Reach for the Rings (2021) Movie Script

Forty-five seconds to go.
Judges hand in the air,
Alex Parker final reps.
Final reps, Jessica Coughlan.
Final reps, Jordan Adcock.
Final reps.
Madison Drader.
And it is...
It doesn't really matter what I'm doing.
I want to win.
So right next to me
is a girl from the U.S.
She's actually somebody
I compete with quite often.
She moved to my hometown and
she has the same coach as me.
So we're very competitive
against each other.
I kind of know her strengths and weaknesses.
She's my friend
but she's also my arch nemesis.
My name is Jordan Adcock,
I'm from North Carolina.
So Alex and I kind of have
a standing rivalry.
We're kind of frenemies.
We're friends but
kind of enemies in a way because
we're both so competitive
and we always kind of bounce back and forth
between who's winning events.
- Two, one.
- Run! Run! Run!
And it is...
The final, final set.
Final five reps from both and it is...
We don't like high-five before the events.
Maybe after, depending on who wins or.
But we know it's good for us.
This is the sport of Functional Fitness.
Each year, the best Functional
Fitness athletes in the world
converge on one place
to crown their world champions
in the Individuals and Teams divisions.
In 2019, the World Championships
took place in Malmo, Sweden.
[]
[]
Give me thirty minutes to warm up
and that's all you gotta give me.
Whatever it is just go for it.
Don't need to practice it like three times.
It's too stressful.
I like knowing the movements
like that we have to do
a pullover or like the
handstand walk, type of thing.
'Cause if I didn't know that I don't think
I was gonna practice that but.
- There's both sides.
- Stuff like that is good
to know especially the bar pull
or stuff.
Like stuff like that,
that is not...
You don't do that everyday.
Like whatever, rowing whatever.
But like Turkish getups in a workout, yeah.
Please give me a heads up.
[]
I am Mo and I am the team manager
for USA Functional Fitness.
We are the NGO for the
Unites States and we fall under
the International Fitness Federation.
The goal of the IF3
is to bring governess to the
sport of Functional Fitness.
People ask me about
like why do I support this
and why am I trying to help
get into the Olympics.
Is that in order to be an Olympic sport
you have to be a generic sport.
The analogy I use for that
is in the Olympics
we have basketball,
we don't have NBA.
One of the things to be a generic sport
is you have to be a nonprofit.
That's the reason
why we put this together.
[]
I try to get in 5,200 calories a day.
Anything and everything pretty much.
Sometimes we eat pizza.
Sometimes we get ice cream.
Pretty much pumping
the calories all day long.
I normally have two sessions a day
but I work out a total of about
three to four hours a day.
I always get it turned up.
I need those calories.
My name is Matt Morton.
I compete in the form of fitness.
I'm getting ready to head to the
World Championships in Sweden.
I'm on a team of four.
So two guys, two girls.
And I'm excited to meet them.
My name's Maicey Mcilveen.
- I'm Sam Decristofaro.
- My name's Brian Harris.
- We're a team of four.
- Number one in your hearts.
Two handsome men,
two beautiful women.
Just here to just kick everyone's face here.
That was a little over the top.
I started as a gymnast.
And then, that evolved into cheerleading.
I also go into weightlifting
when I was 15
'cause my dad was a weightlifter.
So I'm the State Champion
of the 123 weight class
for 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Which was pretty cool.
And then I lifted for
Team USA and Team Florida.
So I participated
in Nationals a few months ago.
Came in sixth.
They had brought me into the room
and kind of told me
like if anyone drops out
I'm still going to get to go.
So like they still took
all of my information and stuff
but months went by and I kind of
just like forgot about it.
A night before they were all leaving
I got a text message from Mo saying,
"Hey, like someone dropped out."
And I was like oh, that sucks.
So then I get a call at 6:30 PM.
Saying how fast can I get to JFK
and if I can be there at 8PM.
First time out of the country
and now I'm here in Sweden.
[]
Fitness people are probably the highest
buyers of baby food.
[]
My goal everyday is 3,510 calories I think.
Rookie numbers.
I'm Justin Cotler.
I'm the coach of the National Team, the USAFF
and we're here for the IF3
World Championships in Sweden.
The USAFF is the national governing body
of Functional Fitness in the Unites States.
We picked our national team.
There was a qualifier
that everyone had to do online
or if we had members of last years team,
they got an automatic bid to our Nationals.
Which were held in Chesapeake, Virginia.
And Top Five men, Top Five women
from that competition
were chosen to be on the National Team.
Three individuals,
three men and a team of four.
Two men and two women.
We had some issues with
the members who were Top Five,
men and women.
One gentleman got hurt.
And so we had our sixth place
finisher at Nationals
come and compete on the team
and on the women's side,
we had one of our
Top Three women actually...
Who competed at Nationals who
didn't get her passport in time
so we had our sixth place
finisher at Nationals
come to compete here as well.
[]
The sport is Functional Fitness.
Every competition is a test of six events.
So the first one being Endurance.
The second one...
What was the second one?
What's the second one?
The six events are Endurance,
Strength, Bodyweight,
Skill, Mixed and Power.
Endurance is cardio.
Strength is lifting loads.
Bodyweight is using your bodyweight
with a lot of reps.
Skill is challenging bodyweight maneuvers
and try to overcome.
Mixed is where you have a
whole bunch of different things
you have to do and tasks
and you have to put them all together
and complete them faster than someone else.
And then Power is really short,
hard, fast stuff.
That's the six tests.
My name is Gretchen Kittelberger
and I am the president
of the International Functional
Fitness Federation
and we are at the 2019
IF3 World Championships in Malmo, Sweden.
- I'm from Norway.
- I'm from Egypt.
I'm from Lethbridge, Alberta.
I'm from Venezuela.
From Korinthos, Greece.
I'm from Australia.
I'm from Germany.
We are the Brazilian Team.
The IF3 World Championships is
our premier event for the year.
It's where our National Federations
get to send their top athletes
to compete for three days of competition
and we crown our World
Championship World Champions
in the Individual Men's,
Individual Women's,
and then the Team Division.
[]
Day One's tests are the Endurance Test
and the Strength Test.
Endurance represents the athlete's ability
to endure a long trial.
Testing their work capacity
in cyclical movements.
Strength is just what it looks like.
Moving heavy barbells.
This is a heavy object
lifted quickly and then done.
[]
The first test of the weekend is Endurance.
There's one test for the Individuals
and a completely different test for the Teams.
Both tests will put these competitors
through a long and difficult effort
and challenge their abilities to endure.
In the Individuals Tests,
athletes will do five rounds
of repeated efforts
taking a one minute rest between rounds.
[]
Men begin with the 250 meter run.
While the women begin with 200 meters.
They will be running on a style of treadmill
powered by the athlete's own
movement and not by a motor.
[]
Next, the athletes will transition to a SkiErg.
An exercise machine that represents skiing.
Their efforts on the SkiErg
will be measured in calories.
Twenty calories for the men
and fifteen calories for the women.
In the time remaining
in each three-minute round,
the athletes will perform as
many double-unders as possible.
Double-under are an exercise
where the jump rope
passes beneath the feet twice on each jump.
If the rope only goes around
once it won't count.
Each athlete will repeat
the test for five rounds
to create a total score of how many
double-unders they performed.
The women's test showcased
the friendly rivalry
between Canadian Alex Parker
and American Jordan Adcock.
Go!
Start with 200 meter run.
On the SkiErg.
15 calories, one minute to go.
Go!
At lane three,
Alex Parker from Canada.
And then we have judge hand
in the air at lane three
for Alex Parker.
In Round One,
Jordan scores 131 double-unders
while Alex scores 116.
Go!
131, that's the highest so far today.
Jordan Adcock,
lane four from USA.
Go!
Strong start for Alex Parker.
Quickest back on the SkiErg is Alex Parker.
Time.
Round Two with 92 to 107.
Ten seconds, stand by.
Go!
Round number three.
Jordan Adcock,
quickest on the SkiErg.
One, time.
Go!
Round Three.
Lane three, Alex Parker 107.
Third time on the SkiErg.
15 new calories.
And it is Alex Parker, quickest
back on the double-unders.
Round Three is 64 to 97.
Go!
Jordan Adcock,
lane four on the SkiErg.
Thirty seconds to go.
Go!
Round Four.
Strong score for Alex Parker
and quickest again,
Alex Parker, lane three.
One, time.
Round Four,
61 to 93.
Go!
Welcome.
And up.
And there we have lane four,
Jordan Adcock, USA
back on the jump rope.
Last round.
Continues with a really strong score
for Alex Parker from Canada.
