? Oh, Matt Fraser and rich froney weren't there uh justin's really the fifth fittest guy on the planet uh okay uh i like your thinking though john i like your thinking um number four if justin was watching i think you are the fittest

man in the world right now too late too late too late Too late. He hates you. Too late. Number 4. BKG. Björnvin Carl Gudmundsson from Iceland. Yeah. John, who do you have for? I have Brent Fikowski. Okay. I want to say this before. For Brian not to have Brent up there, I think he thinks something's wrong with Brent.

He knows something. So, so John's got, we have the same top five. He's just got Justin and Pat flipped and he's got Brent and BKG flipped. I think that both BKG and Brent Fikowski were competing at the games last year at less than a hundred percent. I think that both guys have taken a very calculated approach to this season with the intention of getting here to the games and trying to win it. I think that both guys believe that they have the chance to win. And I think that both guys do have a chance to podium for sure, like 100%. I don't know if either of them can win, but I think that if you just look at their careers since 2015 for BKG, 2016 for Brent, they are locks at the top of the leaderboard in the CrossFit Games. Throughout 2019 and 2020, we don't have to talk about those years.

Brent's never finished worse than fourth, so I'm projecting his worst ever finish at fifth as he's getting older and the field's getting deeper and younger I don't think that it's like that unfair of a of a ranking to give him and basically what I'm saying here is that these guys outside of Roman who I think has a chance to be in this mix these other four guys are the four guys that everyone else still has to prove to me that they can beat here and none of them have really to me that they can beat here. And none of them have really shown me that they can. What did, what did Bjorgvin get last year at the games?

Eighth? Fourth. Fourth. That's what you just said. Sorry. And what did Fikowski get? Third. And what makes you think,

but what makes you think that I, I'm tripping that you would put Fikowski so low? You know something, you know something. What do you know? What do you know, Brian? What do you think that I'm tripping that you would put Fikowski so low? You know something. You know something. What do you know? What do you know, Brian? What do you know? What do you know?

Don't forget the thing that I've been saying all year. Men in this field will show up fitter than they were last year and finish worse than they did last year. That's what we're talking about. That's why Adrian is saying something like this. This field is so good that this game is going to be so exciting um john before you go well yeah john you had uh you have fukowski um when we get to the five okay let's get to five and then i got a question for you guys i got a question for you guys um who's who's your number five b my five is Brent his five is BKG do you see any of these guys

this being their last year if Vellner wins it I think he could retire definitely not for Justin Roman Justin or Roman there's an outside thought in my mind that BKG could possibly go on a team next year just because he's had the exposure to the Reykjavik team. And if he thinks that's a fun training environment outside of that, I don't think he's going anywhere. Pat and Brent, there are circumstances in their life where I could see

any year at this point being their last year, not because they can't continue to compete just because, you know, they may just move on to other things or lose the passion for competing. I mean, if you talk to Brent about what he dedicates in terms of every resource in his life towards trying to achieve this goal of winning the CrossFit games, it's substantial. And he's,

you know, he's getting into his mid thirties. He's got family now. So that for Brent and Pat, like every time I get to see him compete, I consider it like a blessing. Cause right now I think they're two of the best five or six guys that have ever competed in the sport. And I'm trying to soak it in and enjoy their, their, you know, performances when I can. I mean, four of those guys are on the last half of their career, right? Well, uh? Well,

uh, you, I guess so. Yeah. Interesting. This Roman's last half. Yeah. I think he's crossed.

I think he's crossed the 50 yard line. I mean, I don't think he has, I don't think Roman has five years left in him. He's not old. How old is he? 27, 28.

28. It's what I have in mind but i i'm not sure uh and any any anything you guys have heard about any of these guys that we you're that you're not sharing you don't have to share it with us but something that might be that you know like i haven't i have only heard positive things about all five of these guys. Mr. Yo. Same. Okay. Coming in healthy.

All right, cool. It's a great top five. Great top five. This is going to be interesting. Number six, Brian. Oh,

what is it? I think it's Saxon. Is it Saxon? Cause that's who I have as well. Yeah. I got Saxon? Is it Saxon? Because that's who I have as well. Yeah, I got Saxon at six. Do you think it's inevitable that we're going to see Saxon on the podium someday? I do not think it's inevitable.

I think he could do that, but I could just as easily see him not doing that in his career. And what about you, John? I could see him getting fourth through sixth his entire career. And what does he have to get better at to crack that to where you guys are like, yeah, this guy's getting on the podium? So possibly nothing. I mean, he could already have the skill set that's needed for that.

And I do think that there's – I mean, one of the things that i'm most excited for this year and i think it adds the excitement is obviously the unknown aspect of adrian bosman's programming and for a lot of for a lot of years like at the crossfit games like you've just had to be strong and strong and stronger and stronger to hold up over the course of the weekend and with the events and even if you look at last year on the last day, they were asked to move a really heavy yoke, a really heavy deadlift and a pretty heavy barbell, especially when it was the overhead lunges at the end of that workout.

And that's events 13, 14, 15, you know, obviously Boz has talked about the fact that he knows what the, the games athletes are good at and he knows what they're not good at. And if this programming similarly to, you know the 2019 programming specifically the critical events in that year favors the smaller athletes in a little different way than some of the past games have saxon could you know see himself gain 50 to 100 points and move up two to three spots on the leaderboard for sure john do you think uh there's anything that stands out that's holding saxon back and 50 to 100 points and move up two to three spots on the leaderboard for sure. John, do you think there's anything that stands out that's holding Saxon back?

That you'd be like, if he just fixed this one thing. No, Saxon's really, really well-rounded. He just needs to get fitter. It's kind of like... Or what Brian said, the programming gets tweaked enough to where it pushes someone like him into the... I don't think it will, though. If it's a well-rounded program, like Saxon has shown himself to be very well-rounded but he's not has no home run hits and that's i'm not gonna like scott was kind of similar i know like scott had two event wins in his whole career um three he got two last year and one way back when 2012 2013 uh and that's i think saxon is

shown to be the same way i just think he just he has to get all around just just fitter and until he does it's hard to say he's going to i will say he looked phenomenal at the semi-final stage of competition this year like he looked phenomenal at Granite last year. And this thing, and this thing, this thing looks good on him. Yes, I've spoken about this before. It was more than just the performance on the field. It was the way he carried himself before workouts, between workouts, in the middle of workouts.

He just looked like he'd taken a next step in terms of maturity as an athlete he's in in the prime of what i you know what has been the best years for most men in crossfit right now in terms of age with a ton of experience so he's a very formidable opponent in this field and i just think he's slightly behind the group of guys that we just talked about the floors is home he walks around like the group of guys that we just talked about. The floors is home. He walks around like the floors is home. He looks comfortable out there. Yeah, very. While still being aggressive, ferocious, tenacious, and really fit.

Number seven, Lazar Jukic for Brian. John Young, who do you got? This is where we start differing a little bit. I have Ricky Garrard. where we start uh differing a little bit i have ricky garard uh both guys uh similar right really good at everything if they were if they if they had an area that they that you would want to improve it would be their strength uh yeah and i would i would give the edge now i don't know this say that again impressive analysis and if i thank you and if i were to um give the edge to someone in a very important year where

adrian bosman says that after this year coaches will be changing their primacy their focus their preeminent way of of coaching them and they're going to put the focus on. I would say Ricky's probably better at gymnastics. True or false? I don't know. Yeah, I don't really know either. They're both pretty great. At gymnastics, Lazar is true.

Yeah. Yeah, Lazar won that open workout where they had 40 ring muscle-ups, if you remember back then, in the whole world. Ryan? Well, he's not wrong. I mean, yeah, they both have – they're both plenty good at gymnastics. I don't know. I have – Is Lazar an athlete? What's his athletic background?

