The Sevan Podcast - #104 - Best CrossFit Athletes Under 25

Episode Date: August 16, 2021

The Sevan Podcast EP 104 - James Hobart and Brian Friend Special Guest - COLTEN MERTENS - @colten_mertens The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Sevan's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/sevanmatossian/?hl=en https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/3-playing-brothers Brian's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/brianfriendcrossfit/ https://morningchalkup.com/author/brianfriend/ Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. I said, hey, you guys better start going live. We're live. We're live. Sandman 3797, what happened to having Sarah on this week?

That is a great question. I'm going to drive by Matt Sousa's house today and throw a brick through his window. Asking now, as this is way too late for the UK. That's the United Kingdom. Medeiros never came back on. How much is O'Keefe asking for interviews? You mean like how much is O'Keefe making us pay

to have Medeiros on? No, that's totally our fault. Justin's been nothing but awesome. We just, someone has to call him and like. And O'Keefe. And O'Keefe has been awesome. Yes. And O'Keefe has been awesome.

Although I called him the other day and he went black on me. Hope the audio works. We hope the audio works too. Blessing for Brian's audio. When is the CF Games podcast inviting their true CEO when is the CF oh that's a great question how are you all doing

Bruce Wayne god I gotta meet this Bruce Wayne dude what a trip Bruce Wayne you'll meet him when he's ready for you to meet him ladies and gentlemen I'm sure everyone is excited because the CrossFit Games official podcast

has been launched. I watched the first 40 minutes of it before this show today. It's going to supposedly have rotating hosts, but I'll believe there's a second episode when they make one. It has the hosts Daniel Brandon, Dave Castro, and Chase Ingram. They said it's not a personality-based podcast, and that's clear because they had Dave on.

But I thought that was a little mean to Chase and Daniel Brandon because they do have personalities. Although it's clear what you're doing. You see how successful our podcast is and we're all ugly as shit. And we just use Hobart as eye candy. And now you've stacked your podcast with just hot people, whatever. I mean, it's not personality based.

How superficial is that podcast? You got the hot chick and the hot guy and the hot director. I see what you guys are doing. I see what you guys are doing. I see what you guys are doing. Well, so of those three, I'm just going to anoint Daniel Brandon as the most beautiful of the three. But the question is, who is better looking? Dave Castro. Hey, Colton, what's up, dude?

How's it going? Dave Castro or Chase Ingram. That's what we need to know. Who is better looking? Is it TDC or Chase Ingram? I know that's why Hobart's on the show. Because we just snagged up the Top Cat for eye candy. And then they got stuck with Dave.

And Brian is handsome, too. All right. Someone throw me a bone you guys put masking tape over my square Colton what's up dude thanks for coming on yeah no problem dude oh guys get your questions for Colton Merton he's only going to be here

for 15 or 20 minutes this evening here's my question for you Colton three questions and he's only going to be here for 15 or 20 minutes this evening. Here's my question for you, Colton. Three questions. Colton, you remember James Hobart? Was he here last time you were here? No, this is our first time meeting. I know who he is, though.

Yeah. Of course. That's a really nice thing to say. I know who you are. Of course. Colton, before the games, you were basically talking about just things you did to improve your gamesmanship. And one of the things was the 1,000 wall balls, right? Was that with a 30-pound ball or a 20-pound ball? 30. I haven't used a 20-pound ball in maybe used it three times in the past year i pretty much always train with a 30 now i just every time you talk i just want to see hobart's

face because he's never interacted with you before because i'm going to go downstairs right now and stab my 20 pound ball i have three 30 pound wall balls because they keep getting ruined from using them so much um did you get home I I sent like wait can I ask a question about that yeah what happens when you do use a 20 pound wall ball he throws it up to the moon. It feels really good. Because I had this idea one time that I would only do 30-inch box jumps. And then I don't think it worked very well because every time I went to do the 24-inch box jump, I was just jumping just as high as I was for 30-inch box jump. So I started varying that up. But I think maybe in a wall ball, it's different.

Was that a humble brag for Brian? No, I tried to be clever, and it failed. It felt like it failed, and the 24 inches were just as hard, except I was being more inefficient. And Colton, I think, has actually a good strategy. I don't think that going backwards to the 20 is going to have a negative effect ever. No, because that quarterfinal event, there was the 120 wall ball, 120 cut row. That was the first time he's a 20 in a very long

time and uh that was actually a pr for wall balls the most i'd ever done uh prior to that and one set was 100 i did those ones on broken and uh i never did 100 in a workout on broken before so i was really happy with that that was the first time i touched a 20 pound ball in several months say that again again? I missed that. Where was that? At the quarterfinals. Damn. At the quarterfinal events.

Damn. Well, can we get a poll at the top, Ryan? Can you pin a poll to the top so we can find out who's better looking, Chase or Dave, and then at the end of the show we'll make an announcement. We'll give them 1% of our money,

who the winner. You get 299 pounds sterling i i i'm guessing this is my hypothesis and i haven't shared this with james or brian yet but i'm guessing that you got home from the games and within a few hours 24 hours three hours you punished yourself because you didn't win the games. You've made yourself do something horrendous. Am I just making that up? You just seem like that guy.

I didn't do any training for at least 10 days after the games. Good man. I'm easing back into it. I didn't do anything yet, but it's getting about time. I feel like I've got to do something eventually. Okay. I'm just kind of easing back into it. Yeah, so I didn't do anything yet, but it's getting about time. I feel like I've got to do something eventually.

Okay. So I had you read wrong. You're smarter than I thought. I just figured you were going to come home and be like, okay, I'm – where do you live again? What state? Iowa. You're like, okay, I'm going to run to Kansas. That'll teach me to not win the games.

I don't know. Hopefully I don't have to worry about that again. Have you concocted any workouts like the thousand wall balls with the 30 pound ball that you're like, okay, I'm going to, it's time to fix some shit. Yeah, I definitely have a, I think I have a good game plan going into this season in the next seven months until you open. And it's a lot different than what I've been doing for training. But I'm actually really excited. I've never been more excited to get back into training and see how this affects my body and my fitness. And it's going to be a lot of suffering and a lot of shitty training and really boring stuff. But I'm just going to have to do it.

And I'll get better at this stuff. I put in enough meters on the rower, enough time running, enough time in the pool. It's just a matter of getting it in. James, did you by any chance go back and watch any of the footage from the games? I watched a handful of events from the games. I didn't go back and watch too much footage. I watched a handful of events from the games.

I didn't go back and watch too much footage. In the 185-pound thruster wall walk event, that was, I think, Colton, is that fair to say that was one of the events that you were most excited about? You thought you could do the most damage? Basically, I don't remember the commentator. Did the commentators talk about that at all, Brian? I didn't watch that event back on the broadcast. Okay, I watched it. We were talking about it in the stadium. We saw it happening.

Basically, Colton's legs went straight. Like all of a sudden, like, you know, where you have a knee and it bends? Colton stopped bending there, and he did that workout with straight legs. It was a trip. He basically cramped up. Do you think you maybe could have won that event? I don't know. I don't want to disrespect Scott Panjik, who did win, and come out here and say,

I could have won that if I was healthy. I think I could have done really well in that event. I think I could have been somewhere around the top five. I think I could have done really well in that event. I think I could have been somewhere around the top five. I think it's not too crazy to say for that event. But, yeah, I don't want to say that I could have won. I feel like that's not fair. When will you try that again? I don't know.

Probably next time in Cedar Falls, I guess. I don't have a space in my garage where i can do wall walks and other movements so when i do wall walks for training it's more like a kind of an emom style just like in the house or something so i had to get to a gym before i can do that workout i think um that's a a great post for your instagram too i don't know if you know this hobart i'm uh working free uh on the coltonton Morton's Instagram campaign. Colton, you're a lucky man. Savan's a one-way ticket to getting shadowbanned.

I posted one thing that was like mildly political, and I got a dozen DMs that said, don't go getting shadowbanned like Savan. Oh, Nelly nelly oh my goodness people listen no matter what you think it doesn't matter like i'm with you i'm with you vaccine no vaccine like i'm totally all about freedom and free country but listen stop conflating the issues of what covid did versus covid response did it's it's idiocy. COVID is not, has not caused lockdowns. That's our response has caused the lockdowns, things like that, right? Do you guys understand that out there at home? Oh, my mom chastised me for being rude to

the listeners. Like if I say, Hey, knuckleheads, she thinks like I'm just talking to everyone. And I was like, no mom, only people who that only sticks to the people who think they're knuckleheads. But I guess that one stuck to my mom. It's crazy. I'm 49 years old and my mom's like telling me what I can and can't say on my podcast. It's like my only. Okay, back to Colton. So, okay.

Colton, as part of your off season, will you try to get to a competition? I usually do the Central Regional, which is put on by CrossFit Kilo and OC3. That's like a team comp I do. Usually just for fun, but I probably don't want to do it this year. I'll just go and spectate and hang out. But I don't know.

I'll probably do one of the major off-season events or try to. I know Rogue's in October. I don't know if they're doing a qualifier for that or not. But then there's also Wadapalooza, which I would look at doing, and some other big ones too. But I'll try and do something probably. I'm not going to taper forward or anything like that.

I'll just keep doing my regular training and then just kind of hop into it. Because you always learn a lot of really good things with competing. And also you just get better at competing with the whole mindset of it and dialing in nutrition and things like that. You need to do it with competitions. Kind of like a dry run in one regard. Yep. My God, I'm trying to picture you in Miami.

I just can't see it. I can see you at the Rogue Invitational for sure. I just can't. Mullets do well in Miami. They do? It's like a throwback. That's like a Miami throwback. Yeah, Don Johnson, I guess.

He was like one inch short of a mullet. See? And so was the other guy. What was that guy's name? Tubbs? I don't know the other guy's name. Not that old. Was that team comp, Colton, the one you said you were going to do with your girlfriend?

No, it's three male or three female. We did a couple's comp. We've done two of them, actually. We went first in both of them. One was a Valentine's Day comp, and one was just a regular doubles comp. Notice the pattern here, Salvan. Didn't Lazard do the same thing? Yes.

Maybe I'm conflating the two. Yes. Yes. think yes maybe i'm conflating the two yes yes um what did your uh what did your girlfriend say to you about your your your performance at the games did she have any feedback for you oh yeah she did yeah she had a lot of things to say about my swim and uh my swimming and running abilities and technique but you know it's okay uh you know i think about that now when i'm swimming and running abilities and technique. But, you know, it's okay. You know, I think about that now when I'm swimming and running. Because I can't let her be right about that again.