Last round on the SkiErg.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Time.
And Round Five, 59 to 95.
Though Jordan was the winner in her Heat,
it was only good enough
for 4th place overall.
This put Alex in the lead
with 508 reps to Jordan's 407 reps.
Heat Three was won
by Canada's Hattie Kanyo
with 460 reps.
While Norway's Lisa Skogeng
scored 433 reps in the same Heat
to take third place over all.
Rounding out the Top Five
was Norway's Matilde Garnes.
The winner of Heat One with 403 reps.
From the United States of America
there are three male athlete
with hopes for the podium.
My name is Zach Watts.
I'm competing as an Individual.
I'm Matt Dlugos,
representing the USA
- on the Individual side.
- Hi, I'm Zach Sowder.
I spend most of my time
at the gym training.
Each of the Americans
goes in a separate Heat.
Facing tough competition
from the other athletes
from around the world.
Final round of double-unders.
Twenty seconds.
Ten seconds.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Time.
[]
Wow.
At the end of five rounds,
Zach Watts had a total score of 378 reps.
Go!
Last round.
Five more calories to go
for lane five, Matt Dlugos
from USA.
It was Uldis Upenieks
quickest back on the double-unders
followed by lane five,
Matt Dlugos.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Matt Dlugos scored a total of 479 reps.
Go!
Last round.
Last round in the last Heat
of the male athletes.
Score to beat is 504.
Double-unders set by
Romain Fellonneau from France.
It is the last round for
these guys on the SkiErg.
Forty seconds.
Thirty seconds.
Five, four...
Zach Sowder scored 435 reps
in the Final Heat.
In the end,
Romain Fellonneau of France
took the event win in Test One.
Matt Dlugos took second place.
Beating out his teammates
on the American side.
I forgot how to jump at all.
Like, I couldn't do them.
I couldn't even get started.
It was a good workout to like knock it out
like just running,
just like aerobics.
The first Team's test took place outside.
It was a relay and it involved weight vests.
The first partner does 2,000 meters
then we pick up the second partner.
We do 1,500 meters together
and then we pick up partner three.
Partner three is wearing a vest.
We do 1,000 meters and then
we pick up our last partner.
She's also wearing a vest
and we do last 500 meters on hills.
So it's a total of about
5K for the first runner
which is myself.
[]
Go!
[]
Team USA, woo!
[]
You've got 30 seconds
on the group behind you
and they're catching up.
[]
Finish line is just up here,
let's go.
Come on!
[]
Come on!
Come on!
Norway was the first team
to cross the finish line.
Followed closely by the USA and Canada
with Sweden taking fifth place behind Germany.
- How you doing?
- Good.
I swear, if we could have
got even on that...
That big hill we would have won.
Good start.
Each of our Test One winners
receives an award for their victory
as well as their first
100 points on the leader board.
Every athlete earned points
but the highest placing athletes
earn the most
with the lowest placing athletes
earning the least.
I'm not 100 percent sure
how the scoring is done.
I just know that the first
person gets first place
and then as the...
Not first person get 100 points,
first person...
Oh, is that what I said?
First place gets...
- First person gets first place.
- Okay, let's back this up.
As it goes down they get less and less points
and the person with the most points
at the end of the weekend is the winner.
If you finish first you get
100 points and so on and so on.
Each event works on a 100 point system.
With her win in Test One,
Alex Parker declared herself
a top competitor
and would have to defend that position
throughout the weekend to come.
I competed in fitness
for about seven years now.
At a pretty high level.
I got into it right after university
and fell in love with it instantly
and have been doing it...
I've been doing it ever since.
Her rival, Jordan Adcock,
was also a capable athlete
who had earned her place
at the World Championships.
I started towards the end of 2012
and kind of as soon as
I started I knew I wanted
to take the competitive track,
I saw what people
were doing competing and it was something
that I wanted to strive towards
so since the beginning
that's kind of been the track
that I've tried to stay on.
Next up, is the Strength Test.
This test is the complete opposite
of the Endurance Test.
Rather than a long,
grueling effort
this is short and fast and heavy.
Inside of our tests there are
some
deeper characteristics of each test.
How strength is expressed inside of our test
is slightly different.
On a continuum of strength
there's multiple different kinds of strength
and we mainly test
what's called strength speed.
And that is,
not the highest loads absolutely
or the highest intensity.
It's close to that.
But we love strength speed
as a physical test
because you need a big base
of absolute strength
to express it and it results
in you being really good
at coordination and timing.
Load moved through a range of motion.
For the Individual Men and Women,
Test Two was an overhead squat ladder.
The test was performed in three rounds
with the winners of Round One
proceeding to the second round.
And the winner of Round Two
proceeding to the final round.
In order for their reps to count
the athletes would have to squat
all the way below parallel
and return the weight to a full
standing position at the top.
In the Women's Test,
the barbells used in Round One
were 121, 132 and 143 pounds.
Go!
[]
First overhead squats at 55.
Quickest so far Jordan Adcock,
lane two from USA.
And Emilia Jungsten from
Germany, lane five.
And it is Jordan Adcock,
lane two on the final weight.
Final weight also for
Emilia Jungsten from Germany.
And we have a finish for Jordan Adcock...
We did overhead squat ladder
so it was five reps at 125,
four reps at 135,
then three reps at 145.
I got around 39 seconds,
better than practice.
So I'm waiting now to see if it holds up.
To be Top Ten and move on
to the next set of weights.
Last weight now for Alex Parker
in the lead at lane three.
[]
Also last weight now
for Sanna Uppling at lane one.
Final overhead squat.
Alex Parker.
And the finish,
taking the win in this Heat
Alex Parker, lane three.
The bars for Round Two
were 132, 143, and 154 pounds.
Go!
[]
So the last semi-final.
[]
Four overhead squats at 60 kilos.
Three at 65, two at 70.
Very quick start
from lane three, Jordan Adcock.
And lane one Natalia Vieira.
Also quick is Alex Parker,
lane four.
Quickest so far, Natalia Vieira,
Brazil, lane one.
Last weight now and
we have a finish for Brazil,
Natalia Mencari Vieira.
And finish... wow,
at the same time
lane three four and now lane two,
Madison Drader, fourth place.
The barbells in Round Three
were 143, 154 and 165 pounds.
Go!
So three athletes from Canada.
And the ladies start at 65,
move on to 70
and last weight is 75.
Quick start from lane five,
Madison Drader
and lane two, Jordan Adcock.
Also quick is Natalia,
lane one from Brazil.
Final weight now,
lane two, Jordan Adcock.
Lane five, Madison Drader.
But quickest is Brazil.
Wow.
And fourth, Alex Parker.
Five, Hattie Kanyo
and taking the final, Natalia
Mencari Vieria, Brazil.
Natalia Mencari Vieira
was proud to call herself
the strongest woman
on the field that weekend.
[]
So she's the strongest woman in Brazil.
She is very good,
she's excellent.
She's the best of us, yes!
For the male athletes
the barbells they'd face
in Round One were 176,
192.5 and 209 pounds.
Go!
[]
Too easy, Z, too easy baby.
First time overhead squat is 80 kilos.
Very quick on lane five,
Zach Watts.
[]
Too easy, too easy.
And very quick on lane one.
Quick and easy on lane one
for Matt Dlugos from USA.
No problem with the first weight at 80 kilos.
Also quick is lane three,
Evander Harewood.
Moving on to the third weight
lane one and lane three.
Third weight is 95 kilos.
- No problem.
- There you go baby.
- There you go.
- Oh!
Five overhead squats at 80 kilos.
Followed by four at 87.5
and three at 95.
Quickest so far, Zach Sowder,
USA lane five.
The quickest so far
and on the final weight
is Zach Sowder, USA.
And then we have a finish
for USA, Zach Sowder.
Very quick time.
We're going into
the second round of the smash...
Sorry, the overhead squat ladder.
All three of our guys,
Zach Watts, Zach Sowder
and Matt Dlugos, I believe,
all made it in under their time.
In Round Two,
the athletes faced barbells
at 192.5, 209, and 225.5 pounds.
Go!
[]
Wow, we have some quick
and strong guys here.
Four overhead squats
at 87.5 with no problem.
Moving on to three at 95.
The quickest,
lane four, Zach Watts.
And lane two, Matt Dlugos.
Last weight now for lane four, Zach Watts
and lane two, Matt Dlugos.
102.5, finish for lane four,
Zach Watts.
Just ahead of lane two,
Matt Dlugos
and lane three, Zach Sowder.
The three American men
all made it to the final
but the athletes to watch were
the men from Egypt and Greece.