I just feel like Ricky's probably good at everything. He could ride a bike. He could fight. He could swim. He could run. He can lift heavy. I just feel like he could probably just get out there and win a badminton i just feel like he's probably just an athlete he's a pretty good swimmer if he doesn't have a swimming background i'd be surprised

because he's a great swimmer he's australian those dudes are born in the ocean no lazar oh oh i think when we talked to him he said he he was, he stood swimming in water polo. Okay. But no, I think. Which would explain his engine. I mean, look, I'm going to be saying this about a lot of guys on this list. I think that Lazar has improved this year remarkably in the things that were the biggest problems for him last year.

Obviously we spoke to him. And so we learned something that I didn't know, which is the attention that he's sunk into his, um, speed and agility or power output work this throughout this off season. But I know that he's gotten stronger. And, uh, and I think that part of that is also that he's developed his midline a little bit more. Uh, you know, I talked to him after lowlands throw down and he's like hitting the jerk at the end of that complex was so important for me because I'd missed the jerk in a complex two other times in competition already in the past year. And you know, just to know that that work has been paying off and that I could execute that way in a competition. He's coming off a win there. He's coming off the confidence of knowing that he took BKG down in

that competition, regardless of what was, what else was going on that's still important for him to have that belief that he can be the fittest guy in europe that he can improve on his finish from last year and i think that he is standing on pretty good ground to make that to come here with that belief because of the work that he's put in in the specific areas that he needed to this year john what do you think about um lazar coming here last year with his brother getting a shit ton of love being welcomed and coming back another year and probably being significantly more confident on the field almost almost i mean almost feeling maybe like a five-year veteran even though it's his second

year you know he he turned you know his first year he turned away his uh what was it his invite to the games um yeah and so you have a guy and he's mature beyond his years you can tell that i don't know if it's a cultural thing or whatever but he's a dude who's comfortable in his skin he's a big brother then you have another guy who was here four years ago five years ago, did well, but then I don't want to say betrayed the community. Fuck it. Betrayed the community, has come back. There's a gang of us who are like, love the comeback story, love the fact that he didn't give up. But then there's probably an uncertainty to his, in his own head of his return. Do you think that do you think Ricky is just going to come in here like, fuck it, block all the noise out? Or do you think he's going to be like, oh, fuck, am I like you think he has to be like looking over his shoulder?

Who's talking shit to him or people in the crowd going to yell druggy or he's not clean or he's going to have to worry about any of that shit? I mean, I would be surprised if people did that, but I don't say they're not going to do that. But I mean, for Ricky, it's a self-redemption story. He doesn't owe anybody anything. He owes it to himself. Like he caused that ban to happen. He decided he's going to keep going and come back and, you know, prove everybody wrong that he can do this clean. And I mean, I say.

What about a standing ovation? What about the other way? mean i say what about a standing ovation what about the other way you think he could get a standing ovation step on the floor welcome like like show the world like hey this we're a we're a family like hey welcome back i don't know i don't think you can predict moments like that that sounds like a very uh heartfelt thing ryan what what do you think? Who's in a better headspace, Ricky or, if you had to guess, take a stab at it. Ricky or who? Or Lazar Jukic.

I would say Lazar. Because Ricky's going to be questioning what the crowd thinks, maybe. Yeah, also he's had the nerves issues with some competitions recently. But if he gets, you know, so it's important for him to get, I think it's really important for him to get that first event out of the way. I think it's, he probably would prefer not to have the off day on Thursday. And then, you know, so if he can get past Wednesday's first event and Friday's first event, I think he can get into a really good rhythm, but between the apprehension about not knowing how the crowd's going to receive him here and not knowing how his body or his nervous system or whatever is going on is going to respond to those first events.

Like those things are definitely, you know, real things in his life right now. And if he can get past those, I think that we can hopefully see like the freedom for him to express his fitness on the floor over the course of the events. And I think we will. I have him ranked 11th. I think Ricky is going to be in the mix fighting with a lot of these guys for those for, for a spot in the top 10. Um, and it didn't, you know, the reason for me omitting him from the top 10 has nothing to do with what, what I think about his potential. It's just that there's, you know,

there's only 10 spots. And when I sat down on paper for each of the guys ahead of him, I felt like I had a better, uh, you know, a better feeling about those guys ending up ahead of well he does get nervous though then you do have a lot to explain with your number eight pick number eight yeah this is a fucking bold pick this and not not because he couldn't you know if seven dudes died not that this dude couldn't be the fittest man in the world with just one plane accident. But fucking putting this guy ahead of Ricky is crazy, I think. It's wild.

It's bold. Bold is better than crazy. I don't think it's crazy. It's bold. Brian Friend is Dallin Pepper, the rookie at number eight. Yep. Rookie, but not a man without experience. Highest ranked rookie.

Three times CrossFit Games champion. Three times teenage champion at the CrossFit Games. And when I think, I mean, I don't have a great arsenal of statistics to tell you why he's going to beat Adler, why he's going to beat Mayeros or Ricky or some of these guys that have right below him. When I see Dallin Pepper, I just think of a guy who is going to be there on the last day on Sunday, who's going to be in the final heat. There's something different about this guy when he takes the floor of competition that, in my opinion, is unteachable and is unlearnable. And he just, similarly to Haley Adams, he just has this thing that he's always had. That's, you know, this ability to tap into competitive mode. That's, you know, and he's got, I think he's just well-balanced, well-rounded and has an edge over almost everyone in the field in that regard that people will be surprised.

That people will be surprised. I think people will be surprised by how well Dallin's able to hang with the majority of this men's field. Who do you have, John, as number eight? I have Lazar as eight. Everything sounds good when Brian talks about Dallin. I'm like, yeah, of course. He already sees it in his mind's eye. Yes, he had that defeat last year.

It probably made him work even harder. he looked amazing at semi-finals yeah he's looked great but then when you see him across from lazar jukic it's like dude yeah lazar's so fucking good is dallin really like in the same breath as lazar i think that's his boldest Pitt Is Dallin at 8 I think Dallin at 8 is more bold than Roman at 3 Or Vellner at 1 To be honest Wow

I don't disagree With what he's saying but I also agree With what you're saying Savant I don't see Dallin doing Crossfit workouts Better than the people that we have ahead of him or in the same boat. I just don't think he's going to be as fast. DS wants to know what, what are John's credentials? Oh, we don't have time to get into that,

but go ahead and ask your mom. Okay. Yeah. I mean, look, the other thing about Dallin is I think he's like bread for the games. And I think that as well as he did at Guadalupe and as well as he did at semifinals, that the style of competition here, like the more events, the better, the less recovery, the better, the more unknown, the better. The similarity to Vellner in that regard, like he handles those things uncannily well, not just for someone his age, but relative to the field. for someone his age but relative to the field when you say when you say you when you say dallin's bred for the games you mean like his mom and dad like lit candles and like had effigies annie thor's daughter and rich froning and like they they were like reading a hundred fitness in a hundred words as as he as they orgasmed is that is that what you mean by bred by actually yes that's exactly what i was going to say. Oh, perfect.

Okay. I get it. Dallin, eighth place. He's in there. Dear Lord, give us the fittest man alive. And Dallin was created. Okay. We'll accept it for now.

We've got to get a few more people. What competition has Dallin done that you think he's not going to break down at all? Yeah, get it, John. That he's going to recover? Has he ever done a long competition? He's never done Dubai. He's never done Rogue. I mean, Guadalupalooza.

No, Guadalupalooza is not the same. No, that's what I said at the beginning. Roman's untested, too, there. Roman's untested, too. Roman has done Dubai, though. Yeah, event number nine, Roman's going to turn into a pumpkin. We'll see. No, no, John, you're right. He doesn't. But that number nine Romans going to turn into a pumpkin, we'll see. No,

no, John, you're, you're right. He doesn't, but I've, uh, that's what I said at the start.

