Anthony Davis Breaks Live CrossFit Competition Records at Granite Games

Photo credit: Athlete’s Eye Photography
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After failing his first attempt at a 295-pound snatch last night at the Granite Games in Eagan, MN, Anthony Davis casually put his bar back in place before moving on to a power snatch and hitting him easily.
- His second lift was similar. Davis missed a 315-pound snatch and looked mildly annoyed at best, before easily pulling a second attempt into the allotted 20-second lift window.
- Davis finally hit his stride on his third lift, nail a 340 unprecedented pounds and set a record for live CrossFit competition.
- “It looked like his best lift so far⦠He just needed to get heavier to really push him into a better overhead squat position, âcommentator Tommy Marquez joked.
The rest of the field: While a 340-pound snatch is off the charts by all snatch standards in the sport of CrossFit, the rest of the peloton, both on the male and female side, also performed stunningly.
- Five women, including 17-year-old Emma Cary snatched 200 pounds, while Nicole Mghenyi topped the event with a 215-pound lift. Two others, Alessandra Pichelli and Madison McElhaney, have reached 210 pounds.
- On the men’s side, five other men hit the 300 pound mark, and two more reached 295 pounds. ???
In perspective: As we reported last week at the Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge semifinals in Knoxville, Tennessee, those numbers aren’t a challenge.
- Last time we saw a rep’s snatch max event at a regional competition– the level of competition most comparable to that of the season’s semi-finals – was in 2015. That year, only two women in the eight regions broke the 200-pound mark, and not a single man did. reaches 300 pounds.
- Plus, six years ago, only five percent of the women’s competition reached 180 pounds.. In comparison, two-thirds of the field of 30 hit the 180-pound mark last night at the Granite Games.
- Likewise, on the men’s side, just four percent of competitors in 2015 reached at least 275 pounds. Yesterday at the Granite Games,? The percentage of men has reached this mark.
A great thing: On paper, the Granite Games semifinals seemed to have arguably more watered down field than the MACC last weekend, leading many to question how fair the semifinals process would be. But in the head-to-head snatch competition, Granite Games’ competitors get the big W.
- “You are not the only ones able to lift heavy loads, MACC” commentator Chase Ingram said as he watched Granite Games contestants pull their pieces out of the park.
- The MACC and the Granite Games had five women who hit the 200-pound mark, but the field was deeper at the Granite Games. Sixteen women at the MACC have reached 180 pounds or more, while 20 have reached that mark at the Granite Games. Meanwhile, eight hit at least 190 pounds at the MACC, compared to 11 at the Granite Games.
- And while seven men hit the 300-pound mark at the MACC from the Granite Games,
The bottom line: The MACC was not a snatch anomaly in CrossFit competition. It’s 2021 and being competitive at the top of the sport, with 200 pounds as a woman and a 300 pound snatch as a man is now almost an expectation.
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