Go!
So, three overhead squats at 95.
Followed by two at 102.5.
And one at 110.
Oh, this is close, it is Egypt.
It is Greece.
And it is loannis Papadopoulos.
And fourth, Zach Sowder
and we have Ekramy Zakaria
Tantawy on the floor for Egypt.
One overhead squat and final.
Ioannis Papadopoulos was the only athlete
to represent his country
at the competition this weekend.
He was also the strongest man
in the competition
taking the top spot in Test Two.
I'm known in the world
by my strengths and my lifts.
I love barbell cycling,
heavy barbell cycling.
For the Teams, the Strength
test was entirely different.
The men were tasked
to find a five rep max snatch
while the women performed a three rep max
shoulder to overhead.
So the way the Teams work is all different.
Some are relay fashion.
This year, some of us
aren't even doing tests.
The two teammates
that do the gymnastic Skill
don't do the Strength
and vise versa.
Now with 95 kilo on the barbell
for Callum Foster.
For Australia.
[]
Try again, let's see if he
can make it within the time.
95 kilo for Australia.
And that is time, sorry.
For Sweden, Charlie Karlsson.
[]
Easy 95, Charlie Karlsson for Sweden.
95 kilos.
Five rep at 95 kilos.
[]
Last one.
[]
For USA, Matt Morton with 102.
102 kilo barbell five times.
Two more.
One more.
Matt Morton from the USA
had the heaviest weight in his Heat
but Brazil's Carlos Eduardo
Szigethy Da Silva
had lifted 242 pounds in the Heat before him.
It would be up to the women
to decide the final.
We now have 80 kilo
for Claire O'Keeffe,
Australia lane one.
Angelica Bengtsson,
95 on the barbell.
Three reps,
shoulder to overhead.
102 going up for Ingrid Hodnemyr
for Norway.
[]
One more.
[]
And you got it, 102.
Ingrid Hodnemyr for Norway.
Fantastic.
And the last place for USA,
Samantha Decristofaro
and she has 92 on her barbell.
Samantha for USA.
92 kilos.
[]
I did 92.5.
[]
And I got the first two,
almost dropped it
because it slid down me.
Come on.
Last one.
And I tried to get the third one
but it just wasn't going up.
I got my ass kicked
by my self.
The victors in Team Test Two
were Brazilian's
Carlos Eduardo Szigethy Da Silva
and Thatianne Lima Freitas
with a total of 456 pounds.
Brazil was the team to travel
the further distance
to get here which was surely justified
by the victories they'd achieved
over the weekend.
By the end of Day One,
we'd seen the two fundamental
and polar opposite tests.
The Endurance test and the Strength test.
[]
In the sport of Functional Fitness,
the scores from each test are totaled
and compared between competitors
to create a leader board.
The leader board shows who is ahead
in the total points count for
all the tests completed so far.
At the end, when they determine
the respective champions
it's based off total score
over the six tests.
It rewards you for consistent placement
within each test.
So you can't really afford
to have a bad showing.
Like, you can't go from first to worst
and still expect to place well.
In this competition
with the number of athletes
you can't really afford
to have any finishes
outside the top ten
if you want to be on the podium.
Having taken first place in Test One
and fourth place in Test Two,
Alex Parker was clearly leading the women.
I won event one which is the Endurance event.
I was fourth place in event two
which was the Strength event.
It's good to be consistent.
Among the three American male competitors,
Matt Dlugos had the highest score in Test One.
His 95 points putting him in second place
on the men's leader board.
In the Strength test, Zach Watts
finished in second place
with Matt Dlugos coming in a close third
and Zach Sowder taking
the fourth place position.
[]
Totaling these scores together
put Matt Dlugos in first place
with Sowder and Watts in the top five.
The question wasn't whether
there would be an American
on the podium at the end of the weekend
but which of these three men
would be in the top position?
We just wrapped up Day One
and all of our athletes
have left, gonna go get
some food and some rest
after a very interesting Day One.
In the Team Endurance event
we had a second place.
In the Team Strength event
I believe we finished third.
Our team currently is sitting in second place.
Amongst the Teams,
Norway took the in on test one
and took second place on test two.
Making them the clear victors of Day One.
Fitness is a sport
for a couple different reasons.
It's measureable.
So if you can have a number of humans
perform certain tasks
and you have some of them
that are better than others
and you have a measurement
of that task you have a sport.
I used to be a former gymnast most of my life.
I started out playing soccer and running track
and then later on I started
doing competitive cheerleading.
I grew up playing rugby union
and surf life saving
in Australia so I competed
at a national level.
I was a competitive Alpine ski racer.
I was on the Canadian National Ski Team.
I also play golf and soccer.
So these six different tests are all things
that people will do in "fitness" at a gym
but to my point,
our of a thousand people
that do that one test,
they'll be some that
can do it better than others.
Hence, you now make it a sport.
From the spotting perspective itself,
what we have done to the sport
is add a little bit of structure.
So that started with the rulebook
and the movement standards
up until we did it there
was never a book of movements.
A written book of every single
movement in the sport
and how it would be judged,
so we put that together
and that's just on our website
24/7 basically and if you don't know
how a movement is gonna be judged
you can go and look at it.
If something is not
in there then you can know
it won't show up
in competition that season.
Why we created the tests,
we organized it philosophically
believing that the six tests...
This is important,
would allow the coach and the athlete
to not only know what they need to prepare for
but to build a lifetime of sport opportunity
because the six test are what
we're considering balance.
Every competition is different workouts
but the workouts have like a structure.
The structure of the sport
is what separates it
from some of the other
Functional Fitness sports
- that are out there.
- You know going into
a competition that every single
facet of fitness
is gonna be tested because they
have standardized
like formats for each different workout.
We're essentially focusing
on making the philosophy
of training be balanced.
It allows coaches and athletes to like grasp
onto knowing what they're training for.
The idea is that you're well rounded.
You can pick up a heavy weight when call upon
or you can, you know,
run for miles if you need to.
Obviously, a Functional Fitness
they're testing all the modalities.
You're fit across all plains,
I mean,
you can run, you can lift,
you can do it under duress.
It really encompasses everything.
So by having those
it creates some structure,
it becomes a known thing
and then a 15 year old
and a 22 year old
and anyone can look at it and go,
that kind of makes sense.
[]
The tests of Day Two
brought some more nuance
into the question of who is the fittest.
Rather than lifting weights
or doing cardio,
these tests were based on circuits
of bodyweight exercises.
[]
These tasks look more like the things
we did on the playground as kids
or things we imagine ourselves doing
when we watch action movies.
Alex Parker, Matt Dlugos
and the Norwegian held the top spots at the end of Day One.
The second day of the competition
was a critical turning point
for these athletes.
Could they hold on to their Day One leads?
Or would they slip and be overtaken
by unexpected challengers?
The third test of the weekend
was the Bodyweight test.
Both the Individual competitors
and the Teams
would do handstand pushups and rope climbs.
The Bodyweight test
used the athlete's own bodies
as the primary form of resistance.
This is a relative strength test
measuring the athlete's strength
relative to their own weight
and measuring the ability of their muscles
to endure high repetitions of
these five bodyweight exercises.
The Individuals test involved
a chipper of difficult bodyweight movement.
The first task was 45 handstand push ups.
The head must touch the box at the bottom
and the body must be fully extended at the top.
After these handstand pushups
athletes would perform 100 air squats.
Their thighs must be parallel to the floor
at the bottom position and their hips and legs
must be fully extended at the top.
[]
The third challenge would be
seven 4.5 meter rope climbs.
That's about 15 feet each
or 105 feet overall.
Athletes much touch the frame
at the top of the rope
for the repetition to count.
Then, it was back to the handstand pushups
now for 30 reps at a deficit
with a deeper deficit for men then for women.
Another set of seven
rope climbs followed after
along with another set of 100 air squats.
The final task would be
15 handstand pushup
at an even deeper deficit
and a sprint across the finish lien.
I have three World Championships.
Day Two and Jordan is currently in second
and I think this is
a wheel house workout for her.
She seems really excited
and I think if she executes well
that she could take over
the top of the leader board
after this one, we'll see
but I feel good about it.
We have 45 handstand pushups
and then seven rope climbs
then 100 air squats
and then more rope climbs, more
handstand pushups at a deficit
and then more air squats,
more handstand pushups
at even deeper deficit.
Strength, I would say
out of all those, rope climbs.
Rope climbs, handstand pushups,
air squats.
[]
And here they come our female
athletes in our last Heat.
Go!
[]
At lane two we have Alex Parker from Canada.
Now on 17 handstand pushups.