Like I don't have an impressive litany of reasons that I can point to on paper, why I think down is going to do well. And that's what I was alluding to at the start is a couple of places on a leaderboard. I've kind of taken a Liberty to say, I have a feeling that this guy kind of like you said about Annie and you said about Pat,

like I have a feeling that this guy kind of like you said about annie and you said about pat like i have a feeling that this guy is gonna surprise people with how well his body and mind lasts over the course of the weekend and that on saturday and sunday he's still going to be putting up top 10 finishes and it'll keep him in the mix wow uh jeremy garcia these guys need to schedule better had to finish mowing the lawn before i could watch what is that code is that code who you can't really be mowing the lawn at 8 30 at night so we don't know where he where he lives yeah i'm assuming somewhere jeremy oh yeah jeremy garcia mexican west coast okay 650 all right um okay number nine brian i think i have adler at nine i think that i think that adler is continuing to just really really um he's i mean it's it's kind of it's unique the way that he's continuing to improve and it's a big testament to the

the relationship that he has with his coach and the trust that he has in her and obviously her ability to program over a long period of time. I mean, from the start when they were pursuing this thing, which they're pursuing. And wife, right? Yeah. Coach and wife. Okay. And they're pursuing this thing, which is to win the CrossFit Games. They were never in a rush.

Sometimes, and this is not a sport that you can, you know, it's a very one in a million that you can rush into a ton of success. And so we see people come through the teenage divisions or through the team ranks or go through money trials of missing regionals before they get to this stage. Obviously there's some exceptions to that. Tia is an exception to that. She basically decided she wanted to do it. And within two years she was competing to win. That rarely happens. Jeff has every single competition I've ever projected him to compete in. He's exceeded my expectations. He's placed higher than I've picked him, including Atlas Games, where I picked him second this year and he went on to win.

And I would have bet a thousand burpees that Vellner would have walked away with Atlas Games win. really that I've ever seen who didn't have this random gift of potential from the start of laying the foundation and then continuing to build upon it upon it in a really pragmatic responsible and effective way I think that he is one of the guys who has gotten better and will do better this year than he did it last year at the games which was finished 13th and he's got an incredible physique I was watching this video on him the other day i cannot believe he looks like an action figure he's like he's something i'll tell you who looked really really impressive in that regard today was samuel quant uh seven i can't ask my mom she's dead oh fuck all right uh you mean his physique you saw sam kwan's physique and he looked good

yeah not emaciated like it's not like like he got sick and lost 20 pounds he looks good yeah and we'll get to him at some point on this list but i'm really excited to see sam compete this weekend you saw where did you see him you saw him at what check and i saw most of the guys checking in today and you saw him with his shirt off uh they were taking headshots yeah i saw some of the guys with their shirts off here and there but i mean it's like it's it wasn't necessarily just that he had his shirt off it's just the way the way that he's carrying himself looked i don't know it stood out to me compared to everyone else like i was like that who are you uh who are you most intimidated by that check most intimidated by a check-in? Most intimidated by at check-in?

It's not an athlete. I had an amazing opportunity today to make amends with Julia Cato, and it was great. Oh, that's awesome. Did she speak English? Yeah, talked to her. Snorri introduced us. He took a picture, actually. It was amazing.

And Snorri, of course, is the most intimidating guy I saw at check-in. Awesome, yes. He is a thug and a bully that is not true at all number 9 who do you have John Young number 9 I got Guy

well let's talk about Guy we're both on him and we're both having a lower than last year's 7th place finish. Wow. Okay. Uh, John,

let me dig in here and say why? What? Oh yeah. He's going to win three events, right? We don't, we don't, we don't know that for sure.

He's going to win one event. He'll definitely win one. He'll definitely win one, probably two. and then if he's lucky three and i haven't heard anyone talk about his holes well we talked all about his holes last time well we know what his holes are but we haven't talked about whether he's fixed his holes if he's plugged plugged them up. That's because we don't really know. No one knows. No. We don't know because the field in Copa Sur is not good enough for us to assess whether he's improved in long-time domain workouts.

He looked great there based on the scorecard. But there is no one else at that competition there that's considering a top 10, even close to a top 10 performance in the CrossFit games in any event, really. He didn't really prove anything at Rogue that he had fixed those holes. And then Dubai, he dropped out of. Why did he drop out of Dubai?

I don't remember that. I think he was. he didn't go. He didn't go. He was planning to do the Mayhem Desert Heat and then stay there for Dubai and then Mayhem Desert Heat got canceled. So he didn't go. I'm not certain of that, but that's what I what i think anyway and rogue was a long time ago so he's had

a long training cycle road rogue he's obviously in an amazing training environment he seems to be loving it there he's had some you know not only has he trained with with rich and that crew for the whole year but this last month they've had the whole you know basically the whole mayhem team uh from all over the world that we talked about down there. And it would be extremely surprising to me if he has not improved his aerobic capacity. And quite frankly, if he takes bottom 10 finishes in workouts that are going over 20 minutes again this year, that's a problem. this year, that's a problem. Then, you know, because he should have been able to improve.

He doesn't. And the reason I say he should be able to improve in that domain is because, you know, Ben Bergeron used to say, for me to take you from where you are to where you need to be on a strength, I need my six years. But in a conditioning, I can take six months. So he should be, John will have some thoughts about that. But the point is's it's easier from a time perspective to improve in the aerobic capacity than it is on the strength where you have you have to put in the work and because he's so strong he also doesn't have to invest

as many training sessions beating his body under heavy barbells week after week after week which means that he can invest a little bit more into the aerobic side of things so he should be overall better at the games this year than last year yet yet whatever yet you have him at 10th i do well you can't put him higher until he does it like he could but if if he if he is better aerobic capacity wise and say he's like much better 30 30 seconds faster on his mile time better, then he could finish as high as fifth, but he could also finish 14th.

If he doesn't get three home run hits like he did last year, if he only gets one event where he wins and then another event where he's fifth in a barbell cycle, heavy barbell cycling event. And then that's all he gets. That's barbell specialty. He's going to be 14th 15th place um he got extremely lucky with three events that he could knock out of the park last year

um he should be better but it's just hard to put him higher until you see that he's better uh austin hartman uh telling his buddy 5 am. class isn't very conducive to our Sevan podcast viewing schedule. I would hate it if I somehow interfered with your indoctrination process. Your $100,000 a year you're paying to be indoctrinated. I would hate to do that. So could we see an event in that event with the 3.5 mile run, Guy and Colton holding hands as they cross the finish line? We could, yeah. Colton dragging Guy.

By the way, Stefan, I'm pretty sure, I just checked this to make sure, but I'm pretty sure that nobody outside of Fraser and Froning has ever won three events in consecutive CrossFit games for the men. So just because he won three last year, there's no guarantee that he'll win three this year. We talked about it with Brent. He won four, then two, then zero, zero, zero, one. So I'm putting Guy at 15th place then.

And I mean, look, like 300 points on three events goes a long, long way towards, you know, up the leaderboard. And the further down we get on the list, home run hitters are only going to rise. If your ability to hit home runs is the further down we get in the list, the more that makes a larger move in the whole competition as a whole. Damn.

Trina going hard in the paint. Guy's ego exceeds his capability. Well, well, well, I think that the way that the next gen movie was presented was probably a disservice to gee oh shit we're going there i haven't seen it yet really does he come across like a pomp ass yeah he in that in that i felt like he did and but that is not the perception

that i've gotten from him outside of that context. Like very well, whatever. I mean, if that's the only, I'm just saying, if that's the only exposure that you have to him, temper that a little bit, because it's just a,

you know, it's a small insight into a more complex guy. Yeah. No, not everyone can have the white privilege that Colton has living on a farm with 16,000 pigs. Okay. Who did you have at number 10, uh mr young i have jeff adler

ryan ryan had jeff at nine i had jeff at 10 i had gee at nine he had gee at 10 i'm concerned for gee now to tell you guys convinced me that he that was a one-hit wonder fucking we saw vanilla ice fucking phenomenon and that and that he's in trouble if he is much better in the rubble capacity though he could be you know in for the best games of his career but look at these guys look i mean let's just let's just justin patrick roman bkg brent fukowski saxon Roman, BKG, Brent Fikowski, Saxon, Lazar Jukic. Those top seven dudes have engines. Those are engines. That's why they're ranked ahead of him. Right, Brian?