And the kayak. Can you give us any good one-liners? Did she give you any good one-liners, like, compared to your running style or swimming style, anything? Anything funny that we can, like, make fun of you after we kick you off the show? your running style or swimming style anything anything funny that we can like make fun of you after we kick you off the show uh you said that my swim strokes she said it looked like like it was a question mark like should i take a stroke or like i was questioning every stroke or something like that like my rate was really slow i'm like come on i go i can't go

faster i'll get tired this This is all I got. Caitlin, Ralph, you guys rock the best podcast. Thank you. Ten bucks. You're awesome, Caitlin. I just feel like you know something that you're going to – well, tell me, can you reveal some of your plans this year for your training, what you're going to do different, what you're going to work on? I guess it's not more that so much you need to do something different training what you're going to do different what you're going to work on i guess it's not more than so much you need to do something different what you're going to add yeah so um i didn't do a ton of swim training before the games and even sprint

work because there was things like rowing and ball balls and stuff like that that was keeping me from qualifying for the game so i didn't feel like it was kind of silly to spend hours in the pool when I need to spend hours on the rower so I can get to the games, because it doesn't matter how good I get at swimming if I can't qualify. But now that I've gotten a little bit better at some of those things, I can spend more time swimming and running. Saturday morning, I guess yesterday before chores, I went and did a lot of swimming and some sprint work. So I'm already getting right back into that.

And doing, it's kind of like more of the same, but just more drastic. So like not as many Metcons and gymnastics type stuff that I'm pretty good at. It's going to be just a lot more endurance running rowing a lot of Olympic lifting snatches and clean jerks stuff like that I'm really excited to see do it again I like this guy

soft spoken and humble Colton takes two strokes to everyone else's one in the water. Colton may have trained for the wrong type of pig flip. Ah, ruthless. That's a moderator, Nick of Time harassing you. Holy cow. No one's safe. of time harassing you holy cow no one no one's safe is there any part of you like like when you're when you're out there you obviously everyone out there is crazy fit you it's the top you know 38

fittest guys on planet earth i mean it's a it's a remarkable feat um but when you're in, in, in, you know, you go to a semifinal or like, how did you place in the open Colton? 18th. Okay. Like that's like, holy shit. Right. But then you go here to this place and there's nowhere to hide. Right. It's just like, everyone's a savage. Is there any part of you that, um, gets like embarrassed or you start really beating up on yourself when you're like not doing like staying like because obviously you're used to everywhere else you go being the best and you go up here and you're down at the bottom of the heap or do you just say fuck it i don't care this is just all learning experience i'm not even i don't give a shit what anyone else thinks

i definitely care um not about what everybody else thinks, but about what I think. I obviously wanted to perform really well at the Games, and there's some workouts that I was proud of that I didn't do that great in, like we had the rope climb, skier, sandbag carry event. And those are all movements that I've struggled with just being a smaller athlete, but I think, I can't remember where I placed, but I beat 10 or maybe 12 guys in that event, and I think, I can't remember where I placed, but I beat 10 or maybe 12 guys in that event. And I feel like if I beat you on an event like that, I'm definitely fitter than you.

That'd be like them beating me on a thruster burpee event. So I mean, I'm moving in the right direction. I just am not there yet. And just had to keep on hammering those kinds of movements so that I can not take those poor event finishes. Because I know that I'm – I guess you put it like this. Like if I get lucky with the events, I can do really, really well.

But if I get unlucky with them, now you see what happens. I get 31st. So I need to get better so that I don't have to rely on the events being programmed kind of in my wheelhouse. When we talked to you at the games games i think it was the second time we interviewed you you you didn't have any excuses and even the guys who have no excuses you hear like some excuse yeah i love the instagram posts that um they always start out yeah i got no excuses uh for i performed this weekend blah blah blah and then they go in. Oh, I had a hurt quad.

I had the sniffles. I stubbed my toe. You just told me you didn't have any excuses, but okay. Yeah, I mean, I just wasn't fit enough, and the events came up that I'm not good at, and it's my fault I'm not good enough at them. I had to keep on training them. I've gotten so, so much better at a lot of those events. You know, a year ago, I would have gotten last on a lot of those events,

like the skier event, I think I would have gotten last on a year ago. You know, I've just still gotten so much better at those things, but I've just still got some more improvements to go, and I'm really excited to see what the next seven months brings and then really the next 12 months, because the Open is a good kind of benchmark to see where you're at, but it's not really the important competition. I really believe in you. I'm a Colton Merton fan.

I'm getting ready to put you at the top of the heap as soon as Travis Mayer retires. I'm pretty much just grooming you to replace him in my head. Like just slide, just kind of seamless, just slide Travis out and just put you in. Um, don't tell Travis. Ah, he probably won't even care, but I don't know how many more years he has before I have to just like slide you in. Is it, would it be better for you if we just, um, if you you if we disparaged you on this podcast or is it better that we were like we're fans like or should we be like dude what is that guy doing he has no chance of ever being in the top 10 like what the fuck why doesn't he just get back to work on his farm or would it be better is it better like how i'm just like fanboying on you like which i because

i'm because if because if you need disparagement you're fucked you shouldn't come on here anymore no i think the disparagement works better because oh then youagement, you're fucked. You shouldn't come on here anymore. No, I think the disparagement works better because... Oh, then you're fucked. Then you're fucked. I was in the pool for over an hour doing that swim training yesterday and the entire time when I was doing my strokes, I was thinking about Ali telling me that I'm making fun of my swimming. I thought about that before I went to bed the night before

because I knew I was going to be swimming the next day so that's uh it really motivates me a lot travis i'm not i'm not dropping hopper sorry colton sorry someone in the comments getting out of control they're they're saying i'm dropping her i just can't i just have favorites colton's a favorite hopper's a good dude he's a good dude he said he'd never come on the podcast again unless i paid him what can i say colton's not there yet hobart how about you james babyface hobart one of the nicest kindest gentlemen i've ever met do you need someone like did you work better when someone made fun of you and like oh hobart has no chance or like what the fuck he has no business on rich's team or he has no business being an individual did you feel like

it gave you something to prove to the world? I don't, I never felt like I had to prove it to anyone else, but I like hearing that stuff. I think I'm kind of similar that way. You know, it's like, I don't know.

It's just, if you're told you're great all the time, you start to believe it. And then you just flatline, you know, and it's not like I believe the disparagement, but it was like okay that's good you're right i did suck it it kind of gave you like just reminded you once in a while to

like get back to work and and i guess colton like part of us you know we're joking around and but but it really did push you harder in the pool like we're part joking around that your girlfriend was making fun of you but it actually worked you're like okay fuck this i'm going harder i'm gonna do better. Yeah. I haven't told her that, but she said she's going to watch this podcast. So I guess she'll find out.

She she's moving in soon, right? Yeah. And like next week. Awesome. Congratulations. Now you're really screwed. Can we get team Colton t-shirts?

Let the proceeds go to Colton to help fund his training? No, the proceeds are going to go to me. Of course they'd go to Colton. What the hell is your problem? Ridiculous shit. The other day someone gave money in the YouTube channel, and then later on they DM'd me telling me how I should spend the money. They donated.

Don't donate money and then tell me how to spend it. Don't do that. That's already spent on jiu-jitsu tournaments for my kids um i love this guy what a wonderful can uh cancer what a wonderful answer of course i care yeah he's um he's a bit of an enigma if we met your dad colton would we be surprised you guys like like when you guys sit at dinner is is there almost little to no talking? Are you past the salt? He's like, mmm. Is there talking at your dinner table? Yeah.

My dad's probably more social than I am. He kept telling me, he's like... What was that? He's making noises. He keeps asking if he can come on the podcast too do they want to ask me any questions you have to win the games before we get your dad on here we can't only have one old guy on the show he turned 51 today wow two years older than me i could be your daddy colton my kid's gonna be taller than you though

my kid's gonna be five five i'm telling you i'm telling you shut it hobart shut it hobart uh can we get his dad on the podcast of course we can we could do that sometime soon james and his new mic what a lovely voice yet now he's got a voice to go with that face for what sebon pays for his glasses he could fund colton's entire training camp for a year thank you i'm glad you noticed these are i've had these for a while but i don't normally wear them they're a little too feminine for me but i put some gel in my hair and i'm just going for it i'm digging it was that a hog calling in the background? No, that was Colton's dad. Well, we'd like to have you on.

Is there anything else you want to say to Colton? Do you want to tell him what we're going to do today after we kick him to the curb? Me? Yeah. Take a look at the top 10 CrossFit athletes that are under 25 years old for the men and the women. And do I dare ask, is Colton on that list? Is he on the top 10 best CrossFit Games athlete under 25?

He has to be. He is. I don't give a shit about being top 10 or 25. I just want to win the games, dude. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Oh, yes. Oh, that's so good. Colton, is there anything else

you'd like to say? I don't know. Thanks for having me on. It was fun. Yeah, we'd like... In seven hours and go load some pigs. Awesome.

Oh, yeah, let me finish with this. Are you going to come back on your work schedule this year? Yeah, it's going to be a little bit lighter yeah i'll be farming still i don't believe you all right brother um this is the first test we've had where i was like hey we should just have people on the show that we've had before for like 15 20 minutes catch up with them and then uh move on so thanks for letting us experiment with you um we'd like to do this throughout the year so we'll be in touch all right man sounds good all right dude thank you colton good luck man good to meet you say cool yeah you too james

bam ryan i removed him is that cool can we talk about real quick how Colton welded his own fucking handstand obstacle? Can we just, can I just throw that shit out there? Dude, he's so awesome. Yeah. Pat Sherwood said it best. He's like, I've met a lot of great athletes. And he's like, I've met a lot of great people, but I don't meet a lot of great athletes who are great people. That's cool, man. That's only the third time you've said that. I know, but it don't meet a lot of great athletes who are great people. That's cool, man.

That's only the third time you've said that. I know, but it's just true. It's just true. It's nice. It's a refreshing thing to see because there's not a lot of that out there. If you're going to quote someone three times on the show, I'd like it to be someone like Thomas Sowell. Please, Hobart. What if it's you?

What if I just keep rattling off quotes of Siobhan I wouldn't like that I'd be embarrassed so I want to go back to the current this CrossFit Games podcast that Dave Castro Danielle Brandon and Chase Ingram launched the my one final thing is is that I did I did listen to did they ask you to be on it Hobart way

interesting never will happen. I will say it was nice to see Dave. Dave was very happy, which made me happy. So you listened to the podcast or you just saw the thumbnail? I listened to the first three minutes. Once Chase said, welcome to the CrossFit Dave Castro Games podcast, I tuned out. Trevor Gentry, don't ever stop this podcast. It would be a tragedy for the entire community of CrossFit. The authentic interviews by a million miles thank you trevor thanks for the loot

uh i listened to about the first 40 minutes and it it would basically be this podcast if i didn't interrupt brian like it's basically just game it's just it's just game stock. Like, if I ever call in sick, this podcast and that podcast would be the same. Except Chase and Dave, they're all fun to look at. And the reason why I really want to emphasize how hot Daniel Brandon is, is because someone said that told me in my DMs that they were offended by me saying how hot I referred to her as the hot chick. It's like, dude, some people are hot, some people are not. Don't be offended by that. They're like like what was that it's like it's like dogs you go to the dog park you don't think there's good looking dogs and ugly dogs like some people have fucking ugly dogs like

what are you gonna do what uh they were cool people my dms are so nice they're just like okay and then they said well you know she's more than a pretty face and i said yeah i'm sure she's a good athlete too she's got a great body too of course she's more than a pretty face oh man you know i i i was on these i was on the assault bike um before we started, before we get into this amazing list that Brian's put together, which I am kind of excited about because it's going to be educational for me. It's the 10 best men and 10 best women under the age of 25 in the CrossFit Games. But anyway, I was on the assault bike and I get Logan. Jake Paul is going to fight Tyrone Woodley. And I was listening to it and I only made it through the first five minutes, and then it was time for me to get off the bike and get ready for this podcast.

