The Dubai Fitness Championship (DFC) might have concluded three weeks earlier than this text was revealed, however there’s a lot to course of from these 4 days of high-level competitors.
Over 20,000 photos have been shot throughout these days by BarBend‘s CrossFit author and photographer, Patrick Clark, who captured some iconic and delightful moments within the course of. Below are his favourite 20 pictures from the DFC and a short blurb on why every photograph stands out.
[Read: Check out BarBend’s leaderboard for complete coverage of the 2022 Dubai Fitness Championship.]
Porter Chalks Up
The Story
Khan Porter chalks up earlier than Event 4, “Ride or Die”, an elimination-style occasion that featured energy on the Rogue Echo Bike and legless rope climbs. It was the rope climbs that had the Australian chalking up earlier than the beginning, as time was of the essence as soon as the clock began.
Porter would make it to the Semifinals, putting seventh, simply lacking out on the finals. It, sadly, was considered one of his final occasions as he would take away himself from the competitors the following day to keep away from re-aggravating an harm.
Beneito Selles Finally Gets His Moment
The Story
Fabian Beneito Selles embraces his girlfriend, Sara Valera, after being introduced because the winner of the boys’s division in an thrilling end. The Spaniard has had a tough three seasons as he has been pursuing a purpose of competing on the CrossFit Games. He even thought-about retirement after Wodapalooza back in January.
Thanks to his gymnasium, Training Culture, coaches, and group, together with Valera, he has made himself an early contender for a Games spot out of Europe and the face of the rising and proficient Spanish CrossFit motion.
Rolfe Looking Ahead
The Story
Emily Rolfe’s 2022 Games season didn’t finish as she meant. As a top-15 contender within the girls’s subject, she noticed her Games come to an abrupt finish after the primary occasion, when blood clots in her left arm compelled her into emergency surgical procedure. Nearly 4 months to the day, she discovered herself on the competitors ground as soon as once more — not simply taking part, however dominating.
The Canadian’s second-place end in Event 6, “Heavy Handed,” which featured chest-to-bars pull-ups helped her to her first podium end at a serious competitors since profitable the 2019 Granite Games.
Freyova, Front and Center
The Story
Karin Freyová strains up within the heart lane previous to Event 5, “Strong Like An Oryx”. The Sloviakian has been a staple of the DFC, the place she made her identify identified and have become a Games contender. She picked up her first main competitors win on the DFC with a dominating efficiency that noticed her win three occasions and end with six top-five finishes in eight occasions.
Fasa Making the Leap
The Story
Reggie Fasa loves himself a very good barbell complex and the programmers, DFC and HWPO, have been joyful to oblige. Named “Barbell Furious”, this exercise featured 10 cleans into 10 front squats, ending with 10 shoulder-to-overheads all at 220 kilos.
Fasa went unbroken on the cleans and entrance squats earlier than taking a 10-second relaxation earlier than ripping off the ultimate 10 reps of shoulder-to-overheads which was accomplished with a soar over the bar and dash to the end. His time within the opening warmth of 1:37.53 was ok to win the occasion and put $3,000 in his pocket for the win.
The Climb to the Top of the World
The Story
Media entry for the opening event of the DFC was very restricted. Most of us didn’t have approval to shoot throughout the stairway of the world’s tallest man-made construction, the Burj Khalifa.
This is the kind of occasion that’s distinctive to the DFC. For the 40 athletes, together with Javier Gonzalez (pictured above), to scale the stairway to the a hundred and sixtieth ground has solely been tried by a handful of individuals previous to the occasion.
Strong Like Moos(brugger)
The Story
Freya Moosbrugger was the youngest girl within the subject at 21 years previous. Her youthful enthusiasm was on full show all through the weekend, together with throughout this celebration after putting fourth in “Barbell Furious”, her finest end of the competitors. In simply her fourth reside competitors, she traveled to Dubai to achieve helpful expertise that she felt held her again in her 2022 Games efficiency, the place she positioned thirty second as a rookie.
She positioned ninth on the DFC in a subject which featured many Games veterans. For Moosbrugger, the expertise far outweighs the ultimate end.
Downtime for Koski
The Story
We typically see the athletes when they’re simply competing on the sector of play for now not than 20-Half-hour. It’s within the warm-up space that the athletes spend most of their time awaiting to compete.
BarBend was given entry to see what occurs behind the scenes. Veteran Games athlete Jonne Koski has been on this state of affairs many occasions and seemed proper at residence within the warm-up space, scrolling by way of his smartphone.
Cringle Takes on Iconic Movement
The Story
The ultimate occasion of the DFC featured a staple of the 10-year previous occasion, the “Devil’s Press”. Aimee Cringle and the remainder of the DFC subject needed to sort out 30 of those devilish actions.
