Latvia is a small country, no doubt about that. Latvian CrossFit athletes and box owners have to work really hard to get noticed abroad. Finally came a chance where Latvians can shine, can make their mark in the Europe CrossFit map. The Baltics Throwdown was the first international CrossFit competition held on Latvian soil. Athletes from Estonia, Lithuania, Greece, Germany, Norway, Denmark and more came to compete with the best Latvian CrossFit athletes.
After completing the qualification stage "the Battle of Livonia" athletes got the ticket to go to Riga, to CrossFit Teika. There they competed in five events which tested their fitness.
Here is what the host of the competition Manuel Jordan had to say: "I was pretty happy with the results, and now we can really tell who is who in CrossFit as I made them test all physical skills by combing them from Endurance (WOD I), Strength (WOD II) and Triplet and Couplet of CrossFit even a CrossFit Benchmark for RX Men (WOD III) Benchmark wod DIANE but improved and more challengeable." A more detailed recap about the The Baltics Throwdown will be in a few days, but before that, I would like to give you something more interesting.
An interview with the winner of the first ever international CrossFit competition held in Latvia. Casper Gammelmark was nice enough to answer all my questions regarding his experience in Riga and, the most interesting part, his experience in competing under the same roof with Annie Thorisdottir and Sam Briggs.
Hope this will be a good read for you and stay in touch - more interviews and recaps coming soon.
LatvianCrossFit: Lets look back at this years Regionals, more specifically, Europe Region, where was the sensational performance of Sam Briggs, the 2013 CrossFit Games champion. She did not make it to this years CrossFit Games, so she did not have the chance to defend the title of the Fittest on Earth. Casper Gammelmark finished 34th. Please, Casper, tell me more about that day at the Regionals.
Casper: The last day at the Regionals was exciting. Sam Briggs is a real competitor, who didn't make excuses about her performance. Neither did she complain, or got angry. She just accepted the fact that she had a hole in her fitness and moved on. She will be back next year with only one goal - win!
Personally, I just finished the last workout on Sunday, went to my friends in the audience and saw the two final heats of the men and women. They both were very exciting, and at that point I didn't even know Briggs was so much behind and that she couldn't make it back to the Games.
LatvianCrossFit: What is your competition background? Was that your first Regional competition?
Casper: The 2014 CrossFit Regionals was my second individual competition. I participated at the Battle Of London back in January.
LatvianCrossFit: So now, you have done the “Battle of Livonia” qualification for “the Baltics Throwdown”. You came to Riga. Won the competition. How was it? Did you like the workouts? The battle between you and Kevin Jurs was impressive.
Casper: The arrangement of The Baltics Throwdown was awesome! I have not been to many competitions, but to the ones I have, there have been a lot of differences between the level of arrangement. The schedule was important - even though it was a one day competition, it is so nice that the timing for all the workouts was almost precise.
The workouts in the RX category were very well programmed, and I hope it was not a coincidence. There was the right mix between bodyweight and weightlifting. I especially liked the way workouts 2 and 3 were programmed. Workout 2 was a ladder which favour the bigger athletes, even though it started with rope-climbs. Workout 3 was Slutty Diane, but the deadlift weight was still 100 kg and only the handstand pushups were made harder, which for sure favoured the smaller athletes.
If I have to say something negative, then that should be for the beginners category. Their programming was in my opinion not optimal. They had only two workouts before the final, and in those two workouts they didn't move any weight at all. You have to test strength in CrossFit.
LatvianCrossFit: Who are you, really? What do you do for a living?
Casper: I am 23-year-old student at "Southern University Of Denmark", where I study Communication and Information.
LatvianCrossFit: How did you start doing CrossFit and why? Is it just a sport for you or is it something more?
Casper: Besides studying I play table-tennis, and in table-tennis we have to build strength, believe it or not. So one and a half year ago when we first started working on our fitness in table-tennis, one of my colleagues introduced me to CrossFit or more precisely, to Rich Froning.