But Jake Paul said that he's misunderstood, but instead of explaining himself, he just leans into it. And I was like, wow, I feel like I could relate to that. When someone misunderstands me, instead of like trying to convince them otherwise, I just kind of lean into it. Chase is not boring. And I, I,

I wouldn't say that. Are you insinuating that? I said, Brian is boring. John George chase is not boring. I actually chase is not boring. None of them were boring. Oh, the best comment of the 84

comments on their youtube podcast was this someone goes this is a complete ripoff of the sevon podcast including the audio issues bill bill sharps i was like yes all right b. Let's do it. So this is the 10 best men and 10 best women under the age of 25. And what's the criteria for – did you have to go to the games this year? Did you have to go to the games within the last three years? What's the criteria for how you get on your list? Do you have to have entered the Open? All right, Dave in your questions well i i mean there is definitely a possibility that

there's someone in this age range that i don't know about that hasn't done a lot of competitions or any relevant competitions in the past couple years so the criteria is that i know about you because you've done competitions in the past couple years and you've done well in them hobart is that what do you feel about that definition? You're a flow master of the highest level. It just sounds like Brian's just said, I'm just going to pick who I like the most. No, I mean, look, it's the nature of the sport.

And I think it's what Greg and Dave always intended is you can be anyone you want to be. You can train any way you want to train. Eventually there's a qualification process. And if you're good enough to make it through the process and you want to be. You can train any way you want to train. Eventually, there's a qualification process, and if you're good enough to make it through the process, then you come to the games, and we see whether your training methodology is better than ours. I'm game.

We have to start somewhere, Hobart. Why do you have to be so judgmental? I don't know. This is how I am. Who is better looking, Chase Ingram or Dave Castro? The poll is complete. Chase wins at 63%. Castro with 36% for a total of 74 votes. I should let you know that all the voters were male. Chase, you win.

Okay. Let's do it. You want to start with the men or the women? And are we starting at 10 or at 1? I wonder if Ryan had put that next 10 up there or not. I thought this was going to be a co-ed list. I did men. I started with men. And do you have the next 10?

What do you mean next 10? Like that list below that just says the next 10 that didn't make the list. Yes. Brutal. We're going to start with that. Yeah. And we don't have to necessarily talk about all of these just if there's any ones on there that um jump off the page for you guys that you

want to ask about you can and otherwise these are i mean basically the point of doing something like this in general is that i think we're at a point of the games evolution where the we're going to be starting to see less 30 plus half year old athletes qualifying for the games every year with like within the next two years i think you'll see a half dozen to 10 at most of that age that qualify and it's going to be mostly people in their 20s so these are a lot of the people that i think will be competitive for the next five to eight years in the sport hobart do you want to say something about that um i do but i gotta look at this i want to go look up average age of a professional athlete through the years. I got to come back

with some ammo. I think Brian actually said something that kind of contradicts what he said. Now, didn't we have a lot of games athletes who are over 30 this year in the top 10 or something like that, Brian? I think I heard you say it was like the most ever in five years or some stat. I thought I heard something. Yes, there were a lot of men and women over 30, and there were a lot of men in particular over six feet, which was kind of a trend reversal from the last couple of seasons. But I feel like part of that is the strangeness of the last two years. And then I just think that in the next two to three years,

it's going to be pretty drastic where it's going to be harder to qualify over 30. Uh, Yandy says, Brian, you're completely wrong about that. Yeah. But Yandy's old as dirt.

I think he's like 31 or something. Um, okay. Okay. I, I, I'd also like to propose this and Hobart, I know you're multitasking, but see if you can do this.

I also think that it might just go in cycles too. So it's not necessarily like others – because there are so few athletes that can go to the CrossFit Games 40, we might just be C-cycles, like, okay, here's a new batch of 20-year-olds, and then they'll kind of take over until they're 34. And here's another new batch. You know what I mean? And maybe that's what we're seeing. It's something cyclical as opposed to just young people taking over the sport. And it certainly could.

And that's why it's, it's speculative. And I'm not going to tell someone that they're necessarily wrong about it either way. I just think that this is a sport that that's going to be harder to replicate. Like it's going to be harder to replicate 10 consecutive game seasons. The longer that the sport exists.

We shall see let's do it so i guess i guess we have the men i think we have to have to see something here yeah so um there's a guy who's who comments in the comments and his name is Crumb Daddy, but I just don't ever read it like that. I just drop the R. It's so weird. I'm a grown-ass man. I watch three grown-ass men talk about people working out and raising pigs. Sounds like a great Sunday night.

I don't know why anyone would ever be upset with that. That's why we do it Sunday night. But, boy, we missed. Are we just waiting for Ryan to put up a picture and I'll feel some dead air? I mean, it's already up. I can share it on Riverside, but then I have to rearrange all the cameras. Okay, no, no, it's okay. It's okay.

It's okay. Sorry. Oh, I like this one. I like this guy. So these guys are in no particular order. These are just guys that I think are just outside of the top ten right now. And we talked about Angelo a little bit. You talked to Rich about him.

If he wants to get back seriously into training, then I think he can make another run to the game. So right now I think he's doing it. I don't think he's necessarily all in. We know he's working as a firefighter. He's training for some fun stuff, other outside competitions with Rich. But he kind of did it as a favor to them this year, just to be an alternate for their team.

I think if that motivates him to get back into it, he can be competitive in potentially making the games. Hey, you have no business talking about Angelo DiCicco, Brian. Let's ask Samuel Samuel Cornwallier who's fitter cause Samuel can tell us but anyway go on so Angelo

DiCicco 10th who is 11th can you tell us did you have an 11th none of these guys are in the top 10 oh shit I wasn't listening I thought I heard you say that Ryan let's go can we see the next guy? Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Brian.

I screwed up your whole foreplay, your buildup. Not really. What's that little graphic on the top? Is that Ryan being fancy? That blue and – Next is Cole Gray Shaver. Okay. So, Seven, I'm sorry. I thought that these 10 guys, I thought we would just see a list of these guys.

Like, I didn't want to go through 20 guys completely. Let's do it. Let's just go through them fast. All I have to say about him is... I can just... It's not like I spend an hour and a half doing this, but we can just quickly go through this. Wait, wait. Hobart, how's his overhead position with the dumbbell?

His overhead position's pretty good. It's the lower from the waist down I'm a little concerned of. The knees coming in? Good eye. Thank you. Yeah. How many level ones has Savan been to? Probably more than me. No, that's not true, but probably 50. 100. Definitely not more than me, okay.

Cole, and he's got a great name if you said it right. Young guy, a lot of potential. Needs to break through. Bigger guy, getting stronger, good at gymnastics for his size. He's a threat. Does he train with anyone we know that you know? Like, does he train with James Hobart or Rich Froney?

I don't think so. Does he have Matt Fraser's name in his Rolodex? Nobody trains with me. Your mom does. Intelligence. She won't even do even do it oh talk to my mother on this podcast okay keep going i know sorry next is uh george sterner uh george sterner he didn't compete this year and i'm not 100% sure if he'll ever come back to competition but if he does he's he I thought he would be the next champion after Matt Fraser a few years ago um he did get to the games in 2019 replaced I think he got cut in the 30s like 32nd or 33rd so we didn't get to see a full game season out of him I think he's also in school but I think he'll come back he's got one

of the best mentalities and just like get down to work in the in the dark dungeon of his basement and he's always had that i don't think he gets a lot of distractions for guy his age like some others do so i hope he comes back and competes in the next year or two he looks like he's 12 he looks younger than hobart he looks like a kid he looks like woody's cousin from the toy story jesus crime and he's a lot thicker than that now. That's from when he was competing as a teenager at the Games a few years ago. All right. I think the next guy up is named Haraldur Holgersson. We talked about him with BKG, young Icelandic guy coming up.

I think BKG seemed to agree with me that he's got the best potential of any of the young guys in Iceland right now. So if you don't know about him and you're a fan of the Europeans, Haraldur is a good guy to know. Hobart, if you didn't know, Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson is the king of Europe. Makes sense. Yep. Okay, who's next? After that's James Sprague. He competed at the West Coast Classic. Young guy, 19. He's got a great skill set. He's long and lanky, so he needs to get a little bit stronger, but he's very good aerobically,

pretty good on some of the gymnastics stuff for his size. I think he still might be like two to three years away from being relevant in the men's field, but I think if he sticks with it, he can be pretty good. I'm getting some Garrett Fisher viberett fisher um vibe from him is he tall picture yeah there's the worst one he could have picked from uh is he tall brian yeah he's tall he's like six three hobart i was i saw a Grid League post on my Instagram, and someone was doing pistols and then jumping over the bar with one leg from the pistol. Have you seen that movement?

I haven't seen that from the grid, but I've seen stuff like that. What do you think? Cool or gimmicky? I wouldn't do it. It made me anxious, but I liked watching it. Okay, sorry. Go on, Brian. The next guy is a guy from Denmark named Lukas Grulef.

I didn't really know about him until this year, but he did pretty well in Europe and spoke to a couple friends of mine over there in Europe that know the young athletes well, and they think Lukas has the potential to. Frederik Gittes is probably done now. Andre Houdet had a great year this year at the Games. And I think this guy, Lucas Gruloff, is another guy coming out of Denmark that can make a run at the Games for the next couple of years. He's a little bit older among these guys.

He's 23, so near the end of the threshold here. So I think he's maybe a little bit more mature body-wise than some of them and primed to maybe make a run in Europe. He looks like a 7-year-old Russian gymnast. more mature body-wise than some of them, and primed to maybe make a run in Europe. He looks like a 7-year-old Russian gymnast. I mean, that picture is crazy. There's these 7-year-old little Russian boys that I always watch their gymnastics and shit and show my boys. That picture, that dude looks like he's 7.

I don't know Lucas that well, but I'm guessing that's an old one too. All right. Matt DeLugos is next on the list. I think he's one of the older guys here, 24 years old. Trains with the Underdogs Athletics. Competed at West Coast Classic this year. A lot of people who have been around the space for a long time feel that he's got some potential and just needs to minimize bad performances.

He was pretty consistent at West Coast. One or two slip-ups kept him out. Again, he's very tall. I think he's like 6'3", 6'4", maybe taller. Yeah, look at those levers. Are you tripping on that, Hobart? Look at him. I'm getting this Alex Anderson vibe from him too,

like the Anderson brothers vibe. You see that? Maybe a little bit with the hair. And the smile. The next two guys are going to be guys, to be guys that you know and have interviewed this year one of them is Phil Toon insanely strong guy seems to have had

some injury problems hoping he can get healthy and see what his athletic potential is in the sport and then after that is Sam Stewart Phil Toon I just want to say something that was one of the best podcasts i've done i really enjoyed interviewing phil toon he's cool as shit but by the way how he now he's 23 and he looks like he's 32 but that's the only one but he also um

talking to him yeah he sounds like he is beat up like he needs like he needs like a body worker to move in with him but i really hope he does well i really enjoy talking to him okay and he's a great name phil toon it almost sounds like it's some sort of like like there should be some sort of joke right it's like a crank call name phil toon there okay go all right sam stewart's the next guy up obviously had a breakthrough this year making it to the games and then had a disappointing experience there, having to withdraw with an injury. Bicep tear, right?