Quick handstand pushups for Alex Parker.
23 handstand pushups
for Jordan Adcock, lane three.
First one done is Alex Parker, lane two.
Soon as they're done with 100 air squats
it's to the rope climbs.
Head to head between lane two,
Alex Parker
and lane eight,
Jessica Coughlan.
And back for handstand push ups
is Alex Parker in the lead.
Also back on handstand push ups
is lane three,
Jordan Adcock.
From Unites States.
Nine more to go for Alex Parker.
In the lead, lane two,
Alex Parker, Canada.
Followed by Jessica Coughlan,
lane eight.
Three more to go now for Matilde Garnes,
lane seven for Norway.
And two more to go for
lane three, Jordan Adcock.
It is the final round
of air squats for these ladies
before they finish this off
with 15 handstand push ups.
With a 20 centimeter deficit.
[]
Three more handstand push ups
for Alex Parker
to take these Heat win
and probably the test win.
Two more reps for Alex Parker.
One more.
Last rep for Alex Parker.
[]
And there you have it!
Taking this win in the Heat and the Test,
Alex Parker, Canada.
Who is gonna take second place?
Jessica Coughlan, lane eight from Australia.
Five reps to go.
Also Norway, lane seven,
Matilde Garnes
five reps to go.
We also have hand in the air
for lanes three and four.
And it is Jessica Coughlan
taking second place.
Two more reps for Matilde at lane seven.
Only one more to go
for lane three, Jordan Adcock.
[]
And it is... wow!
I think we had lane three,
Jordan Adcock,
right before lane seven,
Matilde Garnes.
Canada's Parker scored a decisive victory
in this event coming in
almost a full minute ahead
of her next challenger.
Parker is a single-minded athlete
with a wide range of athletic skills.
Can't be really good at one thing.
Kind of have to be decent across
the board in order to do well.
While Jordan Adcock didn't perform as well
as she had expected in this test,
she wasn't ready to give up yet.
I think I managed it pretty well.
Not quite as fast as I wanted.
The top athletes on the men side
were all in the same Heat.
Go!
[]
Start off 45 normal handstand push ups.
Ten so far at lane two,
Matt Dlugos.
16 lane three,
Romain Fellonneau.
23 for Khan Porter, lane four.
26, Zach Sowder, lane five.
Final five for Uldis Upenieks from Latvia
at lane six and there we have him done.
It is lane six, Uldis Upenieks from Latvia.
Second place right now
is Khan Porter at lane four.
Third place,
lane five Zach Sowder.
Also done with handstand pushups, Zach Watts,
United States lane seven.
Final reps for lane two,
Matt Dlugos.
Final rope climb for lane five.
Zach Sowder
and done with rope climbs,
lane four,
Khan Porter.
Back on air squats Uldis Upenieks,
lane six, still in the lead.
Followed by lane five,
Zach Sowder.
Third place we have both Khan
Porter and Romain Fellonneau.
Khan Porter a bit quicker.
In the lead is lane six,
Uldis Upenieks.
Done with 100 air squats.
And back for the final round
of 15 handstand push ups.
This time with a 30 centimeter deficit.
Only two more to go
for Uldis Upenieks at lane six.
Going for great time.
Time to beat and he's going to take time.
Taking the win and this Heat
is Uldis Upenieks,
quickest in test one.
And it is going to be
Romain Fellonneau from France
taking second place in this Heat.
And taking third place,
lane five, Zack Sowder.
United States.
There you have it
and finished for Khan Porter,
Australia
taking fourth place in this Heat.
Uldis Upenieks remained a top competitor
throughout the weekend.
Most of the larger athletes finished low
on the leader board in this event.
This was to be expected.
Imagine putting all that weight upside down
onto your arms and shoulders
than using those arms
to pull that weight up a rope.
The boys did solid.
Definitely, tall Matt
was in first place overnight.
It was more of a managed workout for him.
A lot of handstand push ups,
he's six foot four.
Zach crushed it but we still got
all three of them I think still in the top ten
and two of them in the top five at the moment.
[]
Teams are coming up and
that's going to be a pivotal one
for the Teams.
I think for us,
if we do well on this workout
it gives us a great chance to podium
but we're gonna have to be really smart.
It's definitely not Matt's favorite movement.
I'm being nice here...
Handstand pushups have been
his nemesis in the past.
So we've got to manage it well.
The second half of the workout
with Brian and Sam,
we should be pretty strong.
But that first half of the
workout with Matt and Maicey,
Matt's just gotta be able to hang.
We've gotta split the reps up smartly.
And hopefully be able
to get it to the second half
of the workout with some time
to be able to make up some time on it.
But I think it's going to be
a pivotal workout.
A male female pair of athletes
perform the first half of the work.
The fist exercise would be alternating
deficit handstand push ups.
Each time their partner performed a push up
the other athlete had to hold themselves
in a handstand position.
The deficit was 20 centimeters for males
and ten centimeters for females.
After that came the rope climbs
taking turns with their partner.
After the first pair of athletes
had completed their work,
the second male female pair
came out to face an even greater challenge.
The handstand push up
deficit was now increased
to 30 centimeters for men
and 20 centimeters for women.
And these rope climbs would
have to be performed legless.
Meaning, the athletes could not
use their feet or legs
to assist in the climb.
The leads gained by the first pair of athletes
gave their teammates a major boost.
Athletes get ready.
Go!
So we start with 27 alternative
deficit handstand push ups.
There in the lead,
we have Brazil at lane four
doing their final handstand push up.
Moving on to the first round
of rope climbs for Brazil.
Second place right now
for Sweden, lane three.
Seven more handstand push ups
to go in the first round
for United States at lane two.
Right now in fourth place.
Final five handstand push ups
for Brazil at lane four.
In the lead.
Second round of rope climbs
now for Brazil.
This time it's eight rope climbs.
Lane one, Norway, has five more
rope climbs to do
before they can go back
for 21 handstand push ups.
It's definitely not Matt's favorite movements.
Handstand push ups 'cause
that's a weakness for me.
My weaknesses are my shoulder.
I'm not great on my hands.
Handstand push ups have been
his nemesis in the past.
Matt's just gotta be able to hang.
[]
And now we have a finish for Brazil.
The first two athletes
to finish now for Brazil.
Next pair from Brazil start
with 18 alternative deficit
handstand push ups.
Three more legless rope climbs for Sweden.
Second place, Brazil.
Two more to go for Sweden.
In the lead we have Brazil.
They are at the round
of 15 handstand push ups.
And the final one to go.
There we have them.
Brazil now doing five legless rope climbs.
Sweden begins their 15 handstand push ups.
Norway has two more
legless rope climbs to go
before they can move on
to 15 handstand push ups.
20, 21!
[]
One more to go for Brazil.
Come on!
And we have a great time for Brazil as well.
There we have it
and sprint and win for Brazil.
For United States we are at the first round
of legless rope climbs.
Norway are chasing Sweden.
They have now four handstand push ups.
Really quick from United States.
Now on five legless rope climbs.
Final, final rope climb
for Norway and Sweden.
It is Norway taking second place.
Third place Sweden.
Last one for United States.
One minute to go.
[]
And we got it and the sprint
to the finish line for USA.
Brazil was the clear winner
of the Bodyweight test.
With Australia coming in a close second
and Canada, Sweden and Norway
rounding out the top five.
The crowd has been crazy.
It's like, you can hear
the music and the crowd.
It's been awesome.
It's been such a...
Yeah, they're just so into it.
It was the final Heat of the Teams
and it came down to Sweden and Norway
were doing their final
rope climb at the same time
and it was so loud.
Traditionally, Team events in the sport,
they're kind of secondary.
But now I think this idea
of cheering for your country,
people are really wrapping
their head around that
and the fact that you can stand out there
and get everyone... right,
get behind your country.
Everyone can get behind that.
My prediction is that the Teams
might become more popular
than the Individual competition
within our system
just because of that country pride.
At the halfway point of the weekend,
flags had been planted
and competitive rivalries
were in full swing.
It would be up to the athletes
over the next three tests
to prove who was the best amongst them
and now they knew exactly
who they would have to defeat
to prove it.
[]
On the women's side,
Alex Parker held the lead
with Jordan Adcock
trailing close behind her
and Hattie Kanyo in the third position.
After Test three,
the top three men
were Uldis Upenieks,
Romain Fellonneau
and Khan Porter.
[]
For the Teams, Norway,
Brazil and the USA
held the top three spots.
[]
The next test was the Skill test.
This test was similar to test three
in that it primarily consisted
of bodyweight movements
and was within a similar timeframe.
