Reebok RF2, 20.4 Live Stream, James Newbury Breaks Back

Rich Froning 2 (Reebok RF2) leaks from Reebok. We have the 20.4 live stream. More on Lukas Hogberg's withdrawal. James Newbury broke his back.

Monday, October 28th, 2019

Good morning and welcome to the WODDITY podcast for news about CrossFit. We are a daily podcast, Monday through Friday, doing CrossFit news in five minutes or less.

My name is Ben Garves and today is Monday, the 28th of October, 2019. 

Rich Froning 2 (Reebok RF2)

Reebok RF2 clues are now out there for everyone to see. “See” is in quotation marks here. Tal Short, notorious for leaking teases of Reebok’s latest CrossFit fare, has posted a picture to Instagram of him working with Rich Froning on what we assume is the Rich Froning 2, or RF2 shoe. Short is the Senior Product Manager of CrossFit for Reebok and Rich Froning is...okay. I’ll say it one more time. Rich Froning is the four time fittest man on earth, four time fittest team on earth, and has been top-two on the CrossFit Games podiums every year for the last decade. Yes, THAT Rich Froning. Some herald the Reebok RF1 as the most comfortable CrossFit shoe ever made. I’m sure Froning and Short are working to make the RF2 a stunning and fitting replacement. All you can really make out in the photo is that:

This is definitely a shoe and,It looks like Rich and Tal have moved away from the outer structure of the shoe, moving toward more of a flyknit/flexweave body.

Tal Short posted pictures of a bunch of shoes in testing a few months ago: I have a link to that article in my show notes at WODDITY.com. The assumption there is that those shoes are the Reebok Nano X, Reebok Nano 10, or whatever it ends up being called.

More: Lukas Hogberg Withdrawal

I wrote in a story last week that 2018’s third-fittest man on earth Lukas Hogberg posted to Instagram that he would be withdrawing from the CrossFit Open. Brittney Kleyn of Morning Chalk Up dug deeper, reaching out to Hogberg for more details. According to Kleyn, Hogberg feels the new competition format is bad for athletes mental and physical health, making the season too long, the offseason too short, and poor communication from the CrossFit organization being too emotionally taxing.

To read Kleyn’s full article, zip on over to Morning Chalk Up. I have the link to the page in my show notes.

20.4 Open Announcement

The 20.4 Open announcement in North America will happen Thursday the 31st of October at the legendary Diablo CrossFit in Pleasant Hill, California. Featured athletes will be Jason Carroll, Sean Sweeney, and 2015’s Fittest Man on Earth Ben Smith.

This will be the first ever CrossFit Open workout announcement with a cash prize for the winning athletes. First place will receive $2,000 and the runner-up will receive $1,000.

If you’re in the Northern California area, tickets are $25 for non-members. They’ll have drinks, entertainment, food, and special guests.

20.4 Live Stream

WODDITY’s goal of providing reliable live streams of all major events continues. You can find the link to our 20.4 live stream in my show notes at WODDITY.com. When you get to YouTube, click the “Set Reminder” button to get an alert when the live stream starts. If you’re looking for reliable live streams of the CrossFit Open and Sanctional events, or even just my ongoing analysis of CrossFit athletes, subscribe to the channel for all the goods. Again, the link to the live stream of 20.4 is in my show notes at WODDITY.com.

20.3 Standings

So far, Andrea Nissler and Alexis Johnson have claimed the top stops of the CrossFit Open leaderboard this morning, but we’re lacking times from a ton of major athletes.

Roman Khrennikov is sitting in first on the men’s side after posting his 20.3 right before I recorded this. Sean Sweeney is in second with a blazing-fast 6:42 on the latest workout. Other notables on the men’s side are Streat Hoerner in third, and James Newbury in 9th, who will unfortunately not be able to move forward. About that:

James Newbury Breaks Back

This weekend, Australian CrossFit star James Newbury posted to Instagram that he had a freak mountain bike crash and has punctured a lung, along with breaking bones in his spine and ribs. The news has traveled as far and wide as Men’s Health magazine. He’s such a stand-up guy that he used it as an opportunity to remind everyone of the importance of helmet safety. Newbury will be back competing and still has a really great shot at some Sanctional events for the 2020 season. Prognosis on an injury like this is that, while incredibly painful to work through, healing can take less than 6-8 weeks. Newbury is in incredible spirits and we’re all pulling for him to make a speedy recovery and that he can pick up where he left off with his epic 2019 performance. Aussies, man. They’re the best.

Alrighty, time for the AMRAP round:

Chandler Smith joins a huge list of big-name athletes competing at the Filthy 150. Jacob Heppner notes he’s probably going to join, too.Heppner, who struggled with 18.4 due to anatomical shape, is attempting 20.3’s handstand push-ups on his fists in hopes it is accepted by CrossFit. He’s also noted he will be competing at the Pandaland CrossFit Challenge if he gets his visa worked out. This was all in his video about 18.4/20.3 on YouTube. Another article by Brittney Kleyn at Morning Chalk Up digs into the interpretation of the rules in the movement guide. Links to all of this are in my show notes.Rogue Fitness has been trying to build a 4000-seat CrossFit arena adjacent to its Columbus, Ohio headquarters, but has hit a snag with the city regarding parking. Their backup location looks to be Austin, Texas.

And that’s it for news about CrossFit on Monday, October 28th. Thanks for listening. Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe. It’s the best way to give back to the show, because it helps more people find us. I’m Ben Garves.