Yeah. It's one of those things like I don't think he was going to have, I don't think he was going to make the top 20 either way, but not being able to get the full experience of having those 9 or 10 events this season I would say is kind of a disappointment for him. I do think there's a lot of value in getting to the games once and being able to do a majority of the competition. So he was kind of taken away from him with that injury.

But he's still very young. He's competitive in Europe, and I think that there's opportunity there with some of the guys. There's a lot of young guys in Europe, but I think Sam's got the potential to make it again to the guys. There's a lot of young guys in Europe, but I think Sam's got the potential to make it again to the Games. So Sam Stewart, he's the guy from Ireland? Yeah. Yeah, he was nice enough to do a podcast with us that went really well

while he was at the Games, which was really cool of him. And he's the only one on your list who's outside the top 10 who went to the games, I see, right? Yeah. Almost offensive. Sam, almost offensive. I hope that lights your fire, buddy. Okay. And last one is Tudor Magda.

He's the youngest guy in this group at 18 years old. He trains with James Sprague. They were both at the West Coast Classic and finished one spot apart from each other there. Same with James. I think he might be like two years away from making it. It's just really difficult on the men's side to transition immediately into the elite field.

But these guys are still good enough to be getting those semifinal opportunities and going out on the floor. I know both him and James said they learned a ton at the semifinal this year that they think can help them make the next step to compete against those guys in the next couple years. Hobart, what were you doing at 18? I don't even remember.

Were you in high school still? I graduated when I was 18. I turned 18 like a couple months before graduation. I think I was really young, so I was probably just getting into college. I wasn't doing CrossFit yet, but I was close. And did you play any sports? I played soccer and lacrosse in high school, but not very well. And Brian, maybe you said this, but I was texting someone who was calling me.

Did you say what country Tudor Magda is from? Well, he represents the United States on the leaderboard, but his family might be from Spain. I'm not 100% sure. I want him to be on that island with Magawa, Gabriela Magawa. Yeah, yeah, yeah just i don't know in my brain he just belongs there i just look at this picture of him i see his name and he belongs in mallorca i see that this guy mason mitchell mentioned the hunter holyfield hunter holyfield was actually was two spots outside of the next 10 there's just there's a lot of men i have 45

guys on this list so it's deep but can't man can't get to all of them hobart do you think guys craig white wants to know do you do guy do you guys think a 30 to 34 masters will ever come into play um yeah eventually it will i say no why do you say yes uh because they've just slowly expanded Masters. I don't know. I know you said the cyclical thing, but I just feel like at some point I think the sport could grow to a point where that age range of that 30 down could just push all the 34-year-old people out. Yeah. Do you see your athleticism waning?

Are you in the Masters category because your athleticism is waning or because the competition has gotten more stiff? Were you pushed out by better performance or were you pushed out by your own performance waning? I think it's a little bit of both, and it's also just my priority toward training is totally different than it ever has been. Don't get defensive. Don't get defensive'm not no it's me thinking about it and i think to the um the caliber of athletes in the masters especially um in the earlier age ranges will continue to um increase pretty significantly i think so too it's weird how i used to have no respect for the masters

sounds about right zero respect and then it changed I don't know if it's because I got old I need to sit down and ohm on that okay Brian let's do that let's hear these men number 10

is there anything we can take away from this list when you tell us the number one person who's 25 and under? Oh, I guess this – never mind. My question is irrelevant. I was going to say, are you saying that that person will win the games? Okay. All right. Number 10 on the list is Luka Djukic.

Luka is only 22 years old. Obviously, he made the games this year. Got cut right before the final round of cuts in 29th place. And, you know, we talked to his brother. And, you know, it is always interesting to listen to a guy like Colton Mertens, who we just spoke to, and he's like, I don't want to hear about these excuses. And then we talk to a lot of people or see a lot of people on Instagram say,

I wasn't 100% for this, I wasn't 100% for that. And it wasn't Luca, but it was his brother who told us that his back had been flaring up and he didn't get it, especially on that last workout, event number 10 which lazar thinks luca could beat him in he didn't even come close you know but this is the nature of it i mean the games is difficult i don't think that very many people are competing through the whole week and they're feeling a hundred percent and part of part of you know competing at the games is being able to manage and navigate that. Luka, he wasn't able to do that well enough to make the cuts this year, but it seems like he's got a good gene pool and a good work ethic, and I think that he's still going to be on the upward trajectory going forward.

I think that's one of the best things you've ever said, that not everyone at the games is 100% all weekend. You have to be able to compete sort of at your worst. All right, off to a good of at your worst. All right. Off to a good start, I guess. Yeah, nice job. Hobart, can you bring that mic closer to your mouth? I can get it closer.

I can turn it up. I can get right here. I don't think that volume does shit, by the way. That volume's... Turn that up. Get nice and close. Yeah. Number nine.

Yeah. Number nine. Number nine is actually Colton Mertens. So he's 23. And, you know, he finished slightly below Luka at the games. I was almost like coin flip between these two guys. I see them in similar capacities right now in terms of where they're at and where they can go in their careers. I agree with what Colton says. I think that there are certain competitions and combinations of workouts that he's going to thrive in and really, really do well. And then I think that there's some that are still obviously, you know,

troublesome for him, but he's working on them. And I have to believe after the times we've talked to him, he's working as hard as he can to try to improve on all these things. He seems to have that desire. And you hear, I mean, he literally could care less about something like this. It's just exactly what he says. He's singularly focused. He's very driven. Is it possible that just it's never going to happen to win the games at that size?

I don't know. I do. But he's going to try. I think what he's already accomplished in the sport is impressive, and he's still only 23 years old. Isn't Fraser like 5'2"? He was always listed at 5'7". Okay, never mind.

But I don't think he's 5'7". I think he's around 5'6". He's never going to do another podcast with me. Hey, I think Colton Mertens is... Well, let me ask both you guys this. Do you think he's going to make it to the games again? Yeah, I think he'll make it to the games again. There's a lot that getting there once, I think,

I'm not saying it unlocks the secret sauce to doing it over and over again, but there's a lot you learn along the way. He was kind of talking about my goal has always been just to get there in terms of training, so I focus on X, Y, and Z. And now he has so much more insight into what it's like that he needs to do to train for the season and the games so i'm not saying it's easier to do it again but you you learn so much and it's helpful it's weird like i don't think it's ever easy but i do think that it's easier after you've done it once like there's i i'm agree with you that there's something that switches and if you look at the turnover rate like

it's pretty high percentage of people that make it back after making it. I think he's going to do great. I was a little concerned about that cramping thing. I should have asked him today if that was the first time he cramps or if that's just some normal shit. Save that for the next time we have him on, and we will have him Colton Mertens on as many times as he'll come on. Number eight.

Number eight is possibly the only guy on the list you're not going to know, Savan. His name is Luke DeJong. He's a 21-year-old kid out of Australia. He was, I think he might have been winning the Australian regional. He was fifth, seventh, second, and winning the Australian regional. He was 5th, 7th, 2nd, and 1st on the first four workouts of the games, or of the semifinal over there in the Torium Pro.

And he was winning kind of in ways that Jason Hopper was winning workouts at the Mid-Atlantic, like looking very confident, looking very composed. This is a good picture of him actually winning one of those workouts. Ryan, if you can get another picture of that guy's body and put it closer,

that guy looks like a man-child. 21. And he said, you know, again, he said he got sick in the competition, and his last three event finishes were like 29th, 18th, and 25th. I mean, he was like a pretty noticeable drop-off. So maybe he was sick. I don't know. But it looked like he was going to make it for two-thirds of that competition.

He's 21. And those workouts that he did well on were like some pretty difficult workouts. So I think he's... I think he'll make the games next year out of Australia. Nice quads in this picture. Nice hair.

Nice body. Looks tall and big. big hobart do you have any concerns about that heel strike no he's just taking a big confident stride right there that's a that's a power pose okay okay epic hair and that i i just love i mean it's it's not as good as dave's corn rose but i just love hair statements although i'm gonna'm going to tell you, I'm not a fan of Danielle Brandon's green hair. But whatever. It's not green anymore. I know. I really liked her on the podcast. On the CrossFit Games podcast

hosted by Chase Ingram, Dave Castro, and Danielle Brandon. Number seven. Seven is Cedric Lapointe who we've also have spoken to um 24 years old so he's about as old as you could be on this list and uh you know he had one terrible event at at semifinals on a thruster and legless rope climb event which he should be good at and he talked to us about how he you know how many no reps he got on the thrusters, how many blew up as a result of that.

He got a 30th on it. Outside of that, he had a first, a fourth, two eighths, and a 14th in a pretty competitive men's field over there and almost made it in. He has that kind of aura about him of like he might just always be the guy that gets close but never makes it. But he's just as good as a lot of the people at the games. And when he competes in sanctionals and semifinals, he beats people that have made it to the games. I'm going to get in trouble for this.

Are you telling me Paul Tremblay too? He's the next Paul Tremblay? I'm just showing off a little bit. Just showing off a little bit. Paul is one of those examples of a guy who made it once and never did make it back. Cedric is yet to make it. Hobart, I guarantee you Hobart and Paul Tremblay are good friends. They're like the same person, different countries.

Hobart has to keep his mouth shut here. Cedric's great, by the way. Great attitude. Like him. A lot of these guys that are coming up on this list, you're going to know who they are. You just might not realize how young they are. So five of the remaining six were at the games.

Uldis Upenex is number six on the list. We've talked about him before. We've had some questions, people asking if we're overlooking or underrating him, and we've talked about it. I've talked about how I've known about him for a couple years, and he was pretty open when I spoke to him at the games after he got cut about the fact of what he needs to work on going forward to kind of shore up some of the holes in his games.

I think that it's – I think he can continue to make it from Europe for the next several years just because of the way that the men's field shapes up there competitively. And if he is able to, similarly to Colton Mertens, kind of solidify some of the things that he's not so good at and make more consistent finishes, that can you know improve upon whatever where he placed this year mid-20s 25th yeah i think he can move up into the even the top 20 in the years to come that's a great picture of him hey does um frederick agidius know that he retired or did

you just like in that last segment did you just retire him without him knowing does he know he retired are you retired frederick agidius is one of those guys that no matter he's kind of like annie thor's daughter even though less less success at the ultimate level he's been there for so long that i feel like as long as he wants to keep continuing he'll have a chance or keep competing and trying he'll have a chance but i have a feeling that he's pretty happy with how where he's at right now and he's going to just try to to support Annie. And I don't think he'll make another run at an individual game's appearance. If you say so. Number five.

Five is another guy we've talked to on here. It's Jay Crouch from Australia. You know, I talked about him before the Torian Pro and said I thought he was the most consistent guy in Australia right now. I thought he'd have the best performance of the Australians at the games. He had the worst performance of the Australians at the games. But it wasn't a bad performance. I think he missed the cut by one space or two spaces just behind Chandler Smith.

