Watch the anxiety making CrossFit Games crit

Every year since 2007, CrossFit athletes get together to compete in an assortment of athletic competitions to determine a champion. Athletes from around the world can come to the games as fit as possible but they can’t predict exactly what events they will be competing in. Instead, they are prepared for the different competitions which can range from weightlifting to acrobatics just hours before they need to compete against one another.

The 2018 CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin began with an Individual Crit which was raced over 10 laps of a 1.2-km course. The 40 men and women’s athletes who tend to be heavily muscled had a crash course in bike racing the day before the race. With limited experience on the bike and little to no experience bike racing, a crit is a challenging activity to jump right into.

Luckily, Trek’s headquarters are in Waterloo, Wisconsin and sent some experts over to teach the athletes how to race bikes. That didn’t make the racing any less hair-raising.

The ten-lap Crit race was about strategy and keeping Your pace. @KristinHolte ?? held her line and took the lead in the final lap to win the opening event of the 2018 Reebok CrossFit Games (20:00.2). #CrossFitGames pic.twitter.com/thubEn5mTu

— The CrossFit Games (@CrossFitGames) August 1, 2018

Leaders of the pack. Laura Horavath, @katrintanja and @KristinHolte were all leaders of the Crit, but Holte’s final push separated her from the pack. #CrossFitGames @zevia pic.twitter.com/rlN3BAOdpZ

— The CrossFit Games (@CrossFitGames) August 1, 2018