However, the elements of the Skill test
were each individually much more difficult
than the elements of the Bodyweight test.
Instead of testing bodyweight muscular endurance,
this test was about
measuring the athlete's ability
to perform difficult skills.
These skills required athletes
to possess an excellent sense
of their body's position in space
as well as a high degree of control
that only comes with years of practice.
[]
On top of all that,
their muscles
and their nervous systems had to be able
to perform these skills under duress
during a prolonged and exhausting test.
The Skill test, which involved
a gymnastics complex of a bar up and over
so like, stuff we used
to do in the playground
when we were kids, where you
kind of flip your feet over
then go from that into a toes to bar,
chest to bar then a bar muscle up.
They are Individual
Functional Fitness movements
but normally not linked together like that.
So that made it very interesting.
For this test,
the athletes would all start
with one rep on each each arm
of a kettlebell getup.
The getup requires an athlete to
hold a weight above their head
as they lower all the way to the ground,
laydown on their back
then bring themselves
all the way to standing
with the weight overhead again.
After getups,
the athletes would transition
to a complex on the pull up bar.
This complex involved
a series of movements
that challenged their strength and coordination
as well as balance and equilibrium.
Each movement would
have to be performed perfectly
according to the standards
and in the correct order
before it would count.
The third part of the test
was a handstand walk.
But what made this handstand walk different
was the requirement that
athletes hold a foam block
between their ankles
as well as the requirement
to perform a 360 degree pirouette
at the center point.
They would also have to pirouette
in on the opposite direction
on their way back.
Go!
Our last Heart,
one left arm kettlebell getup
followed by one right arm kettlebell getup.
Kettlebell that weights 28 kilos.
And done at lane eight,
Alex Parker from Canada
followed by Jordan Adcock,
United States at lane seven.
Begin their first complex bar pullover,
toe to bar, chest to bar,
muscle up in one complex.
[]
And back for the kettlebell
the second time,
Alex Parker.
And then we have
Jordan Adcock at lane seven.
Second time they do
four kettlebell getup,
two on each arm.
Two more getups for lane five,
Matilde Garnes from Norway.
Four to go for lane four,
Jessica Coughlan.
In the lead, Alex Parker.
Does the pirouette to the right.
And then walk the last steps
to the second blue line.
There you have it.
Alex Parker done with six meter handstand walk.
Second place we have
on the six meter handstand walk,
Jordan Adcock,
United States at lane seven.
For the last time on the kettlebell,
Alex Parker.
Second place we have Jordan Adcock
with three more kettlebell getups to do.
Third place we have Matilde
from Norway at lane five.
And the final, final step
to the last blue line.
And there we have the winner
in this test, Alex Parker,
Canada.
Also on the final
nine meter handstand walk
we have Jordan Adcock,
lane seven, United States
and we have the final handstand
walk coming up
from Matilde from Norway at lane five.
30 seconds to go,
final handstand walk, lane five,
Matilde Garnes, Norway.
Lane seven, Jordan Adcock,
Unites States.
Second place for both these ladies.
Jordan Adcock, a little bit quicker.
And five, four, three,
two, one, time.
In the end, only one woman
was able to complete the test
and with more than a minute to spare.
The others would be scored
based on the amount of work
they could complete
by the 15 minute time cap.
The winner, of course,
was Canada's Alex Parker.
This was Parker's third firs
place finish of the weekend.
It would be difficult,
if even possible,
for anyone to catch her now.
As it stood, she had 382 of
a maximum 600 possible points
for the weekend.
No one gets 600 possible points.
Women can be strong
and women can be muscular,
and that's beautiful.
The sport has really helped
just in society that that image
of a strong, muscular woman
is now more acceptable
than it was, you know,
even five years ago,
ten years ago.
They all have beautiful...
Like, they're beautiful bodies,
and their bodies can do amazing things,
and that's really cool.
There are so many women who start the sport
and they start to get a little stronger,
they see what their body can do,
they feel very accomplished
and very capable,
you know, they could lift things
they couldn't lift before,
do skills, do a pull-up,
do things they couldn't do before,
so it helps them embrace their body
no matter what shape it is
and really understand, like,
"Oh, my body is capable
of so many amazing things,
and making it strong makes me confident
and makes me able to do cool stuff.
So I think that's really
one of the benefits
of this sport and definitely helpful
in terms of increasing confidence in women.
The men's test began with
a heavy 40-kilogram kettlebell.
Go!
[]
One left arm kettlebell get-up
followed by one right arm kettlebell get-up
with the 40-kilo kettlebell.
And first one out on the complex
is Yakov Filimonov at lane 2.
Complex, one bar pull-over,
one toe-to-bar,
one chest-to-bar,
and one bar muscle-up.
And done is Joel Bergander Lundblad
and Yakov Filimonov.
Very, very easy handstand walk
for Russia's Yakov Filimonov.
Second time with the kettlebell get-up
for Yakov Filimonov.
Two more kettlebell get-ups
for lane 6, Zach Sowder.
Four more for lane 5,
Matt Dlugos.
They are on the second round of the complex
in the pull-up rig.
It is Zach Sowder on second place in this heat.
Now on his way back for the last six meter
is lane 6, Zach Sowder.
In the lead, we have lane 2,
Yakov Filimonov.
Second place, we have lane 4,
Zach Watts.
Last time with the kettlebell
for Zach Watts.
Also, lane 6, Zach Sowder,
last time with the kettlebell.
Kettlebell weighs 40 kilos.
Only one more to go now for lane 2,
Yakov Filimonov in the lead.
It is Zach Sowder
also on the last reps of this complex.
Final walk, pirouettes to the left.
And across the last blue line.
No problem.
Only nine meter left for Yakov Filimonov
to win this whole heat and the test.
And we now have also Zach Watts
doing his final reps of the complex.
Pirouettes to the right,
and the final steps
for Yakov Filimonov from Russia at lane 2
and taking his heat and test win.
Yakov Filimonov from Russia.
Last complex for lane 6,
Zach Sowder.
Final handstand walk now
for lane 6, Zach Sowder.
That's the last thing he's gonna do.
Third place, lane 4, Zach Watts.
[]
Final pirouette for lane 6,
Zach Sowder.
Final steps across that last blue line.
And we have a finish sprint for Zach Sowder.
Final walk, lane 5, Matt Dlugos.
And it is lane 4,
Zach Watts.
Finish for Zach Watts.
Four, three, two, one, time.
Latvia's Marcis Mucenieks surprised everyone.
Despite being in one of the lower heats,
his dominant performance
brought him ahead
of all the men in the top heat
except for the test winner,
Yakov Filimonov from Russia,
who beat him by 44 seconds
and was nearly three minutes ahead
of the third-place competitor.
Like the second test,
team test 4 involved
only two of the four athletes.
Yeah, so the way they have
this one set up is,
Matt and Sam will do
the strength event today,
and then me and Maicey will just watch,
and then tomorrow,
the second event
is like a lot of gymnastics stuff,
and so he'll get to watch us
do a bunch of bar muscle-ups,
handstand walks, toes-to-bar,
stuff like that.
These two faced an ordeal
of synchronized pull-up bar exercises
as well as a high volume of handstand walks.
First up was 15 bar muscle-ups,
pulling their bodies up and over the bar
in sync with their partner.
Next was 30 synchronized
chest-to-bar pull-ups.
The final bar exercise was a set
of 45 synchronized toes-to-bar.
Between each round on the pull-up bar,
athletes took turns performing
15-meter handstand walks.
This is approximately 50 feet
per athlete each round.
Go!
And we start with 15
synchronized bar muscle-ups.
Five more to go for lane 5, Brazil.
And we got hand up for Sweden, lane 2.
Lane 5, Brazil,
very, very quick to the handstand walk,
just ahead of Sweden on lane 2.
Next thing is 30 synchronized chest-to-bar.
In the lead,
we have Norway on lane 6
followed by Brazil at lane 5.
Third place, Sweden, lane 2.
Final way of handstand walk
for lane 4, USA.
And lane 3 now done,
Canada also move on to chest-to-bar.
We now have all teams
doing chest-to-bar,
30 synchronized chest-to-bar.
And we have a hand in the air
for Sweden, lane 2.
Hand up for Australia, lane 1.
And it is, in the lead,
Sweden on lane 2.
Second time on the handstand walk.
And we have handstand walk from Australia
and from Canada, lane 3.
Norway back to the toes-to-bar,
45 synchronized toes-to-bar for Norway.
Now we also have the second handstand walk
for lane 4, USA,
and lane 5, Brazil.
So we have three teams
on their last 45 toes-to-bar.