Look at these top seven guys that you guys have. I'm going to say 14 names because there's two lists. But Justin, Patrick, Patrick, Justin, Roman, Roman, Brent, BKG, Brent, BKG, Saxon, Ricky, Lazar. I mean, these are engines. Guy's not breaking. I mean, for Guy to get into the engine game, I mean, these are like rocket ships, all those dudes. At some modality, at some modality.

There's a reason they're that high. How about Adler? Does he got it? Does he got it? Can you talk about his engine in the same breath as you could? Ricky Gazzard, Lazar Jukic, BKG? For me, there's a drop-off after either Saxon or Lazar. Or maybe, I don't know.

A drop-off in fitness or engine? I would say more like potential to podium. I mean, Adler's made it clear that engine work was his 2022 focus, correct? He's made that clear. I mean, gymnastics should be his focus, but yeah. One of his focuses. focus but yeah one of his focuses i did hear that uh president joe biden of the freest and greatest country on the planet is has started building the wall rebuilding the wall yes okay um say that again oh he's filling in the holes yeah but hey that makes me that's the first

good cool thing i've heard about joe biden he's filling in the holes okay i'm i am worried about you in the tate in the in the tyler watkins fitness fitness fantasy league in the tyler watkins fitness fit in the tyler watkins fitness fantasy league who got gee he was picked second overall. Yeah, it was Hiller. Oh, Hiller sucks. He fucked up. Sorry. I like Guy. Guy's a great dude. He's a good dude just to have on the team.

Hopefully you can sell some shirts off his name. Okay, we have our 10. I think we'll start picking up speed here a little bit until I become aghast at some of the picks. Okay, let's go. Number 11. I have Ricky at 11. Oh, geez. I have Hopper.

Wow. Wow. Okay, let's keep going. Let's keep going. Let's do like three in a row here, and then we'll circle back on these three guys. Okay, I have Ricky, Alex Vigneault, Yonakoski. Sorry, you have Ricky at 11 at 11 at 12 you have who

alex vignot and 13 yonikoski okay and who do you have hopper yeah hopper at 11 yonikoski at 12 and noah olsen at 13 uh brian uh what hey are you concerned about noah has noah i have noah at 14 how would you describe noah's um crossfit career last three years if he takes 20th will you be surprised yes i will be that that would be a bad games for Noah. Yeah. But look, in this tier right here, I've got Ricky. We already talked about Ricky. And then I have Vigneau, Koski, and Noah Olsen.

All three of those guys were in the top 10 last year. Yona finished sixth. Alex was eighth. Noah was tenth. These guys are really, really good in this format. And they've all proven it for multiple times that they're very good in this format. They're just, you know, for a variety of different reasons, I'm not sure that any of them can do as well as they did last year, and therefore I put them just outside the top 10.

Who do you have at 14, John? I have Dallin at 14, and i have alex mignot at 15 so we actually have the exact same top 15 guys just in a different way i didn't even notice that it's so it's so interesting um the so so the big the big one here is um that you have uh john young you have dallin pepper at 14 yeah that's our biggest gap thus far what do you see in jason hopper that makes you guys think what did he finish last year 20 19 or 20 19th um why someone like jason hopper moving that direction and Guy moving down? What do you, what, Brian, you first, what do you see in Jason Hopper?

Oh, I think, you know, we've talked about before in the capacity of, uh, Jason made every rookie mistake last year and still had a top half finish at the games. I think that Jason has matured as an athlete in almost every single way that's possible this year, from an understanding of himself to the understanding of the test, to an understanding of the season and his competitors and how difficult it is. I think he's improved in his specific fitness domains. I think he's still world-class in a very specific style of testing. And what's that? What style is that?

The power output stuff that we talked about. Machine sprints. And when you say world-class, he's a top five guy. Yeah, top two. He's not top two. With Roman? You guys are putting in there with Roman? He might get one or two events that he can actually express that

over the course of however many they'll end up being this week. express that over the course of however many they'll end up being this week. And I think that I actually was flirting with putting him higher on this list. But the thing about the games is year to year, it tests things slightly differently. And even when Dave was programming all those years, that was the case. And the trap that you can fall into is saying, ah, last year I wasn't't prepared for this and this and i'm going to make sure that never happens again and then next year there's two new things that you're not prepared for it doesn't affect all the athletes the same but in the case of jason i still think he's raw in certain regards he's just new to the sport he's young

and he's got too little body fat yes exactly and so I think that he will look a lot better as an athlete this year, but I still think that there will be a couple events that expose the things that he's not up to standard with the guys that I have ahead of him on this list. Hopper has Frazier in his corner. Does that mean nothing? I agree with Kate here. I think Frazier's going to smooth out that rawness quite a bit. Fraser's basically going to be like, attack this workout this way.

And Hopper's going to be a soldier. And then I think that he's going to do a lot better than he did last year. Don't talk to Sevan on the Sevan podcast during the week. That's a distraction. Those events, the events where he's not going to do great, I think he will be able to temper those bad finishes just by listening to Matt. Jason, I'm your dad, Matty Fraser. Just call me Daddy, and I don't want you talking to Sevan during the week.

Jose de la Torre, was Noah getting second to fluke in 19 2019 before we do that jose um we i think that dallin and and this i this is kind of bold i think that dallin will bounce back better if he has a shitty event than jason but i was going to say that until john put in or whoever wrote that in the comments put in the fraser factor because fraser may be able to be like don't think about that young man and then and hopper may just stop thoughts who's gonna handle it because they're gonna have bad events now down has a great mental game i i'm not gonna say one's better than the other but i think Hopper will handle,

handle it much better than he did last year. And I think he'll have less bad events than he did last year and more home run hits than he did last year. And down is just going to be steady keel the whole way through. Jaden, this is Matt Frazier. How can I help you? Uh,

uh, Brian, uh, going back to Jose paid a dollar 99 for your time that's you get you get to give him a 30 second answer for two dollars was noah getting second in 2019 a fluke no noah was incredibly fit that year he was extremely prepared the test was totally different the scoring the cut system there never been anything like that and i've done multiple uh writings and reportings on the the the physical

parameters of the men who ended up making the top 10 that year being a statistically outlier relative to every year before and after in terms of size and weight and that specifically had to do with the placement and scoring system of events four five and six um and actually was affirmed today on the uh or this weekend on the get with the programming podcast where they did the correlation of best event from a games relative to overall top 10 finish mary was the strongest correlate that year that's because it was at a critical point in the weekend that basically eliminated all of the tall and big athletes once they got into the top 10 you didn't have on the weekend you didn't have a velner's and Fikowski's and Vino's guys that were like consistently just stealing points from Noah. And so he was finishing towards the top of every workout.

And because the scoring system was different, people weren't able to make big moves. That's why separation was small at the top anyway. So he took advantage of the scoring system that was presented, the format that was presented and an exceptional level of fitness that he had that year. It was a well-earned second everyone had to go with the same circumstances so not a fluke but a disaster on the games team's part by the way they ran ran the games is what brian said okay go ahead john can i reword the question to him please please do you think noah was the second No. Okay. I know that says it all. There was a question.

There was a statement in here that had such a great joke with it. Damn. Damn, where is that? Okay, can't find it. Vigneault at 12 for brian 15 for john young um where's the last place we've seen this guy compete where was the semifinals was that atlas atlas games third yeah and. And who took first and second? Adler and Fellner.

Okay. And who took fourth? Alexander Caron. Okay. And he's at the games also. He'll be on the next side or the one after. I can't remember. He's right around 20.

