It’s back! The 2017 CrossFit Open is here. Tomorrow CrossFit Games director Dave Castro will announce the first of workout the Open live from Reebok CrossFit Louvre in Paris, France. Shortly after, 2016’s third and fourth fittest men on Earth, Patrick Vellner and Brent Fikowski, respectively, will perform the workout at Reebok CrossFit Yul, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. And for the first time, we’ll get to see another set of athletes perform the workout as 2013 Games champion Samantha Briggs and 2016 Games 12th-place finisher Kristin Holte go head-to-head in Paris.
While we love to see these athletes throwdown, the main reason most of us tune in to the live announcement is to get the details of the workout—as soon as it’s available! While we don’t have the exact details for you, we do have a solid prediction. Taking several factors into consideration we present our pick for the first workout of the 2017 Open:
17.1
12 minute AMRAP (as many rounds/reps as possible)
5 Snatches
10 Overhead Squats
15 Box Jumps
(75/55)
Why?
1. For starters, this workout is simple and all-inclusive. If history is any indicator, the first workout of the Open is usually one the majority of competitors can complete Rx—before things like muscle-ups and heavier weights are introduced.
2. Snatches seem to be a favorite of Castro’s to kick off the Open. They’ve actually been featured in the inaugural workout four out of the last six years.
3. 12 minutes is the average length of the six opening workouts of Open. This time frame (± 2 minutes) seems to be one of Castro’s favorites.
4. Open workouts often look to tax specific areas: lower back, grip, etc. This particular workout will do a pretty good job of fatiguing your shoulders.
There you have it, 17.1—our prediction at least. The most loyal BoxLife fans will probably notice that this was our prediction for 16.1. To say the least, we’ve done it and it’s a great WOD.
Tune in to games.crossfit.com at 8pm EST to find out if we were right (or completely off).