Norway, Canada, Sweden,
our top three teams so far.
Now we also have United States
and Brazil doing toes-to-bar.
Only six more toes-to-bar
for Norway at lane 6.
Final five.
Final handstand walk for Norway in the lead.
[]
And there we have Norway
taking this test number 4 win.
One more athlete
to do handstand walk for Canada,
two athletes for Sweden.
Last meter of handstand walk for Canada
to take second place.
Only a few steps.
And there we have Canada,
second place in this heat.
And there we have Sweden,
third place for Sweden at lane 2.
We are in the final handstand
walk for lane 4, United States,
and lane 5, Brazil.
[]
And it is United States taking fourth place.
Amongst the top teams coming into the weekend,
Norway and Sweden both excelled at this test
while the U.S. did poorer than expected
and did not crack the top 5.
I'm tired, man,
it was a long day.
But after day two,
one of our tenured athletes,
Zach Sowder, he's currently
sitting in first place,
with our team sitting in third.
Also, our other two male athletes are
well within striking distance of the podium,
and our top female athlete sits in second.
Canada's Alex Parker still held
the top spot for the women
with USA's Jordan Adcock still holding second
and the third place position
still held by Hattie Kanyo,
meaning that these three women
had held the top three spots
for three tests in a row.
On the men's side, Zach Sowder
now held the top spot,
with Uldis Upenieks slipping into second
and Khan Porter in third.
The challenges of the second day
had dropped Matt Dlugos to fourth place,
while some of the smaller athletes
who are more suited to today's tests
moved up in the standings.
But another huge highlight of the day,
our 11th-hour call-up,
Maicey McIlveen,
she performed awesome today
in the partner workout today,
so really good to see her
being able to step up to the challenge
of literally being called up
at the last minute
to travel halfway across the world to exercise
and represent the United States.
While they did not finish
in the top 5 of test 4,
the USA team's respectable finish gave them
enough points to remain
a contender for the podium
going into day 3.
This is our third world championships,
and it's a great event every year,
and it's really starting
to take on, you know,
some more meaning within the community
where it's an honor
to represent your country
and win a world championship
title for your country.
I founded the iF3 in 2016.
I was at a point in my life professionally
where I didn't have a job at the time
and was having difficulty
finding a new job,
and I always thought this sport
had so much potential
to be an Olympic sport and really be
a legitimately recognized sport,
and I kind of figured,
well, I understand generally
what the process is like.
There are things from my background
that just kind of put me
in a good position to do this.
No one else is doing it.
I don't see anyone else
willing to take the risk at the time.
I figured, well,
I might as well go for it
because I believe in it.
Incorporated the nonprofit,
had a very small team to start,
and it took about a year
of background work,
and then we publicly announced
in June of 2017,
and within four months, we held
our first world championship.
What we've seen historically in the sport
is private brands running competitions, right?
Branded events.
And what we have here
is a nonprofit organization
governing a sport, right?
And the term,
"functional fitness,"
that's a generic name for the sport.
A brand, a trademark brand name,
cannot be a sport.
For purposes of the Olympic movement,
that's really important
to kind of know and distinguish,
and sometimes that gets confused
in our community,
so we've had to do a lot of
sort of education on that point,
but we have a board of directors
who governs things
and kind of helps run the organization,
and then we have committees
who make a lot of our specific decisions,
and really it's people amongst the community
who are serving on these committees
and doing this work to grow the sport.
So it's a group of people
helping to manage and develop
and run the sport.
It's not like one person is owning this.
Yeah, the iF3 is structured based upon
just previous experiences in sport.
That's what we...
Like if you were to open a book
and say, "How do you do sport governance?"
That has been written a thousand times over,
so we're standing on the shoulders of giants,
of the pluses and minuses
from all those experiences,
and what we laid it out at
is like any other sport growth.
You have to have some structure
from the local level
all the way up to Olympic level
and have qualification standards
and like a knowledge
around what the sport looks like
at each of those levels.
And if you go global with a sport,
you have to have the conversation
around how sport is expressed
at the highest level for that globe.
That's the Olympics.
Our campaign is called
Reach for the Rings,
which sort of has a dual meaning,
I guess the more literal meaning being
reaching for the Olympic rings,
that we're trying to live
that Olympic dream,
and then a more fitness-esque meaning
with the idea of reaching for the rings,
visualizing the gymnastics rings
hanging down from the ceiling
and people jumping up
to do, say, muscle-ups.
Right, you have to reach up for those rings.
People tend to stand there, right?
They stand there and they wait
and they say,
"I'm not ready yet,"
and then they wait,
they get a couple more breaths,
and then they jump up to the rings.
And our philosophy has kind of been,
"Well, don't wait, just go."
Right, go before you're ready,
in a sense,
or go before you think you're ready,
'cause you're never gonna be totally ready.
And if you wait,
you probably waited too long.
This is new territory for our sport,
for our federations,
you know, for everybody,
and we can't be afraid to just
reach for the rings and go.
Between launching in June of 2017
and then worlds in October of that year,
we had eight federations form
and then show up at worlds,
which was super awesome.
And then next year,
we took worlds to London,
and at that point,
we had 24 federations in our organization
and I think 14 of them came to worlds.
Then this year,
now we are in Sweden
and we've taken another step up.
We're at 35 national federations,
and I don't have the total count
of how many are here yet,
but I think it's over 20.
- The Swe3F.
- Canada Functional Fitness.
The Australian Functional Fitness Federation.
German Functional Fitness Federation.
The F3 Federation for Aruba.
Russia National Federation.
Hellenic Functional Fitness Federation.
The Norwegian Federation
for Functional Fitness.
VENEFFIT is the organization
for the functional fitness
sport in Venezuela.
We don't have to go beg people
to start federations.
They kinda come to us.
So people will reach out and they'll say,
"Hey, I've heard about this,
I think this is a great direction for the sport.
How do I get involved in my country?
How do I start a federation?
What do I have to do?"
And that organic growth
is really important,
and also I think it makes for
stronger national federations
because you have people who are saying,
"I want to do this
because I care about the sport."
So, national federations
kind of do what we do
as an international federation
but on a national level.
They work to get recognized
by their various ministries of sport
and then their national Olympic committees.
They're also all nonprofit organizations,
and there can only be one er country.
So we recognize one in every country,
and their job is to promote and
grow the sport in their country.
So it's been 15 years now,
I guess you can say,
that I've been inside the sport
as a coach and athlete.
I've coached thousands
of athletes inside this sport.
I've coached hundreds, now,
of coaches who are coaching
inside the sport.
I participated at the highest
level in fitness and won,
and then I went on
to keep trying to help others
and different athletes express that.
I would say that I've probably been
some of those individuals...
One of those individuals
that took our sport to a really serious,
maximal potential personally.
So it allows me to have a lot of experience
to see what's best
for the growth of this sport
when we want to structure it
and govern it.
We can't lose sight
of my past in the sport,
and it makes me emotional to think
that I'll have a part to play in fixing it.
It feels like I'm rewriting
something that I was a part of
that sent it in the wrong direction,
and now I really feel like I
need to bring it back to center
so it has some respectability.
[]
The tests of day 3
combined all the elements
of the previous days.
The mixed test was a test of endurance
using a combination of the elements seen
in the strength test and the bodyweight test.
The sixth and final test was similar,
combining different modalities
but now putting them
into a very fast racing scenario.
[]
Where did Maicey go?
Feel like a nervous dad
right before my kid's first tee-ball game.
I love these guys, and, um,
it gets really emotional for me
'cause all the work that I've done
to help get these guys here
comes down to this last day,
and for them to be so close to the podium
and within striking distance,
have an opportunity,
it's like I wanna throw up.
Like, ever since last night,
I got no sleep,
but I'm super proud of everything they've done
to this point.
They've all worked very hard to get here.
They've represented our country well.
Going into the last day of the competition,
there were only a handful
of athletes in each division
vying for the top spots.
The top 5 women on the last day
were Alex Parker,
Jordan Adcock, Hattie Kanyo,
Matilde Garnes,
and Maddison Drader.
At the start of day 3,
the top 5 men
were Zach Sowder,
Uldis Upenieks,
Khan Porter, Matt Dlugos,
and Romain Fellonneau.
[]
On the team side,
coming into day 3,
Norway, Brazil, Canada, Sweden, and the USA
were all in the top 5.
[]
The iF3 gives out gold medals
for first place,
silver medals for second place,
bronze medals for third place,
and nothing else after that.
This is the day we crown
our world champions.
We got our final two tests today.
The first one is a little different.