And those are good dudes. Oh, yeah. Vigneault is like, he's arguably the best guy at the games that nobody knows about. I mean, he's been 8th, 9th, and 11th, I think, or 8th, 10th, and 11th three times at the games, and a lot of people have no idea who he is. He's very steady. He's very quiet. He's very reserved.

He's very tough. And I think that if you don't have him inside your top 15 you're really not giving credit for how fit he has proven to be in this style of testing jackson mash off i only pronounced it right because he gave 499 if you would have given if you had to give it 199 i would have fucked your name up uh just wants to point out how hard everyone is sleeping on travis there's no way dallin pepper beats travis mayer i'm willing to bet you both you 10 bucks on that you want to bet i'll take that bet yeah okay brian there's no way he beats down pepper i'll bet you 10 minutes on the uh assault bike for calories no okay okay okay okay i got that too it's crazy you're you're absolutely right it's insanity to think that this fucking kid

can just train over there with daniel brandon and and and and get uh he's not if i had told you before the games last year that i thought guillermo was going to beat travis mayer you would have made taking the bet on on Travis 10 out of 10 times. Yeah, I agree. But we've already discussed that that was a complete accident, that that was a complete accident that Guy got three wins. Not an accident. Just he dealt with the cards that were given to him,

and he was giving very good cards. Oh, shit, Sevan. Check the thumbnail on Hiller's video. Okay number 16 uh who do we got uh brian 16 ah sam quant sam quant then seven uh i want to go back and forth i don't want you just to say them all down and then we'll go all the way to 20 who do do you have at 16, John? I have Willie Georges. Brian, who do you have at 17? Spencer Panchik. And who do you have, Mr. Young? Cole Sager. And

who do you have at 18, Brian? Willie Georges. And who do you have at 18, John? Alexander Krohn. Wow, okay. And who do you have at 19, Brian? Cole Sager. And who do you have at 19 brian cole sager and who do you have at uh 19 john travis mayor oh my god you're gonna you're gonna burn in hell brian can't even believe it you have not said travis mayor yet have you myer? You haven't said his name. Have you number 20, Brian Baden Brown?

Oh my goodness. Guys like, uh, and, and who do you have? Who do you have at 20? Jay Crouch. Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Um, Travis mayor has, do you have Jay Crouch on the podium? Seven? I do have Jay Crouch on the podium, right do have jay crouch on the podium right i do i'm as uh this is rookie year right he's one of the 20 guys you picked on the podium yes that jay will also beat uh dallin jay will also be

down down we'll do great don't get me wrong huge down pepper fan uh but um after day nine or ten uh the j engine will kick in the travis mayor engine will kick me an event nine or ten yeah event nine or ten yeah thank you and the uh the newbies will wilt Wilt. Wilt. Newbies? Like who? Like Dallin. Like Dallin. Spencer Panchik, 17. Is that high for Spencer? Yeah.

This is one of the, you know, bold picks that I'm making, is that Spencer Panchik is going to surprise people, and I think he's going to finish in the top half of the games field. And Samuel Quant with his beautiful body and the way he carries himself, you have him all the way down at 16 and yet in 2019 he went 20. Yeah, he was second that year. Second. What was he in?

He couldn't even finish the top. He barely even finished the weekend semifinals i don't know sam i mean i've said it all year sam quant is as big as a wild card as there is in the men's field he looked very impressive at granite games he's very consistent and steady he didn't waver as a week it went on he looked like a professional that knows how to qualify for the games uh and, and I think that, you know, we're going to see the version of more of the version of Sam

caught that we saw in his younger days, 2016, uh, when he made his debut at the games and he finished right around six, between 16 and 20th, I think he's still relatively young. Oh yeah.

He was only 20 then. So he's got, he's 26. He's like right in that kind of prime age for male games athletes 26 to 30 i would say is pretty much that range and uh yeah i think he's a i think he's gonna do well what do you think john light the fire for travis later for quant you don't even you don't even have quant in your top 20 i mean like brian let me just say this before you speak that's consistent with kind of your what have you done for me lately although

it's inconsistent because you got velner on the top but you said that before yeah it's interesting okay go ahead samuel quant it's like brian said he's the biggest wild card there is. He's very hit or miss. He either does very well or he's a different guy and does very, very bad. I don't know. I can't put my finger on it. I mean, I know he struggled with an illness. I know he struggled with an illness. Do you know if that's fixed or not, Brian? Do you know if that's fixed? Hey, Brian? Do you know if that's fixed?

Hey, did he fix that hole of his, Brian? He had this long respiratory thing that he just never dealt with. Was it a respiratory thing? I don't know that many details about it. I just know that I thought he looked good at uh at semifinals and i think that he's going to be back to a form for competing that i'm not factoring into my rankings for him i i i love anyone with the name off in their name sarah wick off sarah sarah i think you missed you got a typo i think that y is supposed to be an A, Sarah Wackoff.

And I'm just the opposite of Brian. Brian took a risk, and I just put him where I thought he would finish. I think he can finish that high, too, what Brian said. What makes you think Baden Brown can beat Travis Mayer, Brian? He's out of Australia. He's from a weaker region. You know what I found out about Baden Brown today? He has a full-time job and,

and a shitload of kids and a wife. And he runs like nobody's business, dude. I mean, I told you before we started this, it's the hardest field of men or women that I've ever had to rank. And I was like, the next five guys on the list, all of them I wanted to put in the top 15. There just weren't enough spaces.

Yeah. I agree. Number 21. Okay, hold on one second. Is the only reason why you're not putting jay crouch higher is because you you just don't the australia the he's been definitely better than he was in 2021 i want to make my confession now so i want to make my confession now please i had made all these rankings and i was struggling i was really struggling and especially in this 15 to 25 range

what do you mean like you went out and sit on the patio on the edge and like we're thinking of jumping struggling like oh no not not thinking of jumping struggling but screaming to the heavens mayor sager just yeah yeah i like it i like it and uh and so what i ended up doing was i thought i took the guys that you like the most and i just put them all outside the top 20. Oh, shit. God, I know you've cursed anyone Sevan likes out of the top 20. Oh, my goodness. And the worst part

is still coming. I know the worst is yet to come. You guys are both bad boys. 21. 21, Mr. Friend. 21, Mr. Friend. 21, Alexander Caron. John. Hendrick Hapalainen.

Hapalapin. Hapalapin. Who do you have 22, Brian? Travis Mayer. Okay. John. Andre Houdet. Oh, wow.

That's high for Houdet, right, Brian? It's lower than, it's worse than he did last year. Okay. John Andre who day? Oh, wow. Uh, that's high. Uh, that's high for who day, right? Brian. It's lower than it's worse than he did last year. Wow.

Okay. Uh, 23, Brian, Hapalina. Okay. That's Hapalapin. Uh,

John Colton. Wow. That a boy. That a boy. You might be invited back for another show. Brian? 24. I have Jay Crouch.

Jay Crouch. Now, Jay Crouch, he did better this year than he did last year. And he took first. Did he take first at Torian Pro? This year he was first. Last year he was second by one point to royston okay and the reason why you're not giving them more love is because you think the men from australia so much love because you think the men from australia are ass it's the same thing the way we look at the atlas games women field you think that what's less competitive the women's

fields from the atlas games or the men's field from torian pro the men's field from torian pro is impressive it's very competitive well then and you've got the number one fucking guy with rob forte in his corner down here with them holding his hand but where does jay crouch is mr happy-go-lucky i'm telling you this guy like get run over by a tractor and he's still got a smile on his face he don't care hey you know i met him and his brother toby today it was great they were so similar it was it was amazing is toby older or younger but taller wow man i'm so bummed i'm not there there's many people are asking about you today. Tell them I'm sitting, he's sitting in his chair. He's sitting, he's happy.