The “Devil’s Press” is a burpee with a dumbbell in every hand after which a press overhead. The iconic motion made its competitors debut on the DFC again in 2012 and has now change into one of the hated actions by athletes in competitions ever since.
A Lift From the G.O.A.T.
The Story
Much fanfare was made when it was introduced that Mat Fraser and his HWPO team can be aiding the DFC organizers with programming for the occasion. Fraser and his staff have made waves through the offseason after programming a variety of competitions together with the Madrid CrossFit Championship.
A two-time winner of the DFC title, it was a welcome return for an athlete who turned a fan favourite within the area. He gained one other fan in Italy’s Valentina Magalotti when he stepped in to assist her attain the rings through the ultimate occasion.
Point Taken
The Story
Damián Martínez Satorres factors to the Spanish followers in attendance on the Coca-Cola Arena after a profitable elevate through the “Hang Clean” ladder. He would find yourself ending sixth within the occasion, his finest end of the competitors.
A Champion Realized
The Story
With a win within the tiebreaker occasion heading into the ultimate occasion of the DFC, Beneito Selles seemingly wanted to defeat Brent Fikowski, the perennial Games podium contender and DFC favourite, to win his first main offseason title.
However, Stelles didn’t account for German Moritz Fiebig profitable the ultimate occasion in such dominating vogue and 4 different athletes ending forward of him. For a second, the leaderboard was in flux, and Selles was uncertain of his aggressive destiny. When the fact set in that he had, actually, gained, Fiebig raised an emotional Selles’ hand.
Centering Oneself
The Story
2022 CrossFit Games rookie Seher Kaya takes a second to catch her breath and heart herself after ending Event 3, “Get a Grip”. The native of Turkey that lives in Norway positioned sixteenth within the occasion and fifteenth general.
Acknowledge Me
The Story
Serbia within the CrossFit world is finest identified for producing Games athletes and brothers Lazar and Luka Đukić. There is, nevertheless, one other Serbian athlete who intends on making his identify identified and that’s Luka Vunjak. He first burst onto the scene this season together with his spectacular efficiency on the 2022 Lowlands Throwdown Semifinal as a 22-year-old this previous season.
At the DFC, Vunjak additional established himself as somebody to observe. He recorded two top-five finishes on the DFC together with fourth place within the “Hang Clean Ladder” the place he efficiently lifted 375 kilos.
Upside-Down Life
The Story
Moosbrugger closed out her DFC weekend with a seventh-place end in “Walking With the Devil” which solidified her general ninth-place end. She traversed the primary a part of the exercise, a 100-foot handstand stroll, with little drawback, going unbroken throughout that distance.
Race to the Finish
The Story
The youthful Đukić brother, Luka, edges out Vladimir Sechin within the tie-breaker of the “Hang Clean Ladder”, which was 5 cling squat cleans for time. He beat the 22-year previous Russian by simply :07 of a second. Đukić would place seventh, an enchancment type the ninth place he completed ultimately yr’s occasion.
Moya Giving Her All
The Story
Oihana Moya is taken into account one of many pound-for-pound strongest girls in CrossFit and he or she put that strength on display like a Macy’s retailer throughout Christmas within the “Hang Clean Ladder” occasion the place she positioned second, ending with a elevate of 265 kilos, which is over 100 extra kilos than her body weight.
She completed runner-up to Freyova, which marked her first of 4 top-five finishes that propelled her to a fifth-place end general.
Đukić’s Up Among the Downs
The Story
The elder Đukić brother, Lazar, was thought-about an early favourite to podium if not win the DFC title. The two-time Games top-10 finisher and DFC veteran that positioned second final yr. Unfortunately he struggled all through many of the competitors as he recorded simply two top-five finishes, putting twelfth general.
However he did report an occasion win in “Ride or Die”, the elimination occasion. In the finals he was in a position to beat his brother by three seconds and let loose a sigh of aid and anguish as he crossed the end line.
The Calm Before the Climb
The Story
On the bottom ground of the Burj Khalifa there was an eerie silence among the many athletes which isn’t irregular, particularly for the primary occasion of a contest. The athletes have been heading into the unknown as all they knew was that they’d 160 tales to ascend to the highest of the world’s tallest man-made construction.
Hear Her Roar
The Story
At 30 years previous Hanna Karlsson was one of many older girls on the DFC. This previous season wasn’t the best one for the 2019 Games athlete as she handled accidents and didn’t advance previous the European Quarterfinals regardless of a powerful displaying within the Open. She confirmed that she’s prepared for the upcoming season with some very encouraging performances together with her win in “Ride or Die”.
From the Echo Bike, she beat Freyova to the rope for her single legless rope climb which she had no drawback with and knew instantly after she landed that she had the occasion win, letting out a scream as she jogged to the end line.
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Featured Image: Patrick Clark Photography | Athlete’s Eye Photography
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