Like the bodyweight test
and the skill test,
the mixed test this year also falls
into the 12-to 15-minute range.
Not as long as the endurance test
but still measuring
an element of work capacity
and muscular endurance.
Test 5 was probably the most popular
and beloved test in the competition,
combining the elements
of all the other tests
in a very exciting way,
and today, there was a twist.
I've been calling it
a choose-your-own-adventure test
but they all have the same
buy-in that they have to do.
They're all biking
and then doing toes-to-bar,
and then there are four other movements,
they have to do 50 reps of each one,
but they got to pick what order
they wanted to do that,
so it was cool to see
everybody's order of operations,
so to speak, and see which ones
turned out to be the best.
After buying in
with a certain number
of calories on the AirBike
and 50 toes-to-bar,
the athletes were allowed
to choose the order
of their final four movements.
Pistols are one-legged squats,
in this case, alternating legs
on each repetition.
Single-arm dumbbell shoulder-to-overhead
is really just a fancy name
for throwing a weight
up in the air in one hand.
The Russian kettlebell swing
is an exercise
where the athlete uses their hips
to swing the kettlebell in their hands
from down between their legs up
to above their shoulder height.
Box jump-overs are
exactly what they sound like:
jumping over a box.
The challenge in individuals test 5
was to do all these things
quickly, without error,
and in the optimal order
to secure the victory.
[]
Athletes, stand by.
Go!
[]
So in this heat, we have some
really experienced athletes.
And ladies start off
with 35 calories on their bike.
Second girl up to do toes-to-bar
is Matilde Garnes at lane 5.
Third athlete doing toes-to-bar
is lane 8, Alex Parker,
followed by lane 3,
Jessica Coughlan from Australia.
Now also Jordan Adcock, lane 7.
In the lead, total,
we have Alex Parker.
Second place total so far is Jordan Adcock,
and in third place so far is Hattie Kanyo.
But quickest on the floor,
it is Jessica Coughlan, lane 3.
And as you can see,
they have chosen by themselves
in which order they're gonna do
these four movements.
They do 50 reps on each movement.
Matilde Garnes, lane 5,
starts with her dumbbell
for shoulder-to-overhead.
And in the lead,
we have Jessica Coughlan,
done with her first movement,
the pistols.
Moving on to second,
she has chosen shoulder-to-overhead
with the dumbbell for her second movement.
Dumbbell that weighs 22.5,
looks very easy for Jessica at lane 3.
In the lead, lane 3, Jessica Coughlan.
Second, lane 8, Alex Parker.
Third, Jordan Adcock, lane 7.
Fifty box jump-overs
for Jessica Coughlan, Australia,
followed by lane 8, Alex Parker,
now also moving on to her third movement,
box jump-overs.
In the lead with 28 reps now,
Jessica Coughlan, lane 3,
from Australia,
followed by Alex Parker,
lane 8, from Canada.
Oh, final five reps
on both Jessica Coughlan and Alex Parker!
Alex was holding on.
And it is Jessica Coughlan
right before Alex Parker.
Final reps for Matilde Garnes.
What a finish for Matilde Garnes.
And third place in this heat,
Matilde Garnes, Norway.
What a finish.
Final reps now for Jordan Adcock, lane 7.
Two more to go for Jordan Adcock.
[]
Last rep.
And there we have Jordan Adcock,
fourth place in this heat.
[]
This was the first test win
of the weekend
for Australia's Coughlan,
but she was doing quite well
for a first-time competitor
at iF3 Worlds.
I'm Jess Coughlan,
I'm from Australia.
I've been involved in the sort
of functional fitness world
for about eight years now,
so quite an amount of time,
but it's obviously my first year
with the iF3.
I'm going okay this weekend.
It's definitely been challenging.
There's been some big weaknesses
come up for me,
but it's actually been awesome
to, you know,
do it in competition and
actually have it go fairly well.
Before the top 10 male athletes
even got to the floor,
Germany's Karar Margrander
set a blazing fast time
in heat number 4.
This gave the men in
the final heat a number to chase
that only three of them were able to beat.
Go!
So we got a new best time.
Time to beat now is 13:29
set by Karar Margrander
in our previous heat.
And final reps for lane 8, Uldis Upenieks,
and he is the first one done.
Moving on.
They do 50 reps on each movement.
On lane 3, we have Zach Watts
from United States.
He starts with his dumbbell,
35 kilo dumbbell.
Does 50 single-arm dumbbell
shoulder-to-overhead.
The same goes for lane 9,
Zach Sowder.
At lane 6, Matt Dlugos.
He has chosen to start
with the box jump-overs.
Twenty-four now for Khan Porter.
And there we have Zach Sowder,
lane 9, done with his dumbbell,
his first movement, moving on
to his second movement, pistols.
Moving on to the third movement
is lane 7, Khan Porter,
and lane 8, Uldis Upenieks.
Final reps on his second movement
for lane 3, Zach Watts,
before he moves on to his third,
the kettlebell swing.
And his kettlebell is heavy,
it weighs 40 kilos.
We have four athletes
on their last movement.
In the lead,
Khan Porter, lane 7,
followed by Uldis Upenieks, lane 8.
Fifth place right now,
we have Zach Watts,
United States, on lane 3.
Also now on his last movement,
Zach Sowder, lane 9,
United States.
Last reps for Khan Porter in the lead.
Final five for Khan Porter.
Last two.
[]
One more.
And we have a finish for Khan Porter.
Oh, and Yakov Filimonov also
was very, very quick in the end.
After a rough start on day 1,
Yakov Filimonov
took second place
in the bodyweight test
and first place
in the skill test on day 2.
Now with this first-place finish
in the mixed test,
he was positioned to be
a contender for the podium.
For Australia's Porter,
this was the first top finish
in any test,
but he was also averaging
very high in the standings.
My name's Khan Porter.
I am a functional fitness athlete.
Well, this is my seventh year of
competing in functional fitness,
first time though competing at the iF3.
I like the idea of branching out
in all the different functional
fitness sporting opportunities
that are popping up now,
and I really wanted
to kind of come,
check it out for myself,
and hopefully help build it in Australia
as a different avenue of
competing in functional fitness.
Teams test 5 was also known
as the strategy test.
Teams would have to strategize
how they wanted to attack this test
by selecting one athlete to
perform each of the four tasks.
Men would do the first two tasks
with women completing the final two.
In the team test,
you are able to cater
to your strengths a little bit.
So for me, unfortunately for me,
my strengths are my engine,
so all the uncomfortable,
nasty...
Distance running at top speed,
cycling, you know,
squat snatches.
And then I think our last test
of the competition will be
an 80-calorie Assault Bike,
which is a mean test.
Go!
One athlete performs all 100 wall-balls,
followed by next athlete,
80 calories on the bike.
Third athlete, 60 burpee box jump-overs.
And the last athlete performs
40 deadlifts at 92.5.
Nine kilo wall ball.
One hundred wall-balls.
They are holding on,
going unbroken
on these 100 wall-balls.
Look out for the judge's hand.
When that hand comes up,
it's only five reps to go.
And it is United States,
followed by Russia and Norway.
Final reps.
And first athlete on the bike
is from Norway.
Norway first on the bike
followed by Russia and United States
at lane 1 and 2.
Seventy calories now
for United States at lane 2.
It is United States done with the bike,
running to the finish line.
Third athlete out for United States
at lane 2 in the lead.
Second right now, Norway.
[]
Third athlete for Norway,
start with her 60 burpee box jump-overs.
So in the lead,
we have lane 2, United States.
Twenty burpee box jump-overs now for Norway.
Twenty-eight for United States at lane 2.
Thirty-eight now for Norway.
Forty-eight for United States.
Forty-four, Russia.
Oh, now they are picking up the pace.
Final burpee box jump-over for Norway.
Final reps now for United States.
In the lead,
it is Norway, lane 6.
First athlete on the deadlift at 92.5 kilos.
Second right now is United States
at lane 2 with one more burpee box jump to do.
The weight on that barbellis 92.5.
And there we have United States doing deadlifts.
Forty deadlifts at 92.5.
In the lead, Norway,
second is United States,
third is Russia,
fourth is Sweden.
Two more to go for Norway.
And taking this win, Norway!
Seven more to go for United States.
Final five for Canada.
Final ones for United States.
It is Canada, one more rep to go.
Canada taking second place.
Russia takes third place.
[]
And one last to go for United States.
Five to go for Sweden.
Four to go for Sweden.
Last rep for United States,
four to go for Sweden.
Three for Sweden, two.
And there we have United States
taking fourth place,
and Sweden right behind on fifth place.