So he was second man out from the cuts. It was tough to get into the top 20 his first year there, but he's still got 10 events, and I think that's really important for him. I think that he's good enough at everything that he'll continue to qualify from Australia and continue to have some finishes closer towards 10th as his career progresses. James, you're in charge now. I'm just trying to look up some other stats on the Australian guys.

I just feel like, because everyone from Australia, and I'm going to sound like a dipshit saying this, competes out of the same semifinal, right? So this actually is a great point. It is difficult to qualify out of Australia, and that's because you have, I mean, just look at the guys who qualified this year. Royce Dunn, Baden Brown, and Jay Crouch. There's nothing

about their performances that makes me think they're not going to be there next year. But I also think Luke DeJong can make it. And James Newberry was just the one spot out and then almost made it on the last chance qualifier. Con Porter was right there. So there's a guy from New Zealand named Luke Fiso who's in that mix down there for sure,

and he's still relatively – he's in his mid-20s. Was the Torian Pro a live comp or was it – it was live? It was live, and it was really good, especially on the men's side. The women's side was – we'll talk about it later on, I think. But, yeah, so that is a challenge for the guys from Australia. There's only three spots, and there's probably six guys that can make it every year. We're on podcast number 117, and I've taken a lot of pee breaks, but that's the first time I ever dropped a deuce.

Make a note of that. Okay, number four. Number four is the only guy this high up on the list, or the highest guy on the list, who didn't make the games this year. But I don't think anyone will really object to seeing him here. It's Dallin Pepper. I think we're going to be speaking to him soon, upcoming week or two.

He's an animal. I mean, he's an absolute animal, and I was actually watching one event from the West Coast Classic earlier today that kept Cedric Lapointe out of the games, and it was the thruster legless rope climb workout which you might not think would be good for a guy who's he's only 19 but he's like 6'1 220 so you'd think that wouldn't be a great workout for him and yet he took second place

against all those guys in west coast the only guy who beat him is Cole Sager who's like world class on thruster legless rope climb workouts um and it's stuff like that that kind of stands out to me. When you're really good at something that your body type shouldn't make you good at, that's a scary kind of a guy. Because there's already a bunch of stuff that he's good at just because he's big and powerful and strong and knows how to move his body through space. But then he can do stuff where he's at a statistical disadvantage.

Well, how is he at a disadvantage on a legless rope climb workout? I think it's the 220 pounds, not the height. How high is the rope? Was it a 15 foot rope? Good question. I just feel like, I don't know. I'm the thrusters. I'll agree with you. I just feel like bigger guys. I was training with Christian Harris and he's like six foot something and he would just jump once, do one pole and he was at the top of the rope. And my little weenie jump, I'd maybe have to do six pulls. And he probably outweighs me by, I would say, at least 20 pounds.

So he's definitely over 200. How do I keep hearing that name? Is that a games athlete? Why do I keep hearing that guy's name? Chris competed with a team. Christian Harris? Yeah. CrossFit Dynamics for a while they had a team this year and one of their one of their females i believe tested positive um oh yeah yeah

or failed the drug test for i don't know what so i'm not gonna say because i don't want to get anyone i don't know but anyway and he were he uh he um also did the demo team in 2019 awesome athlete awesome guy i think that was that was the drug d h e yeah yeah yeah and i remember i just want to correct something on the podcast i said that one of the side effects of that drug is it called it caused vaginal atrophy or it was some crazy but i said it wrong it actually cures it someone Someone actually sent me a DM saying I read that wrong. It doesn't cause it. It cures it. Whatever.

I don't even know what vaginal atrophy is. That's an important distinction. Yes. I'm not a doctor, just so everyone knows. Yes. What did Dallin Pepper, because I was watching him too, because you talked about him earlier. He smashed it, but what did he really struggle with? Push-pull.

The strict deficit handstand pushing someone else also said i don't remember who this was but someone said that they that they knew him from a couple years back and they hadn't seen him for two years and then they were somewhere standing next to him talking to him was that you brian no it was someone we were talking to i can't remember who but they were like yeah he's a lot he seemed a lot bigger they said that they didn't even recognize him like he's just like like he just went through puberty like from 17 to 19 and he's just a whole different like human i would be shocked if he doesn't make the games next year i mean it's crazy that he took what he had three or four finishes outside of the top 15 and he still finished six overall at this uh semi-final yeah man he really like i talked he was at the games coaching that

um 17 year old kid but i talked to him about that d-ball workout and he's like it was just one of those moments like he said it was like like rich with the rope or like justin maderos with the sandbag at granite games two years ago like i just didn't understand how to move that implement in a competitive setting, and I'll never have that problem again. It wasn't the weight or anything like that. He just wasn't prepared for it. And here we go.

These are the top three men under the age of 25 currently participating in the sport of CrossFit. This may not be the official CrossFit Games podcast, but it is where all of the truly official lists of who's the greatest and best come out. Brian, number three. And hopefully, I mean, this is actually really exciting, these three guys for

the sport moving forward. Well, we skipped one here, I guess. Number three is Jason Hopper. And, you know, we spoke about... Maybe there's not a picture of but it doesn't matter we spoke with Jason a bunch of times we've spoken about him a bunch of times we know what happened this year at the games forum and uh you know I think that this season is is really important for his

perception in the space there's I think there's some people that still really believe in him and there's other people that think that it was a fluke what happened at the Mid-Atlantic. I don't think it was a fluke. I think that he will work hard this year to improve on the things that he wasn't happy with. And I think he'll be top ten at the games, if not next year, the year after. I don't think flukes happen across that many events. I hate that. I don't like whoever said that. I don't know thatukes happen across that many events. I hate that. I don't like whoever said that.

I don't know that's one specific person, but I think that's a general sentiment that people have. Yeah, it's one thing to do well at the semifinal, but the game is a totally different beast, and this guy doesn't have what it takes to do well at the games. And it's like, he didn't this year. But that doesn't mean his performance was a fluke. You're as fit as you are in your last workout. i mean like he beat the pants off some really fit guys

that weekend unfortunately couldn't replicate it at the games i don't like that fluke um he basically one of the things he said that did match identical to what colton merton said basically is like hey he was training to get to the games and like he knew he knew that like swimming wasn't going to be in the semifinals. I think Colt Mertens was basically acknowledging. And so why work on swimming when he knows he has other weaknesses that he needs to work on that would be more relevant to get to the games? And I think Jason has a little bit of that story too.

No? Seems like it, yeah. Get him, Hobart. Get him. What? No, that's fair. I'm okay with that. Number two, this picture of Guy. Man, when you talk to him, when you see him, when we interview him, he looks young as shit. And in this picture, he looks like he's in the master's division.

Looks like he has gray hair in this picture. Oh, there's Hopper. I love it. Bam. Yeah, we're done's Hopper. I love it. Bam. Yeah, we're done with Hopper. If you want to go to Jason J. Hopper 3 or whatever his Instagram is, if you want to see thirst pics of Jason Hopper. Let's go to Guy. All right.

I'll go there right now. Yeah, Guillermo Mayeros, we've also spoken with, and people obviously saw this year at the Games, win three events, which was an incredible and pretty rare feat to do. I think the best thing that Guy has going for him is he's already so strong. The stuff that he needs to improve at is stuff that if he just has, hires a coach that knows how to develop an aerobic system over a 12 month period of time, he's already explosive, powerful, strong.

He already has a couple of years experience at the Games at only 21 years old. The region that he competes in is one where he should be able to continue to qualify through even though they only get two spots. It seems like if the guy that we saw this year at the Games is really who he is and you just insert some understanding of how to approach aerobic workouts and manage those paces that he's a pretty scary athlete uh one more thing about danielle brandon's hotness um she's not it's not just dudes who think she's hot like she everyone does all the girls transgender the whole l whole LGBTQ, alphabet, men, kids.

Everyone thinks she's hot. Okay. Number one. 20, 25, and under. I'm glad we had that break for that essential piece of information. I just go to these transcendental spaces. Number one is the champion, the fittest on earth justin maderos he's 22 years old and he just won the crossfit games beating legends like velner and fukowski and bkg and

yonikoski who've been doing it for years and every one of them thought this was their best chance to win the games with matt retiring and it wasn't it was this guy who did it so it doesn't really matter what list it is right now he He's the top of the list. Can't grow facial hair. His pubes don't touch his stomach hair. 22. It's insane.

Sorry, Hobart. Go ahead. I just can't believe how young he is. Hobart, he looks younger than you. He should look younger than me because I'm 13 years older than he is. Hobart, he looks younger than you. He should look younger than me because I'm 13 years older than he is. I bet you he even thinks Daniel Brandon's hot.

What do you want to say about Medeiros? I don't even remember now. It's probably not important. Alright, top 10 women. No, hold on. I want to say something about Brian's list. It's really irritating me. He's got two guys on there. He's got Cedric LaPointe and Luke DeJong above my boy Colton Mertens, and those dudes didn't even make it to the games.

How about fuck no, eat a dick, Colton's better than them. And Alan Pepper. And Alan Pepper. I told you from the start the criteria of this list was like suspect at best. I think that the qualification prospect to the games is suspect sometimes whoa say that one more time i'm not convinced that the qualification process of the game gets us the best guys there every year i'm not saying that the guys that make it aren't worthy of being there but i think that there's people on both the men's and women's

side who didn't make the games that would have done substantially better than the bottom eight athletes in both fields who actually finished the competition. Yeah, but there's no way around that. Right. But it does allow for a rankings system like this. Aren't you glad there's no swimming in the semifinals? No, there should be.

You do? you think so okay i'm not okay i'm definitely not okay with there not being any running if you're going to test it five miles worth of it at the games okay okay let me let me go ahead go ahead i think i will say this i dave has not dave has always been pretty straightforward about the fact that while the games changes he's like you know there is a cocktail to the games total number of events not predictable but you could expect it swim you're going to run a lot at the games and you're going to lift or move some odd objects frequently like so i mean there are things you could train for throughout the year to get better at the games and the echo bike will be there some bike will be there. Some bike will be there. Some rower, some erg. You better be good at those. And I was a shitty individual.

I won't say that. I wasn't, well, according to Brian, I was not a good individual games athlete. He said that? You said that, Brian? I didn't even make his list of whatever, whatever, whatever. Right. Come on, James. Come on.

But my point being was like, you know, I do think once you get over that hump of knowing I can qualify to the games, like at Mayhem, we swam all year round. So. And I think if you want to be competitive in the sport of CrossFit, you should be swimming year round no matter what. I like it that the games is. I don't want to say a surprise. it that the games is i don't want to say a surprise maybe i i use women as an example and like i'm not hell-bent on whatever event you choose but i like it that there's things at the games that just there's just no chance of them happening at semi-finals and i guess that's going to happen regardless if you have 15 events and i just love that and so i don't think you i don't

like when brian says Brian says that the bottom – that there's people who can beat the bottom eight people at the games or however he phrased that, I want to be like, so what? Like or of course. Yeah, yeah, that's fine. But then you can also understand where I can rank some of the guys who didn't make it ahead of some of the guys who did. Oh, you fucked me up. He did bad.