He's either on the echo bike or sitting in a chair. He's wearing his leg warmers. It's all bike. It's all bike. Don't give it. Okay. Um, but why,

why do you have Jay Crouch solo? You're, you're, you're telling me that you're impressed with the field. He fucking, he put it to Royce done. Um, uh, he put it to Badce dunn um uh put it

to baden brown i mean how can you have him below baden i don't know he's a recreational crossfitter that beat jay at the games last year by five spots all right all right they get like you didn't like the programming victorian pro you think the tour the programming sucks this year the games is not the semifinals is not the games there are people that are like oh adler said he was amazing at atlas games i'm picking him on the podium it's like you're not thinking clearly adler was amazing at atlas games but to finish on the podium he has to go through nine guys plus roman and ricky nine guys that beat him last year plus roman and ricky and dallin are entering the field that we don't know how good they're going to be.

It's not... You can't... And a longer, harder test that tests way more things. Yeah, and you regularly will see people do well at semifinals and not relative to someone else and not do as well at the games. Colton Mertens.

Colton. Yeah, you there, there's plenty of examples. I'm telling you, Jay Crouch is... This is disrespect. Jay Crouch will finish higher than Jason Hopper also. I can't make any more bets. You're already almost depleting your bank account and your energy field with $10 in 10 minutes.

Savon, why aren't you there? Because I'm here. Okay. 24, Mr. Young. I got Sam Kwan. Okay. 25. Cole Greasaber.

John? Is it Greasaber. John? Is it Greasaber? Greasaber. Greasaber's the girl. No, that's Colin Brander. Okay, John. Spencer Panchik. Okay, I'm not going to do it.

26. How should I play Spencer? He's on my team. Fuck it, I'm going to do it. How should I play Spencer? John said play him short. He's on my Tyler Watkins Fantasy Fitness League. He is one of my star players.

John says I should play him short and hard. Who is your first pick overall? Saxon. Do you have a good grasp on the events you'd want to play Saxon in? No. Saxon is a no. Because I think I can kind of put him in any...

I can kind of put Saxon in anywhere. I mean, there's 15 events, 10 of them, he's going to be top 10. For any event that you think that, yeah, this could be one of the 9 or 10 that Saxon's usable for, just think about Spencer as being just like the last visible one. If you want to get two or three spots less, yeah.

Wow. But short time domains, but not heavy for Spencer. No, I can go heavy. You can? He's not going to be in the top five. But short time domains, but not heavy for Spencer. No, I can go heavy. You can? We already told you when you drafted, you don't have any good players for the heavy lifts or the long events. What the fuck are you talking about? Colton can lift a house.

Yeah, if it's a static lift, Colton's fine. There are some lifts that he could do well on. There are some lifts that he would struggle with against this field. Don't put him in a snatch. When you feel your bed being lifted up in the middle of the night, being thrown off, what floor are you on, Brian? No, no, no, no. When you feel your bed being lifted up and thrown off the balcony,

they just look back and you see Colton. You see a little man on the deck. Just wave at him. What was your strategy when you were drafting Savan? I just wanted Danielleielle and colton and i really like i really like and i really i'm just like people that i want to be on their bandwagon people like i wanted like cheer on i could totally get behind saxon and they and it needed to be someone that he felt confident would at least respond to him if he invited him on the show oh yeah yeah yeah like moose moose bruger and tia the fuck them they can't or like i guess tm i

couldn't maybe shane's good to me uh but yeah if like you won't come on like i could never pick danny spiegel or brooke wells i could never pick anyone the point is to be well-rounded and diverse and you picked an identical twin oh i see what you're saying i see what you're saying i see what you're saying i just i wanted people i could bring on the show and just fucking glorify them uh number 26 brian 26 uh andre jude uh john i have oldest upanix upanix uh 27 will morad okay any chance mill will morad could win an event yeah it's got a lot of strict handstand push-ups in it i don't think he could win I mean he kind of needs it it's a going away present

for him right he's an old guy this is his last games he's been through a fucking lot I know they're not going to Brian but if there was a hundred strict handstand pushups for time you don't think he would win that event that I mean yeah an event like that would be his best chance okay i mean he's i mean he's like there are things that he's pretty good

at and i could see him taking some top five finishes but to win an event outright i don't know okay okay uh number 27 john uh 27 at Baden-Brown. Okay, good. Now that sounds smart. So, wow. Brian, you still haven't said Colton. Okay. I still got like 10 more spots until he says Colton.

Dude, he has a fucking card. Do you know that? Oh, he has a WAD zombie card. He's the only card of WAD zombies I keep on my desk. All right. Because all the other ones are at your bedside? Oh, good memory. 28, John.

28, I have Tudor Magda. Okay. You first on this, Brian. Can Tudor Magda win an event? you first on this Brian can Tudor Magda win an event there are specific events that if they popped up he would have a chance to win yes

any chance he'll be rookie of the year any chance he's better than I talked to both him and James Townsend for a while today and they made me feel bad about this ranking like they are very confident that he's going to turn some heads this week. Yeah, but what are they supposed to say? That they're not confident?

Yeah, Brian. Tudor surprised me a lot at semifinals, and I have a feeling that, don't get me wrong, I don't think he's going to be a top 10 contender, but I do think he's going to outperform this ranking that I have for him. Yeah, John. Tudor beats Dallin. I bet he does in one event.

Hey, I wonder who James Sprague's rooting for. Dallin Pepper or Tudor Magda? Oh, James is torn. Probably Dallin. I know he has to say that. I know he has to say that. 29, Brian. I have Tim Paulson at 28.

Yep, sorry. And, oh, sorry. Oh, shit. Something's wrong. Who do you have at 28, John? Tudor. Okay, I got it out of order there. Thank you. 29, Brian. Tudor Magda. Okay.

Oh, James is in the comments here talking about it. Yeah, James, you fucked everything up. You got in his head. You got in his head. Oh, look at James. Oh, not James Townsend. James, yeah. Yeah, great answer, James. up you got in his head you got in his head oh look at jane oh oh not james uh townsend james yeah yeah great answer james way to put it on the line way to put it on the line both are my boys there's not room for two boys i have three boys and i have a favorite uh 2020 i don't i don't 29 john what kind of answer is that okay

yeah yeah good james pray oh my goodness i'm 29 i have nick matthew uh as we get down to these bottom guys um any chance uh did you pick any of these people based on the fact that you just don't think that they'll hold up and they'll pull out is there a guy as we get into this bottom 10 you're going to be like i put him down there because he's going to pull out. Either of you. No. I mean, I did think like some guys will not recover as well and not perform to their capabilities, but not dropping out. Okay. Number 30. I have Uldis Upenex. John?

Yorgos Kervis. That is the first name I've heard that I've heard of the guy, but I could never have told you was in the games this year. Like I've heard his name mentioned, but I would have. So took you guys to name. We talked about it two days ago. I trained with him. Yeah.

Yeah. I remember. I just, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have bet like a testicle that he was at the games i wouldn't have known okay brian 31 31 i have nick matthew um and uh john 31 i have tim possum and 32 Yorgos Kerevis Yorgos John Cole Greysaber

oh shit here we go is this the is this the Brian had him at 25 and you have him at 32 that's 7 places that's the Brian had him at 25, and you have him at 32. 32. That's seven places.

That's the – I think that's the second biggest difference the two of you have had. Brian had Spencer at 17. Oh, and 25. Okay, you're right. There's some other ones. Also, I mean, Brian hasn't said Colton's name yet. He must have fucked up. He must have.

He must have not been listening, John. He must have not been listening. I'll hand it to Brian. He might know something about Cole that I don't. I mean, I know there's an event that he probably will do really well at. Oh, which I'm a Cole Green Saber?