I agree, CrossFit is "just" a sport to me, but the way I was raised, sport is never a "just". Sport is a serious business, it is fun and it is a way of life.
The difference between, lets call it "regular" sports, like in my case table-tennis, and CrossFit, is that CrossFit fits so well into the lives of most people.
LatvianCrossFit: Again about the Regionals. How did you prepare for that event? So you did the Open, you knew that you have qualified for the Europe Region. What came next? What was your game plan?
Casper: When I qualified for the Regionals this year, I started working on the movements that I found the most difficult, and had already been announced, which for sure were the handstand pushups, deadlifts and pistols.
Other than going through the events, and trying to find the right pace, I just wanted to get more experience in competing. But, however, I always want to win, so it was hard not to be at the top, even though I was a newbie.
LatvianCrossFit: I would believe that your goal is to get to the Games, be in Carson and compete with the best in the world. What did not let you get to Carson this year? Where do you have to put in more work?
Casper: My goal right now is not to get to Carson, it is too far away. My goal is to move up the leaderboard in Europe. But to go to Carson in 2015 is not realistic. I like to have shorter goals.
In 2015 my goal is to be in the Top 20 in Europe. In oder to reach that in the new CrossFit Games season I have to put more work into CrossFit. I for sure have to get better all around to reach that.
LatvianCrossFit: CrossFit in Denmark. Is it booming or people are still trying to accept it? How often competitions are held? Does the media write anything about the sport?
Casper: CrossFit is still getting bigger in Denmark, more and more boxes are opening. But at the moment there are not many competitions, and there currently is nothing about this sport in the media, yet.
LatvianCrossFit: Where do you train? You have probably been to many CrossFit boxes. What makes your stand out?
Casper: I train in CrossFit Holbæk and in CrossFit Roskilde. CrossFit Roskilde is going through a nice evolving, because it got new owners. Both of these boxes have great athletes and great social life. The most important things for a box are bumpers and a barbell, that are allowed to be dropped (previously for some mystical reason it was not).
LatvianCrossFit: And are you interested in getting your own CrossFit Level 1 certificate?
Casper: Depends on time and money - I guess it would be nice to have a level 1.
LatvianCrossFit: What did you do after competing in the Regionals? How did you recover?
Casper: Regionals was hard on my body! I had to recover my knees and elbows for a long period of time - they were not used to that kind of volume. So I took an easy month with light training.
LatvianCrossFit: What are your PR’s, which ones are you willing to share? And which is the hardest workout you have ever done?
Casper: A PR that is worthy of sharing is my snatch, which I improved at The Baltics Throwdown - 110 kg.
I will reformulate the question, every workout is a potential "hardest" workout - just depends on how hard you are going. So in which workout did I push myself the hardest - for sure 14.5 !
LatvianCrossFit: With what do you fuel your body? Do you have a diet and do you use any supplements?
Casper: I like milk, meat, fruit and vegetables. I don't take any supplements.
LatvianCrossFit: Once I had an interview with an athlete, that told me that CrossFit is more of a head game that a physical one. Everyone knows that you have to be really fit to compete at Regionals and eventually at the Games, some even say, that Regionals are harder than the Games themselves. But how was the mental point of view for you there? Did you feel the pressure going in and competing, knowing that the whole Europe is watching?
Casper: I agree that the body follows the mind, but it is difficult to say whether CrossFit is mostly psychical or mental.
Mentally I felt pressure in most of the workouts. I had the feeling that I had to show everyone, that it was fair for me to compete among all those top athletes.
LatvianCrossFit: What are your expectations for 2015? Will you go harder and be hungrier for the spot at the CrossFit Games? However, this year there are some changes in the Regionals, the Open will be as it was, but the middle part (Regionals) has changed.
Casper: I will go hard and I am excited to see how far it takes me!
Komentāri
Ierakstīt komentāru