He really – he fucked me that was like the wrestler okay chair out of the referee's pants oh my god i tried to win every conversation and lost both god damn it i was trying to show off at the bar and lost the girl the brian okay brian let's go to. God damn it. I was trying to show off at the bar and lost the girl, the Brian. Okay, Brian. Let's go to the women. Damn it. That was brutal. So you'll notice

something different about the women's field is that there are a lot of people younger on this list. Like, I think the youngest guy was Tudor Magda at 18.

And I think there are five women or six women of the top 20 that are younger than 18 i want to tell you something i went to a jiu-jitsu tournament uh this weekend like the six-year-old girls like they would fuck up the six-year-old boys and same with the seven-year-old girls the best the best people in the world at jiu-jitsu from what i saw and like i don't have a ton of experience at these tournaments, but man, girls develop fast.

They are savages. Okay, sorry, go on. And I suspect that's what's happening here. That's fair. I used to do judo, and I got crushed by girls in judo last week. Are you doing judo now, Hobart? Sorry, go ahead, Ryan. No, this was when I was younger.

Brian, we're going reverse alphabetical order on this. Okay. Okay, so these are the 10 that just missed out. So Paulina Harrow, 17 years old. She competed as a teenager this year. And I think she did four rep max front squat of 235 pounds at 17 years old. Something like that. It was crazy.

But she's a mexican um she's been competitive in the teenage division and very strong at a young age i think she'll be in this next group of women coming up in the sport she's mexican or she's from mexico what i mean does she represent mexico is that what you're saying or she doesn't if i say you're Mexican, doesn't that just mean you're from Mexico? Shit, I don't know. I don't know how that shit works. She lives and trains in Mexico. Okay.

And how many CrossFit gyms do they have in Mexico? Like official affiliates. I really want to know. I wonder if she works at a real affiliate there. That's one of the countries where the trademark is really... Go to the affiliate.crossfit.com affiliate map. Shit got really squirrely in Mexico. There was some guy squatting on the name.

I don't know if they ever fixed that problem. She was listed as unaffiliated for the games this year. Aha. Aha. Here's the thing. I don't have a problem with you teaching an affiliate i don't have a problem with you teaching crossfit if it's not a crossfit gym blah blah blah blah

blah whatever but man there's a piece of integrity missing when you don't affiliate and i know it's it can be expensive in some countries like that but like hey man like this is crossfit like don't act like it's not like so there's anyway i could it's... It's different. Jacqueline Robinson, sorry I can't watch to the end. Gotta get up early to ride the Devil's Strike and get shadow banned. Have a good night, boys. Woo! What's the Devil's Strike? Salt bike.

Oh, nice. And shadow banned is what you are. Yes, I know. Thank you. Okay, Paulino Jaro from Mexico. Next. Next is Paige Powers, another former teen games athlete. She competed at the Granite Games, the semifinals.

Granite Games or was it West Coast Classic? Well, she made the semifinals this year. Granite Games. Granite Games. Yeah. And yeah, because she was, yeah, I remember seeing her. Okay. And anyway, yeah, she's 18 years old.

She's got a pretty unique body type, and she's pretty strong. She needs to improve her engine for long time domains, I think. There's a lot of women at this age that are competitive, but she's amongst them for sure. She competed a few sanctionals last year, including the Mayhem Classic. So she's got some competitive experience against top-end women in the sport. But I think she's still maybe a year or two away from really making a games run. Do you know any of her numbers? You could be like, she back-squatted 300 pounds for 10.

No, okay. I like that stuff, Brian. Make a note of that. pounds for 10. No. Okay. I like that stuff. Brian,

make a note of that. Here, just pull up there. Uh, everyone's forward max front squad and, and tell you that just anything. I just like it when you say their numbers and then I can watch Hobart's expression. Cause I know Hobart's like,

shit, can I do that? I'm going to go warm up right now. Um, okay. Well, next on the list is olivia sulek and uh she's 19 years old so again under 20 um competed in as a teenager at the games

competed at semifinals this year didn't make it i think that a lot of these women are just in the same category here they're just one or two years away from maybe breaking through. They haven't been able to the way that, you know, Haley Adams has quite yet, but I think that they're trending towards that direction. They're like 10th this year. You know, this happened a lot in regionals. You'd see people come be 15th, 10th, then fifth, and I'd get, get to the game. So she's kind of in that.

What country? What country? USA. Okay. Oh, really? She looks like a Russian gymnast, too. I'm getting that. And that name. Maybe Sulik. Maybe that's what turned me off.

Hey, Hobart, I bet you I don't have enough weights in my home gym to test your one-rep deadlift. Paige Powers front squatted just about 240 for four good job page jesus ryan when i'm just saying nonsense like talking about my home gym that's like trying to give you time to switch pictures and shit next is uh olivia kerstetter she's the youngest female on this list 15 years old she won the 14 and 15 division this year. She's a girl that trains with Jacob Heppner and has been for several years, snatched 202 pounds at the game. So she's obviously got some pretty incredible strength for that age. I think she's amassing as much experience as she can in the competitions available to someone that's as old as she is.

And maybe she's on the track of a Mallory O'Brien and Emma Carey of qualifying before she even ages up to the Open division. We'll find out in the next two years. What's the legal age to be in the CrossFit Games? Can you be 16? Is there an age limit? You can be 16, yeah. Can you be 15?

Well, the problem with being 15 is that the open workouts are different at that age. So I think you have to be 16 because you have to be able to still do the workouts. Is there money to win like in the 15, 16, 16, 17, 14, 15, 16, 17 age divisions? Well, that's what's going to change. There never was. This year there was through the Reebok offerings. That's what's going to change. There never was.

This year there was through the Reebok offerings. And now because of the changes to the professionalism of college athletics, I think that you will be able to earn money as a teenager in CrossFit. I was going to say, she should just stay down in the teenagers until she's ready to go to the game, just clean up, make some dough. O'Brien and Carey could have done that this year, but I think that the Open Division was better having them in. O'Brien and Carey could have done that this year, but I think that the open division was better having them in.

I don't think you can take your L1 until you're 15 or 16. They got an age limit on that even, which is weird. Hobart, do you have anything to say about that? Actually, I was trying to – I don't know the exact age. I should know that. Two Olivias in a row. What were the odds of that? Number – okay, keep going.

Let's go. We're going to be here all night. Yeah. Next is Chloe Wilson. Chloe competed at the West Coast Classic this year. She finished in seventh place. She's 23 years old. She's, you know, a little older than some of the other women on this list,

but not necessarily a bad thing. Gaining some competitive experience this year. I think she's one or two execution decision-making thing in a semifinal competition away from making the games this year. So has all the potential and just needs to put the right weekend together to get to the game. So someone definitely to be aware of in the United States. Old lady of the bunch, 23. 23, I know, it's amazing.

Next is going to be a Canadian named Freya Moosbrugger. A very unique name, but a very good athlete. She's 19 years old. Again, she made the semifinals this year, didn't make it to the games. And basically all the women in this category are this. None of these 10 made the games this year, but all of them were very close. Or if they did, it was in the teenage division. And her squat looks good.

Yeah. The next one is Evie Hollis. She's the oldest woman in this group. She's 24 years old. She missed making the games in Europe by one spot. She was in the semifinal that Emma Tall was in, and she ended up missing out by one spot to Sam Briggs. especially that there's going to be a turnover of athletes. Kristen Holter just retired. We don't know how long Sam's going to be able to continue to make it. You know, and there are, like, there are everywhere. There's some younger women coming up,

and Evie Hollis is someone that most people probably don't know about but could be in that next group of competitive women. She's from the UK. Next. Next is Emma Lawsonson she's only 16 years old she competed this year at the crossfit games she she made the last chance qualifier in the atlas games uh she was a morning chalk up featured her as a young athlete to watch this season and she almost made it to the games um and that if you remember that atlas Atlas Games semifinal, the top nine women were all within 20 points or 25 points. It was incredibly close, and she was in that group. Emma's definitely going to make it to the games as an individual athlete at some point with the trajectory she's on,

but I think she still actually has one more year eligible as a teenager. Wait, tell me, how close was she from going to the games? If you pull up the Atlas Games games women it was what country is she so she finished ninth she's canadian she finished ninth 423 points but she was only 25 five points away from sydney mccallishan wow so we're talking about like all these women in that tight window. And then Sydney goes on to the games and finishes 25th. So she's five years younger than her. Crazy. And right there with her.

Caroline Stanley's next up. She's 21 years old. Again, she competed at semifinals this year. Did not make it to the games. But she's on, on you know she's just only going to continue to get better i think as well and then the last one is is annika greer she's also where's caroline stanley from sorry can you count it too oh okay no she's she's american she competed i think it also was it is i don't know why i always get a granite games in the

west coast classic they like melded into my mind. How do you interview a 16-year-old? So when did you get your braces off? How's your babysitting job going? Those are good questions. I guess, yeah. Or you could just talk about the fact that she snatched 202 pounds. Yeah, yeah. There's that.

Annika Greer, 18. You said Canada? Yep. And basically the same situation as emma lawson she was sixth one spot behind sydney 11 points behind her knock just knocking on the door um shit again i think she'll qualify next year or two at least redhead maybe All right, we're here. The 10 best women in the world official list under the age of 25. It's good that you said in the world, too. There's a lot of women from different countries on this list. So, and let me see.

Most of them made the games, but not all of them this year the girl in number 10 spot did it's Sasha Nieves she's from Argentina she's 23 she ultimately got cut at the games this season um we we uh she but I think she's she's still training with Facundo um I spoke to her after the games after she got cut and she was bummed about it but kind of positive felt like she learned what she needed to in her first year competing there and you know seemed excited to get back to training at you know I think she might spend some time at Mayhem this year which is obviously going to be beneficial to pretty much anyone who goes there so I think that she will have a great chance to qualify next season through the

south american uh semi-final again and improve upon her finish at the games uh you said she's from argentina yeah did you see the ivermectin study that came out of argentina last week sorry i won't bring it up i won't get into the details but feel free to look it up feel free to look it up. Feel free to look up 1200 subjects. Um, uh, when you say Facundo, that's her coach. Yeah. And, um, what's Facundo's first name?

That's his first name. What's his last name? Uh, as choose to son is my best attempt. And is he, uh, is he, uh,

is he Latin American? Is he from Argentina? Also south of Tijuana. Okay. And, um, And is he Latin American? Is he from? Argentina also. South of Tijuana? Okay. And how many athletes does he have? This year he was coaching her, Yorgos Karavis, Saxon Pancik, and Spencer Pancik. And three of them made the games.

One of them made last chance. Okay. Number nine. Number nine from australia and this is like there's two australian women on this list and it's kind of a bummer and this is what james was talking about the men earlier if cara saunders decides to continue competing and tia and jamie simmons are able to compete next season in Australia. There's only three spots. There's only three spots for any women there, and I don't know how you beat those three.

So as good as this Ellie Turner is and could be, as long as they're only getting three spots and those girls are competing, women are continuing to compete, I mean, it's just limited opportunity. But she is very good she's 23 she was uh you know competitive with carl sanders at a couple of the events at the semi-final this year just not as consistent as her and she did fine at the games like she didn't look out of place of the game she had some good workouts and some not as good but we know how strong the top half of the women's field is there. Australia has some serious problems besides only having three women who can go to the CrossFit Games. Here we go.