Yeah, Cole Green Saber. Yeah. probably will do really well at uh which i'm a cold grease saber yeah cold cold grease saber yeah they're they're yeah so i know there's an event he's going to do well at that hasn't been announced yet but um no no i would say he's my he's my kind of bold pick in that in that 21 to 30 range where i put i you know i would expect that most people don't know a lot about him he hasn't had a lot of competitions live competitions at all like that like uh uh semifinals was his first live competition since 2018 or 19 um and he's yeah he's a bit of an unknown and a bit of a wild card i have a a good feeling for him, I think, relative to most people's expectations. But what I put him, 25. If he finishes 35, I won't be that shocked by it.

I just think he's a little better than most people know, and understandably because no one's really had a chance to see him. You know what's crazy is Brian has Colton Mertens down here with the no-namers. By the no-namers, it's like dudes I never heard of. Okay, well, first of all, he finished 31st last year at the games. Yeah. I have him ranked 33rd. You think he's less fit than last year?

Way more fit. What two people are ahead of him this year that weren't last year? I mean, I've said this a half dozen times already today. You can be fitter and do worse against this year's men's field. Yeah, but that's only nine people, not the top of the field. Out of the bottom nine people, because he finished 31st, two of them are now fitter than Colton. I know they're different people, but

there are two fitter people out of the nine people that were behind him last year. I don't really understand what you're saying. He's pissed. We're pissed. Okay. Okay.

We respect you too much to let you put Colton at 33. Okay, number 33, Mr. Young. Moritz Feibig. Moritz. And Brian picked, say it, Brian. 33, Colton Mertens. Number 34. I got Will Moore.

Oh, he's got Will. I don't know who he wants first anymore. Hey, I know. I screwed it up Brian you go first 34 Enrico Zanoni So John Young do you think Will Morad There's a chance he could win an event

It's not like totally outlandish and yet you have him ranked at 34 Should we hold his feet to the fire Savan he was 20th last year in the game Tell me the 14 guys that are better than him Then who Will Morad I have Colton regressing two spots And he wants to Tell me the 14 guys that are better than him. Than who? Than Will Morad? Yeah.

I have Colton regressing two spots, and he wants to take me out and beat me over the basket. He's got Will Morad dropping 14 spots. Here's my reasoning. Oh, what's up, James? What's up, boys? How we doing? Hold on, James. We're throwing down.

Hang tight for one second. Just hang tight. Last year, Colton had the worst slate of nine events he could have asked for. There was nothing for him that he could be good at. There was multiple sprints and multiple long distance and big guy stuff. There was nothing he could be good at. You're telling me this year is going to be the same? There's not going to be one event where he's okay at?

All he needs is one home run. And Adrian Bosman is a little pinner, so he's going to have a – he's not gonna be one event where he's okay at all he needs is one adrian and adrian both is a little pinner so he's gonna have a he's 165 pound guy he's gonna have some love for the pinners one home run for him and then he's top 30 adrian bothman hates dudes like james sprague six three yeah like hey i ruined i ruined the test man i broke the test i the joke is i'm six nine but i i don't think that in my head uh who do you who do you have at 35 john austin spencer oh wow um spragues are you are you a student of the game uh depends on what that means man you think we're talking crossfit game yes yeah that's what i mean the crossfit game i'm not uh not pimping hoes i'm talking about the crossfit game uh like do you know the athletes how they do is that like like do i know insider training and insider trading am i

am i good at guesstimating like brian i i would say i'm not um i'm always wrong with this stuff i always like put the people I know in front. Okay. Bye. Down and Tudor with time. I would say, I would say down and Tudor are both going to tie for first at the games this year. Okay.

Okay. So that's what we got. That's what we got. Ladies and gentlemen, James Craig has joined us for the last five picks. The most important picks. For real. James gave me one of the best hugs today.

Who did? I got a lot of hugs. Benji. No way. I'm happy to hear that. He is a great hugger. On top of the podium for hugging, Benji. Dude, there's Spirit of the Games, there's Hug of the Games. What's next?

Oh, we should do that. Did you guys pick a Spirit of the Games winner yet? Brian or John? I haven't given much thought to that, no. Okay. I'm just going to win Spirit of the Games. No, no. Too quiet.

Too quiet. What do you have to do to be Spirit of the Games? Is it whoever smiles the most or faces the most adversity? It's politics. It's politics. So it would be the guy that claps in and of the losers lane. No, no Dan bailey never supported a single one of his fucking uh people out there He was he's the most closed off person when he competes and he won spirit of the games

It has nothing to do with your spirit of the games period. Yes. I said it I feel like it'd be easier. It'd be easier to pick the least likely person to get spirit of the games than the most likely Yes, because you know who's you know who's just like you know who's not like gonna be happy the whole time and who's gonna be like just in their zone and not talking to anyone and they're at least likely if you're really nice outside of the games but you're curmudgeon at the games you can still win spirit of the games like it has nothing to do with spirit of the i feel like it's also a bit of a legacy award it rarely will go to someone in their first three years.

It's usually someone with five plus years of games at this point. Well said. They feel bad for Kristen Clever because she didn't win the second time. Did she ever win Spirit of the Games? I don't know. I don't know if they had Spirit of the Games when she was there.

Did they ever give it to Ben Smith? I don't know. It's like the award no one knows. Can you repeat? Can you repeat Spirit of the Game? No, because then Noah and Cole would get it every year. Dan Briggs would get it every year. Becca Voigt every year.

Okay, number 36, Brian. Did I give you 35 yet? You said Moritz. 36, I lost to Spencer. Okay. Austin. And that's the guy who came in through the last chance qualifier. Nope.

Austin Spencer was the sixth place finisher at Atlas Games who took Nicholas Joyal's spot. Oh, that's the guy who came in through the drug test. Yep. Brian, do you know what Austin Spencer took in the LCQ? Teens in the teens somewhere. So what's your opinion on people that beat him in LCQ not going to the games? Do you think it's fair? I do.

Yeah, I think it is too. But a lot of people are mad about it. No, every region, every continent is allotted a certain number of spots and if you started backfilling out of the lcq then it would alter that obviously the lcq allows for uh any particular continent to gain one or two spots yeah i think that those that you know that should be considered in distributing game spots for the next year but i don't think that you know austin went to that event and competed and a guy who competed and did better than him but was cheating was eliminated from the competition that takes the top five guys and so that's what i finished

you know yeah yeah for sure this is a brilliant pick noah is going to win the spirit of the games this year plus plus he's a good candidate for that, yeah. A semifinal is way more of a full test than the last chance qualifier, too. Yeah, I agree. I would say doing both, that the LCQ wrecked me a lot harder than the semis.

Wow. It was a much harder test. It was much harder. It was way more technical. This podcast should win Spirit of the Games. That's a fucking great point. That's a great point. What was the hardest part of the event that just got announced, James?

Oh, let's see. Tell us the movements first, John, so everyone knows what he's choosing from. Do you want to say it, James? Yeah so it was uh 20 20 pig flips um what's got what weight did they say the weight yeah i've done 10 pounds 510 pounds into the three and a half mile run when we tested it we did not do the full run um so they made the run longer than when we tested it um and then into a 200 meter um jerry can carry which are two like sandbags basically with handles into a 200 meter uh sandbag carry and then the last part is upstairs and a bear hug but before the stairs you can carry it however you'd like um and i don't think anyone trains that distance of sandbag with a 200 or ever has.

So I think it's going to be very interesting. That stone is 200 pounds? That thing, yeah. It's the cheddar chunk sucker. Did anyone drop it when you tested the Husafelt? Did anyone drop it on the stairs? No one will go unbroken on this. No one.

I guarantee if anyone hangs on to that bag the entire time i'm quitting crossfit that that bag is about to do it james bro bro if you if you your back is too strong for crossfit in that case like my back was broken after this event what's the women's weight on the husafel um 150 and then their bags are 70s, and their pig is a 350, right? Yeah. I think the pig is lighter than last year's. Hey, so if you drop that thing on the stairs, you've got to pick it up on the stairs, and that's got to be awkward as shit. Yeah, and no, because there's flats on the stairs, I'm pretty sure.

