Today: Watch 20.4 Live Here, CrossFit Issues 42 Penalties

Watch the 20.4 live stream. We talk 20.2 penalties, the Lefteris Theofanidis video review, and Morning Chalk Up is hiring for a senior role.

Thursday, October 31st, 2019

It is Halloween, and we are too professional for an edgy, spooky intro today, so I’ll just give you some costume advice. The scariest thing you could wear today is an owl mask. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll direct you to yesterday’s episode. It’s long story...or should I say a "short story"?

Watch 20.4 Live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0NuYm61Lm0

You can watch 20.4 live right here on WODDITY tonight. The fourth workout announcement of the 2020 CrossFit Open will simultaneously host athletes in three different countries, Italy, Brazil, and the sovereign nation of California. For 20.4, Italy will have Annie Thorisdottir in attendance, Brazil will host some home-grown talent, and Diablo CrossFit in Pleasant Hill, California will host Ben Smith, Sean Sweeney, and Jason Carroll.

Mars and Heber, the Buttery Bros will be in attendance, along with Sean Woodland and Tommy Marquez from the Talking Elite Fitness podcast. It’s going to be one heck of a night.

WODDITY’s live stream of the 20.4 workout announcement will start at 4:00PM Pacific with a countdown. The commentary is set to kick off at 4:30PM, followed by the official workout being released at 5:00 PM. You can check out my live stream guide for the video, or go directly to the stream on YouTube. The links to those are in my show notes for this episode at WODDITY.com.

I have an exciting and action-packed show planned for you tonight, so I’ll see you there.

20.2 Penalties

CrossFit announced 20.2 scoring adjustments yesterday, the largest number of penalties we’ve ever seen for a CrossFit Open workout. They issued 42 penalties over 40 athlete video submissions, nine of which were garnished with additional clarification. While these penalties hit a huge number of athletes, we didn’t see the same significant leaderboard shakeup we saw with 20.1. The vast majority of the score adjustments were for false starts, CrossFit pointed out that athletes should be standing upright at the time the timer starts.

I’ll quickly go through and read some of the bigger names for you:

Bethany Shadburne: false startBjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson: false startBrooke Wells: false startCarol-Ann Reason-Thibault: false startChandler Smith: score adjusted from 922 to 898 because in 24 of 27 rounds he performed only 23 double-undersCole Sager: false startDani Speegle: false startJamie Greene: false startLefteris Theofanidis: scoring adjustment for false start and heels not breaking the vertical plane on toes-to-barMat Fraser: adjusted score for final toes-to-bar after time capNoah Ohlsen: adjusted score from 980 to 973 for rounds where he did not complete the required number of double-undersPatrick Vellner: false startSean Sweeney: false startTia-Clair Toomey: false startWilly George: false start.

It is quite the list.

Lefteris Theofanidis Video Review

Speaking of penalties and leaderboard shakeups, we have some drama unfolding on top of the leaderboard for a 20.3 video submission. Currently the overall leader of the CrossFit Open, Lefteris Theofanidis has been the target of some scrutiny over the measurements for his handstand push-ups. Three major red flags are the target of the controversy: his height measurement doesn’t look accurate, the camera pans away from the height measurement before it is marked, and the distance from his height doesn’t look to match the forearm measurement he takes in the video.

At the time of recording this, 44 judges have marked the score as requiring modification and 56 have rejected it entirely. I’ve personally reviewed the video, and while my opinion is hardly authoritative, it looks sloppy and invalid, but not malicious. 

CrossFit will likely assess a heavy penalty next week, which will push Theofandis way down the leaderboard. It is unfortunate, because he clearly has the capacity to do the dang thing. Let this be a lesson to everyone: be careful and methodical, and make sure you trust the work of those around you. It could cost you a first place finish in a CrossFit Open someday.

Morning Chalk Up Hiring

Our final story is some good will for Morning Chalk Up. They announced this morning they are on the hunt for a Senior Managing Editor to help manage their newsroom. If you’re a journalist with leadership experience and a passion for the sport and community of CrossFit, I have the link in my show notes at WODDITY.com. 

And that’s it for news about CrossFit on Thursday, October 31st. Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe. Every time you do, a jack-o-lantern breathes fire. Good luck tonight with 20.4. I’m Ben Garves. I’ll see you on the live stream.