Serious, serious problems. That's their event. They could change it if they thought it would help, right? Well, maybe Dave will have me on his podcast and I can ask him. They could change it if they wanted, of course, because as it says in the rule book a half a dozen times or something like that everything is at the sole discretion of crossfit so they just change it if they want to change it the um it's not just australia that has this problem on the women's side in my opinion it's also europe and i can talk about a specific example but i don't like to just give problems without having solutions. And I've been thinking a lot about this because it's just I don't I don't think that the American women have competitively earned this 20 spots at the games.

And I think that if you took one spot away from every qualifier in North America. So they got four instead of five. And you gave one extra one to each of the ones in Europe, one extra one to the one in Australia, and one extra one to the last chance qualifier that you'd have a top to bottom, more competitive games field for the women. Damn. How would you do that?

But they'd like to have a formula. And the formula now is based on open registrations, and that's pretty clean and pretty tight. This formula – and I did come up with a formula that wasn't just arbitrarily pulled out of thin air. It was based on the last five years and their relative performance at the games. Oh. Oh. Oh. So for example –

You know what I like about that is it like it a country route really hard for their athletes more and fellow athletes not a country a continent continent excuse me yeah continent wow that's cool i'm like hey that could though screw it up too it could work it could in this situation it could it could help but in other situations i mean let me tell you something let me tell you something. Let me tell you something here. Okay. Do you remember when we were talking about the semifinals and I said that there was one semifinal where there were five spots in Europe and six women deserved, deserved to go. And you said, Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You can't use that word

deserved. Do you remember that conversation? My show, I choose what words can and can't be used, yes. So those six women finished first through sixth. This was at the Lowlands Throwdown, if anyone wants to reference it. And this was their finishing places at the Games. Emma McQuaid was first in the semifinal. She finished 12th. Laura Horvath was second.

She finished second. Annie Thorisdottir was third. She finished third. Gabriella Magawa was fourth. She finished sixth. And Turi Helgadottir was fifth, and she finished 13th. Those five women who kept Karen Frey out of the games finished in the top 13 at the games. I am convinced that Karen Frey would have beaten both Tori Helgadotter and Emma McQuaid with those sets of tests.

Definitely would have been top 10 at the games this year. I think she would have finished inside top six but she didn't get to go because this semi-final was too competitive and only five of the six were allowed to go uh let me ask you this if you have you figured out if you use this if you took the like the five-year historical data of people going to the games and then you chose how many people from each continent went to the games, would like the United States only get like four people? No, no, no.

I mean, would it drop? Would it just, no, no, there's distribution. The distribution would still assume that every country gets a minimum of one.

So you'd still like, even if Africa's performance at the games, didn't want to spot at the games, they'd still get one. Okay. I'm going to shoot you Dave's number after this. And then you gotta call him and tell him this i'm sure he's dying to hear this shit this is awesome go ahead

hobart say it hobart turn your editor off hobart say it you're more than just a pretty face you're more than just a pretty face you're right i'm a pretty voice now too that's it man number seven number eight number eight wait well uh no we're number seven but uh tell me really quick how old was emily turner again because i missed ellie turner was 23 and we are on number eight no eight is alexis raptus oh yeah yeah we haven't talked about it yet okay i am alexis raptus uh it's like one i mean the thing is if someone misses the games and it's a heartbreaking story, it's always, there's always a great story that accompanies it.

And Reagan Huckabee making the games this year was obviously a great story, but Alexis basically had the, her own game's destiny in her hand this year at the West coast classic. And she just imploded at the last event. Like she's crossed herself 30 seconds and basically cost herself the games and by missing a clean, um, and otherwise she would have been there. What amazed me about her was her performance in push pull, which was strict deficit handstand pushups against both Carrie Pierce and Bethany Shadburn.

Every single round, I was like, come on, she's got to, they're going to pass her here. They're going to pass her here. And they never did. And she beat them in that workout. She trains with Max Elhaj at Training Think Tank and all the people over there. And I know that this woman is very, very talented. And she'll make the games next year if she's healthy.

CrossFit women have the most beautiful armpits of any women on the planet. I swear to God. You know, I was thinking the same thing before you said that. It's really weird. Yeah. Well, that's why you women on the planet. I swear to God. I was thinking the same thing before you said that. It's really weird. Yeah. Well, that's why you're on the show. Number seven.

Seven is Sydney McElishan. Maybe know more about her than the last two because she did make the games this year, but prior to this year, really no one knew who she was. She didn't make it solidly. No one really in that atlas games women's field did but she did enough to get in she got a year of competitive experience under her belt at the games i think that's incredibly valuable for someone who's 21 years old she loves to train she's not afraid to hurt um she's got a really good base she's got you know

i think she's kind of got all the of the right tools in place to be a perennial games athlete. She's fall under seven. Cool as shit. I am definitely an ageist. Young people can start to annoy me by their vapidness, but that is a cool chick. We interviewed her, and she was confident, bright, easy to talk to. That conversation flowed. She's dope.

I'd like to see her climb on your list, Brian. I'd like to see her climb on your list, Brian. You'd like to see her climb on the list? Yeah. Well, me too. Next is the highest-ranking woman who didn't make the Games this year, but she's a four-times Games veteran. She's 24 years old, and it's Maddie Sturt. Maddie also competes out of the Australian

Regional. She's a girlfriend of Jay Crouch. She was there with him this year, but not competing. And again, she's in the same situation as Ellie Turner. If nothing changes, it's going to be really hard for her to get back to the games. But when she makes it to the game, she usually finishes middle of the pack, around 20th, which I think is very good. So Maddie is incredible, just as good as any of these women so far. And she just didn't make it to the games this year. And Brian, you know what? To even back up your point a little bit more, let's say Cara doesn't compete next year.

Let's say one of those girls don't compete. So now there's one spot? Yeah, and I would say it's between that it's between maddie and and ellie but actually laura clifton beat both of them this year at the semi-final and she's just she's just older than 25 so she's not gonna be on this list the open registration thing i think is a really good metric it makes a lot of sense but there are some, what do you call it? There are some foils to it. Like Iceland is a foil to that. Good point. I can't believe Matt, I can't believe Sturt is 24

and she's been to the games four times and missed a year this year. It's just nuts. The last two years. There's a guy here, I don't know if I can say his name. It looks like Connornor but i'm gonna guess it's conor i would have just stuck with connor probably really can you see it's k-o-n-n-e-r yeah i think that does something to the o doesn't that do something to the o but wait to hear his last name it's it's r-o-h-r-e-r so anyway sebon hitches his wagon

to the athletes and crossfit hq hitches their wagon to the athletes and CrossFit HQ hitches their wagon to seven. Thanks for the original content, mate. I'm not even sure I understand that, but I, when I first read it before he donated money, I thought it was ripping on me,

but since he gave 10 bucks, I think it's ripping on someone else. So I'm good with it. Number five, number five, the remaining five women all made the top 20 at the games this year. Number five is Emma Carey. I was tempted to put her higher on the list,

but I really couldn't when she didn't beat any of these other women. I think that her upside is big. And obviously when you're finishing in the top five at the games, there's not a lot of space to go. But she was 16th this year, 16th or 14th. Either way, I think that she can push into the top 10 in the games, there's not a lot of space to go, but she was 16th this year, 16th or 14th. Either way, I think that she can push into the top 10 in the years to come. There's no denying the amount of desire she has to compete on the floor. Even when things were not going her way at the game, she was clearly willing to suffer and hurt and give every last ounce of herself to the competition.

And I mean, she talks that way. She presents herself that way. She trains that way. And she competes that way. And I think that she's going to be good for a long time to come. I think she's going to be, I think she's going to win the games in the next three years. No way. Yes.

She, I think when Brian said there's a lot of upside that that that lady he's got crazy potential i agree with you i just that's a really aggressive prediction it is it is but it's got you have to do it once in a while you have to do it once in a while you'll be single your whole life if you never do that well if she wants to do it she's gonna have to beat the next four women amongst others okay let's hear uh fourth is mallory o'brien obviously she placed seventh and won the rookie of the year at the games this year she won the thruster wall walk workout which was incredible to watch um she's the youngest athlete i think men or women to win an event at the CrossFit Games. And I mean, there's very little bad to say about her performance there this season. It was

incredibly impressive across the board. And she's only 17 years old. I just, it's like, it's weird to say it. Like, she seems like she did so much better than Emma. It's weird to say it. She seems like she did so much better than Emma, but I have a feeling that next year the gap's going to close. Mallory's placement will move back a little, Emma's will move up a little, and the year after that, Emma will overtake her.

It's kind of instinct. I'm with you a little bit here, Savan. I just feel like that's the trajectory. Mallory might have outkicked her coverage a little bit this year. She might have similar performances the next couple years, but I see Emma improving relative to the field. Something that Mallory did that's crazy impressive is that stat that Brian gave the youngest person ever to win an event at the CrossFit Games. And you look at the 10 who didn't make this list,

who are kind of the honorable mentions, and the only person who could possibly tie her next year would be Emma Lawson. So, I mean, what Mallory did is nuts. Absolutely nuts. And she had to beat Tia, which is even like, she didn't just do it on some year when, like. When the defending champion retired. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sorry, Justin. Sorry, Justin. Okay, number three. she won she won the same amount of events at the games as justin maderos yep oh craig white does think samal should be higher than fourth well we'll see sixth uh third place on this list was sixth place at the crossfit games so one spot higher than mal and and that was Gabriella Magawa. She's still only 22 years old, former teen athlete at the Games, was knocking on the doors at regionals just coming out of the individual competition in 2018, missed it by a spot.

We know how competitive the field of women is in Europe, and she was in the list of women that I mentioned earlier from that really competitive region. She qualified fourth in that region and finished sixth at the games. Uh, she's been in the top five at Dubai before, which is incredibly difficult competition to compete in. Um, I think she's still gonna still has opportunity to improve in some areas. Uh, obviously she's only 22. I think she's top 10 athlete for the next several years. We interviewed her. Well, I didn't think it was a great interview because the connection was disastrous, but I've heard it's a great interview. People really liked her. I will say this. I'll put a little asterisk by her name at number three because Brian did

work out with her, and so there could be some bias, proximity bias, as my friend, the TDC has said, proximity bias. James, do you think I'm out of place here with this ranking? No, not in this case. Other ones, yes, but definitely not this one. Other ones? Craig White agrees with you. She is seriously in contention. Do you want to tell me, James?

No, not right now. I want to keep moving through this list. I think it's important. James wants to go to bed. He's like, Jesus, you guys invited me on a podcast at 6.30. Brian's up later than me. No, I'm psyched. Number two.

Number two on the list was fifth place at the Games, Haley Adams, 20 years old, third straight finish of sixth or better at the CrossFit Games in three different formats. I mean, a lot of these women are younger than her, and they're all trying to beat her, and none of them have done it yet. She's the young, you know, everyone who's beaten her at the games has been older than her so far every year that she's competed there. It's, and, you know, I think that to win the games, she still needs to get about 15% stronger across the board

because it's too detrimental, and it's too detrimental in too many workouts. If the games programming is going to be anything like it was this year, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the games programming, it's just detrimental in too many workouts. Um, if the games programming is going to be anything like it was this year, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the games programming. It's just, you have to be strong enough to win the games. You don't have to be the strongest, but you have to be strong enough. And relative to the other women at the top, she's not strong enough yet, but she is incredible world-class top three in the world in every other domain. Why is there always a hum coming from your your your mic brian like mute

your mic for a second i want to see something uh did i say mike brian no brian brian mute your mic no you're not mike you're brian brian mute your mic for a second oh i still hear it it's hobart it might be me hold on hobart's had the microwave on for two hours what are you cooking go ahead brian let's continue while Hobart turns off the microwave. That's crazy. I didn't even notice. That's so much better. It's been driving me fucking crazy. Hobart, what was that?