There's flats on the ones that they're doing it on. And it's weird. People are going to eat crap on the stairs, stairs i feel like just because your posterior chain is pretty fatigued can you push it like a sled push up the stairs no no it won't move because it's a chunk it's like a weird shape so i don't think it'd move very well okay i think that'd be a no rep how are they gonna get them down the stairs when they're done? The demo team will do all of that. You guys are good dudes. 36, John Young. Thank you. That's awesome.

You're sharing that with us. Brian will probably get me on the pronunciation of this guy's name, but Gay May Bryant. Oh, Gay May Bryant. Oh, God. Okay. Okay, 37. How many? 37, Bryant.

Guillaume Bryant. Guillaume Bryant. That's a cool name. He should spell it that way. It's not cool when John says this. Now, this guy is probably going to win an event. For sure a second.

If he makes it there. Where was he from? France. He's French. I remember watching him. National team. Swimmer on the national team. I think it's some European country where they swim for...

They take pride in that shit. I feel like with the amount of events there are at the CrossFit Games, if you're taking an event win in one event, there's going to be an event pretty close or similar to that event, if there's that many tests, that you're going to have more than one top finish. I feel like.

Not for this guy. If you're a swimmer, that but uh but everything else like there's multiple running tests there's multiple weightlifting tests or biking if there's biking um james that's another one i mean it's probably ricky's gonna win it if it's biking and he has a chance of winning another event i guess as good as any but for sure i'd love to see that. Do we know it's the swimming event after the cut or no? The cuts on Saturday night. So no. So that,

that's what everyone will do. Okay. John Young, 37. Uh, Augustine. Uh, Brian,

38. Augustine. Uh, 38. John Young. Enrico Zanoni. That's a good place. 39, Brian.

Artur Seminoff. And 39, Mr. Young. Artur Seminoff. And 40, Brian. Keelan Henry. Have you seen Keelan Henry? I did. I had an amazing conversation with him today.

He's a very, very nice guy. Very smiley, excited to be here. John Young, who do you have at 40? Same. We both have Keelan Henry. Who is, John, who is Brian's just most outrageous placement? At the top or in the middle or at the bottom? He's got one risky pick for every section here.

So at 33, he's got – let me tell you some of the ones I think. At 33, he's got Colton. At 24, he's got Jay Crouch. Jay Crouch. His most bold picks are Quant, Greyshaver, and Dallin. Yeah, Dallin. More bold pick than Spencer Pancik? And Spencer. I forgot about Spencer. I feel like Quant could be higher.

For who? I feel like Quant could be higher due to the fact that last year he was sick and the year before he was second. And he's not sick anymore and he's got all his stuff taken care of. And personally, I trained with him and he did not have a good training situation going into the granite games. And now it's been all figured out going into the game.

So I think he's going to do pretty well. I told these guys about a while ago, James. I thought something about him looked good to me today. Yeah. The way he was carrying himself. Did he give you a good hug too? I didn't hug Sam Quant. The other good hugs today were from Facundo.

Oh, nice. Lazar. Nice. Brian gets around. You didn't give Dallin a hug, Brian? Dallin. I'm always a little nervous to hug Dallin that he's just going to break my ribs. Did you hug Danielle Brandon?

I did not see her today. I was there for a majority of the men's check-in. I was not there for a majority of the women's check-in. James, did you get to see the check-in at all? No, I did not. I was actually not there today, unfortunately. Brian, what is John Young's pick that you're like, it's so bad that you're like, he's just fucking with us?

Probably the first pick. I can't see his whole list in front of me. I guess I could try to find it. He's got Patrick Vellner in first place. He has Guy in ninth. He's got Noah in 14th. Oh, no, he doesn't have no N-14. Sorry, he has no N-13.

I mean, obviously, I think he's high on Colton. I think he's low on Quine. I think, no, I think his picks are pretty conservative overall. Uh-oh, here we go. Stand back. Mr. Hiller, how can I help you? Yo, can you tell James to let Street know he should pick his phone up? Tell James to what?

Can I get a hold of Street Warner? Can I get a hold of Street Warner? Oh, geez. Dude, this is a podcast. This is the biggest podcast in the CrossFit space. This is not your personal fucking call-in service. Yeah, I know, but you have 800 people watch andy james to tell street to pick up his phone you want to talk shit to john or brian that's

the question i don't even know if i have this man i want to talk shit to anybody who put no olsen anything under the podium he's on track if he thinks that's gonna happen the most popular man in um crossfit mr hiller thank you for calling. Bye, Hiller. See you guys. Bye. Was that for real, or was that a joke? No, he really thinks Noah's going to be on the podium. Oh, I meant the other thing, too. No, no, I don't think that's a joke.

I don't think that's a joke. I'm confused. I'm just his hitman now. Brian, what would you consider your worst pick? My worst pick? I mean, I know that I made some bold picks. And I probably ranked all the guys that John said higher than most people would have them.

And I probably ranked... Yeah, I mean, it was tough to put Travis outside the top 20. It was tough to put Travis outside the top 20, uh, it was tough to put Jay outside the top 20 tough to put who day like eight spots or nine spots lower than he finished last year. But that's just the nature of the competition. I think that there are, uh, enough new guys in this field and some guys who've made some significant

steps forward since last year, that there's going to be guys that do that feel like they competed really well. And I think sitting here saying what the heck, how am I, why am I, why is my finishing placement lower? Uh, John,

who, who would you, by the way, earbud Hiller, Hiller made a video where he ranked all the athletes based on their Instagram following. And no, it was at the top.

Uh, John, what, what do you think is your, your pick that concerns you the most, your, your worst pick? Probably Colton because I took a risk that there will be an event that he could smash because he's either going to be near the bottom at most events, and if he doesn't get an event that he can just –

that's a bodyweight movement event or a barbell cycling event that he can just smash, then he's going to be near the bottom. And I'm just banking that there's going to be one or two of those has there ever been an athlete like colton mertens at the crossfit games by that i mean someone who's such an outlier is cody anderson in that um group or is colton beat him it's colton i'd say the closest thing is josh bridges but uh i even i don't think josh was as much of an out or chris sp. That's what I was going to say. But the competition wasn't as fit as it is now. I think he's as much of an outlier that we can have.

Brian? As far as a games field goes. That's well said. James, you tested that workout, the workout they released today? Yes, I did. And have you tested a bunch of workouts? I have done some stuff. How was the workout with the rope climbs?

Didn't do that. Is there anything else you can tell us? When's the next workout going to be announced? Don't know, actually. I actually don't know. What time do actually i actually don't know what time do you report report tomorrow uh that's a good question too who are you sharing a room with no one wow yeah i know i'm i'm lonely here bro wow it sucks oh really it sucks you would wish you shared a room with someone yeah i mean I mean, I love being around people.

Are you close to Brian's room? Brian, are you in the Edgewater? No. Oh, you're balling, dude. You're balling. I'll come cuddle. They have these athletes all over the elevator. It's pretty cool. It's very cool. One day. One day I'll be there. Guys, is there anything else anyone would like to add to this are we doing we're doing the

women tomorrow uh who do you feel more uh you feel better about the women than you do the men as far as the top goes yeah for sure okay yeah that's well said i feel like i feel like one through 15 i have a i feel pretty good about the women i would say like 15 to 30 is a little bit tougher for the women. There's a lot of athletes that I don't, I just don't know as much about or haven't seen compete as much recently. There's very distinct tiers in the women. At least I feel like there is all the way down to what Brian said around 15.

Tomorrow at 12 noon Pacific standard time. We have Ricky Gerard coming on the show. Then at 1245, we have Jay Crouch and Rob Forte. And then at 6 p.m., we will tell you who is going to win the 2022 CrossFit Games 1-40 in the women's division with Brian Friend, John Young, and possibly James Sprague. Have me on, bro. Have him on. Anything else, guys?

Spoiler alert. James Sprague has picked Emma Carey to win the women's division. That's it. That's next.