This isn't the rookie hour. We're 117 shows in, buddy. I know. I fucking blew it. What was it? What was it? My fan. You're not even. Travis Bajan told me you need a fan on in

a room at all times once you're over 300 pounds are you getting fat yeah man are you juiced up he also told me like if you're really juiced up you need it because like you sweat a lot no i i'm not oh my god hey i will you tell your wife to scold you like do something to you after the show okay thank you i will she's probably asleep by now but i will is 15 a lot hobart like for me i don't even like is that a lot to have to put on 15 in strength yeah that's a whole lot i don't think it's i think for someone like haaley it is yeah and i think 15s i don't i don't want to it's not an art brian will be like i have some stat i was gonna say 15 i think is an arbitrary number but um you know you could compare that to other athletes in the field i think it's

not out of her reach i'm really i'm really good at math what's her clean look how much stronger justin maderos is a really good example. He's gotten a lot stronger in the last year and a half. Like when I saw some of the programming for this games, I was like, I don't think he'll do as well as everyone expects, but you know, then he won.

So that's why I don't make the top 10 lists. Uh, do we, can you give me one of her numbers? One of her max lifts, like Haley Adams snatch or clean or jerk? What did she front squat for four? Just I'll look that.

Brian, you roll. I'll look it up. And Sousa, if you're listening, you're probably not. You're probably in bed because you have to coach a class at 4 a.m. tomorrow at CrossFit Livermore. But we should try to get her on the show. We should try to get Laura Horvath on the show. What the hell is going on? Why haven't we had Laura Horvath on? She's blowing it. We should try to get her on the show. We should try to get Laura Horvath on the show. What the hell's going on? Why haven't we had Laura Horvath on?

She's blowing it. We should have her as a regular. She should be like the Colton Mertens. The Colton Mertens. Let me reach out to Christoph. I'm sure we can get Laura on. I know. We need like her numbers.

Like I can bug her like I bug Colton. Okay. Let's work on that. Am I getting greedy? We haven't even had her on the show once and I want her phone number um and we should try to get hayley adams on for sure i think her name's spelt wrong isn't it is that how you spell hayley isn't it h-a-y-l-e-y not this one okay she has nice armpits too by the way someone made that comment yes oh they did yeah she's got yeah look at those armpits i know it's nuts it's it's like

the armpit lat shoulder like it's just nuts on these ladies i will say uh standing next to her at the games this year she's definitely putting on some muscle mass relative to even 12 months ago all right so she front squatted for 4.220. And in the individual quarterfinals, that gave her a 517th place. So if you gave her 15% on top of that, that puts her at, what, 250? Yep. And that's, I mean, 250 probably still puts her in 300th. You want her to go from 215 to 250 for a – 220. Sorry, 220 to 250 in a four-rep front squat.

And she needs to do that next year if she wants to win the games. Even if she does that, she won't win the next year. A 250 would put her within the top 100. Oh, Brian, you're dashing her dreams. No, I'm not. You cannot disrespect Tia. She's 28. She's the one to beat for the next three years at least if she wants to be.

But Haley's only 20. So even if Tia competes and wins for three more years, by the time she's 23 or 24, she can put on that much strength and she can win the CrossFit Games. I mean, of course, someone else could come up that we don't know about. But she has that potential in every other domain. This guy has a good question. Payam. Payam. Brian, who do you think is more likely to win the Games first, Haley or Gabriela Magawa?

Haley Adams or Gabriela Magawa? Man. Man, after watching this year's games, I think that the areas that Gabby needs to improve in is more likely to improve in a shorter time domain than Haley. But it's just such a weird question because Tia is so dominant and so hard to beat, and it seems like she wants to continue competing. So I'll say to podium first or to get second to Tia is so dominant and so hard to beat, and it seems like she wants to continue competing. So I'll say to podium first or to get second to Tia,

I think Haley still has the slight edge. So you retired Agidius this year, but you're saying Tia's not going to retire for three years. I'm telling you, this is the cutting edge. This is where all the good shit comes out on this podcast in hour two. Okay. is the cutting edge this is where all the good shit comes out on this podcast in hour two okay is james is james hobart gonna win the uh 35 to 39 division next year fuck yeah i don't think so i do uh number number one seven disparage oh sorry i'm gonna go trained right now so pissed you said that uh number one the the the best female crossfitter in the world

who's 25 or under is no who's under 25 everyone was not eligible for this list which is why people like brooke wells and daniel brandon are not um lavath, and she's 24, so this is her last year of eligibility on the list. But it's cool that she's taken second at the Games at TIA twice in the last four years, and she's still only 24 years old. You know, this was – some people, including myself, have talked about how not all of the best women in the sport were at the games this year or able to compete throughout the games this year. But Laura's performances were really hard to argue with. And it felt like no matter who was there this season, she was going to take

second to Tia. And it felt that way in 2018 when pretty much everyone you would expect to be at, I think everyone you'd expect to be at the games was there that year. So she has this potential to be the second best in the world, as she was this season. And so obviously she has to be at the top of this list. And just to tell you how damn good she is compared to the other girls, Hayley Adams took fifth at the games, and then Laura Horvath took second, but she beat her by almost 200 points. That's savage. Yep, and 207 more than Gabby.

There's no question that she was second place at the games. Yep. And first on this list for this year, but next year she'll be exempt. I would say this is the least controversial list you've ever made. Brian, what do you think Vellner has a chance of beating Justin next year? And there's proximity bias here too,

but go on. At this moment, it's hard to say, but I think that i think realistically coming into the games next year if both of them are are healthy that i would say it's 50 50 between the two of them um you wouldn't suggest that velner is waning and maderos is getting better i think maderos is getting better i think vel Vellner, I want to, at least I want to believe that Vellner has one more year at this,

at this level. But I think that his window to win the games is next year. Uh, Laura's coach gets overlooked as one of the best in the sport far too often. Is that Singleton? Who's your coach? Oh, isn't Ben Smith her coach?

Wait, who's your coach? Well, that's I'm wondering who Matthew's referring to she used to train

with Michelle LaTonger and now she's not and I was hoping he was going to say whoever he's referring to here but yeah

Ben Smith coached at the games this year Craig White says Laura's the Rodney Dangerfield of the CrossFit Games no respect no respect

the first concert I ever went to was a Rodney Dangerfield concert at Shoreline Amphitheater. I was probably like 10 years old, and I won the tickets on KFRC AM. I was like the 12th caller or something. I loved Rodney Dangerfield. Okay, guys, thank you so much. Tomorrow at 7 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, we will have the great Robert Guerrero on as a guest. Robert Guerrero is fighting Ortiz on the Manny Pacquiao card in the big fight next week.

And I'm super excited to have him on. As you guys know, I love the fight game. And it's an honor to have Robert Guerrero on. Robert Guerrero has also been in the ring with Floyd Mayweather, Thurman, a bunch of greats. And he lives out by the ranch. He actually lives a few miles away from Dave, so I've had a chance to actually meet him a few times. Is there anything else you guys want to say? This guy John just said maybe we should do a top

10 coaches ranking i'm gonna i'll think about that that might be interesting i might rank my olympic lifting coach in the top 10 see yeah uh hobart's not liking that and i don't blame him because hobart comes from this pedigree of like everything has to be measured in order to place it in a ranking and those types of things are going to be really really hard to measure uh but i guess you could expose yourself by really defining your measurements am i correct hobart yeah and i think there yeah yes you're spot on with that one well yeah i'm not sure you think it's sacrilege to rate the coaches you think it's no no i don't think it's sacrilege at all what is it you got something you're all i could tell you were like i just think you squeezed your

butt cheeks together yeah i did i puckered hard i i think um i just think sometimes games coaches um get way too much credit but i'm not gonna that was a good list brian i really liked it i think it's exciting. I mean, you know, you know who a lot of these people are. I don't think everyone necessarily realizes how young some of them are because they've already had, I mean, Haley's 20, and she's already had three career top 10 finishes at the games. Like, that's pretty crazy.

And it does set this sport up for the next five years of being, you know, incredibly competitive. And that's, and that's if no one else knew enters the mix, except for first place, according to you through two through 40. Hey man,

it would be awesome if someone challenged her, but do you see it happening? Yeah, I think, I think that I think it's gonna she's gonna pull that second through fifth up hard and i think next year you'll see um a much tighter games though i i do think t is the best crossfit athlete we've ever seen hands down i agree but i do i do i do think that the women if they're really really, they should not make the same mistake.

And this is easy for me to say from, you know, the comfort of my own, um, living room. As I look at my PG and E bill this month of $360, uh, there'll be a time when T is gone and you guys have a chance to beat her.

And you don't have to do this same fucking game that the men are dealing with this year. Although Justin Menderes, I think, did steal the show and did put a good stamp on his win. Very impressive. I haven't heard one person say what would have happened if Matt was here. But man, how much better would it be if you beat Tia than wait for her to retire? You guys need to take this shit seriously. I mean, I know you are. Just saying.

No, but I bet Justin has this mentality of like, oh, Matt's gone. Now's my chance to win. He has this mentality of like, I'm going to go out there and beat everyone at the CrossFit games. And I, I don't think everyone has that mentality when they're out there competing. It's just like, Oh,

so-and-so is not there. So I can get this spot or. Yeah. That's it. Let's get into that. Hey Hobartart have you seen your profile pic on um riverside can you can you see that yeah it's just me with my giant head and my mega headphones your headphones look like you look like the guy from shrek the prince like the annoying prince who has that fucked up haircut like that like in that picture the headphones

look like hair i was going for the marvin the Martian. Yeah, I do look like I have a big old bowl cut. I'll give you guys some updates on this podcast. Brian should be getting a new computer. We do think his computer is the problem for the audio issues. He ordered a computer two weeks ago. It should be showing up in the next day or two. Riverside FM, the software we're using, we believe that's also causing some of the problems.

They have an update coming this week. We know it's not as internet speed. We didn't get Sarah Sigmundsdottir on. We're trying our absolute best. We're in talks with Sam Briggs to get her on this week. I'm trying to think of who else

we have on this week. Basically, the goal is to be doing podcasts every day except for Saturdays, but that's not like official. Don't get all, um, we have down pepper on Tuesday at 8am Pacific standard time on Wednesday. I'm going on to Chris Cooper's podcast. Chris is, uh, owns two brain business. It's the largest gym consultant. And I think he does, besides gyms, business in the world. He's out of Canada. He is super smart and super cool. Looks like we have tentatively Sam Briggs on Thursday, and we don't have a guest yet for Friday, so he might be stuck bringing Hobart back.

I'd be honored, just for the record. See you guys.