In the end, Norway, Canada, and Russia
took away the lead from the USA
and finished in the top of test 5.
Another first-place finish for Norway,
their third for the weekend,
meant their first-place
podium finish was now secure.
Scoring 100 points for each
of those first-place finishes
meant the Norwegians
now had more points
than most teams would score
over the entire weekend.
Yeah, no flaws.
Just pure quality all the way.
On the women's side, Alex Parker
still confidently held the top spot,
with Jordan Adcock in second place
as she had been throughout the competition.
The third spot for the women
was contested by Canada's Hattie Kanyo,
Norway's Matilde Garnes,
and now Australia's Jessica Coughlan.
Looking at the standings after event 5,
we saw Zach Sowder and Khan Porter
with only two points
between them,
with Uldis Upenieks,
Matt Dlugos,
and Yakov Filimonov close behind.
While the leaderboard has shifted
over the three-day weekend,
the three Americans were still
very close to the top.
In the team competition,
the top three contenders
going into the weekend...
Sweden, Norway, and the USA...
Had now been joined by podium hopefuls
Canada, Russia, and Brazil.
Brazil's first-place finishes
in tests 2 and 3
had nearly made up
for their last-place finish
in the endurance test
and they were now contesting
the bronze medal.
[]
Before the final test,
athletes' nerves were tense
as they strategized
how to approach the shortest
and most decisive of the six tests.
The first time I did it, I...
You do realize I do 20 unbroken
thrusters before that
at 100 pounds, right?
Yeah, I mean,
I'm gonna do the same workout.
- Before it?
- Huh?
- Before it?
- Yeah.
I thought it was the other way.
I was with you,
but now I'm with him.
The last time I did, like...
I didn't do any thrusters
before, but I just had like
multiple sets of like 20-cals, 20 burpees,
and it was like hold between 1500 and 1600
and I couldn't
for the last like 5 calories
without doing thrusters.
It'll be close.
You're gonna have that adrenaline.
The atmosphere will do it for you.
"I was with you,
but now I'm with him."
The power test is
exactly what it says it is:
really nasty, painful,
short-duration power.
This test represents
the latest development
in the sport, putting together
all three fundamental elements
of functional fitness...
Endurance, strength,
and bodyweight...
Into a short and brutal sprint.
This is fitness racing.
For the individual athletes,
this test involves
three elements performed
in rapid-fire sequence.
Twenty thrusters at 150 pounds,
then 20-calorie row,
which I'm gonna row really fast,
and then 20 bar-facing burpees.
Just gonna crush that one
and go from there.
With a three-minute time cap,
athletes could go all out on this test.
It's one of those events
that, the shorter it is,
the more it's gonna hurt,
so, you know,
you've just gotta hold on,
close those eyes,
and it will be over in sub-three minutes,
because that's the cap,
you don't have a choice.
Their dominant performances
over the weekend
all but assured that Alex Parker
and Jordan Adcock
would take the gold and silver medals,
but the bronze medal at this point
was closely contested by three women:
Hattie Kanyo, Jessica Coughlan,
and Matilde Garnes.
The competition in heat 3
set the standard
with 4 of the top 10 times
for test 6 coming in this heat.
The women in heat 3 were all ranked
between 9th and 16th
going into the final test,
which meant none of them had the potential
to reach the podium,
but they could still give
this test their full effort,
make a name for themselves,
and potentially serve
as spoilers for the championship heat.
One minute to go.
Hand up for Nathalia
from Brazil on lane 5.
Two more to go for Nathalia,
one more.
And a win in this heat
for Nathalia Mencari Vieira.
Brazil's Nathalia Mencari Vieira
thrilled everyone in the arena
by winning heat 3
with a full 15-second lead
over the next competitor,
Charlotte Nevland from Norway.
Going into heat 4,
the tone had been set.
[]
Go!
[]
Final heat
for our top eight female
athletes this weekend.
Going into this final test,
it is, in the total lead,
lane 8, Alex Parker.
Second place right now,
we have Jordan Adcock,
and third place in total
is Matilde Garnes on lane 6.
We start with 20 thrusters at 45 kilos,
and we already have judges' hands in the air.
It is Jessica Coughlan, lane 4,
quickest to the rower,
followed by Maddison Drader, Canada,
Jordan Adcock, and Alex Parker.
Hattie Kanyo also on the rower.
And we now have all the girls on the rower.
Twenty calories on the rower,
and then finish up with 20 burpees.
Twelve calories, lane 3,
Maddison Drader.
Fourteen calories,
Jessica Coughlan.
Twelve calories, Hattie Kanyo.
Thirteen calories,
Matilde Garnes.
Hand in the air for Jordan Adcock
and Alex Parker.
Final calories.
One minute and 20 seconds to go.
It was Jordan Adcock
the quickest through the burpees.
Now we finish up with 20 burpees.
Very quick burpees on lane 8
for Alex Parker from Canada.
Also quick burpees,
Matilde Garnes, Norway, lane 6.
Quick is also Irina Funtikova,
lane 2.
[]
Forty-five seconds to go.
Judge's hand in the air,
Alex Parker, final reps.
Final reps, Jessica Coughlan.
Final reps, Jordan Adcock.
Final reps,
Maddison Drader.
And it is...
Alex Parker just before Jordan Adcock.
And time.
Big round of applause
for these fantastic ladies.
That was their last test
for this weekend.
So, final event,
which was power,
it was 20 thrusters, 20-cal row,
and 20 bar-facing burpees.
I finished the thrusters first,
we both got on the rower,
she got off the rower before me,
and then, so of course,
she was a little bit ahead
on the burpees,
but I started to realize
that I was kind of catching her on the pace,
so towards the very end,
we were pretty much synchronized
and I jumped over the bar,
went to go for her buzzer,
and then realized
it was the wrong one, hit mine,
so she ended up beating me on that event
by a split second because of an error.
Alex Parker just before Jordan Adcock.
The overall winner of test 6 was actually
Nathalia Mencari Vieira from Brazil
whose score of 2:33
could not even be beat
by the dominant Alex Parker.
Though she didn't make it
onto the podium this year,
her first-place finishes
in the strength and power tests
made her a memorable competitor.
On the men's side,
the top nine athletes
were all in the same heat.
This test would decide
the medal finishers in first,
second, and third place overall,
with Zach Sowder, Khan Porter,
Uldis Upenieks, Matt Dlugos,
and Yakov Filimonov all having
a chance to reach the podium.
Go!
Wow, this will be really intense.
Twenty thrusters with a 67.5-kilo barbell.
[]
And we have judges' hands in the air.
They are at their final reps.
[]
And back to the rower.
Wow.
It's hardly possible to see
which guy was the first.
Very quick was Zach Sowder at lane 9,
but we are all very quick.
Already on 14 calories, lane 9;
11 calories, Khan Porter;
13 calories for Uldis Upenieks;
13 calories, lane 6,
Matt Dlugos.
We have, on lane 9,
Zach Sowder, United States,
followed by Khan Porter
and Uldis Upenieks on lane 7.
Lane 6, Matt Dlugos.
Twenty burpees.
In the lead, Zach Sowder,
lane 9, United States,
followed by Khan Porter.
Very quick burpees
by Uldis Upenieks at lane 7.
Final five reps, Zach Sowder,
lane 9, United States.
Two more to go.
Hand up for Uldis Upenieks.
Hand up, Khan Porter.
And taking the win, Zach Sowder!
Second place, Uldis...
Uldis Upenieks
right before Khan Porter on third place.
This event win secured
Sowder's spot at the top,
with Porter and Upenieks rounding out
the podium position.
Ioannis Papadopoulos's impressive time
of 1:56 in the previous heat
was enough to earn him
second place in this event.
Unfortunately, this was not enough
to make up for some of his poorer finishes
in earlier events,
and he did not crack
the top 5 overall.
For the teams,
test 6 was also known
as mixed relay 2.
The first task of each round was a row,
30 calories for the men
and 20 calories for the women.
The second task was thrusters
performed using a worm.
The worm is essentially
a long sandbag or ruck bag
weighing about 350 pounds
that required all four teammates to lift.
After completing 15 reps
of the worm thrusters,
the teams would return to
their rowers for another round.
The entire test was a very short
and very painful fitness race.
The dominant Norwegian team
could not be touched.
Like Alex Parker
in the women's division,
their series
of first-place finishes
guaranteed they would win gold
this weekend.
It was assumed
that the silver medal
would go to Canada.
In fact, they would have to do
very poorly in order to lose it.
[]
The bronze, however, was contested
between Sweden, the USA, Russia, and Brazil.
The action really began
in heat 2.
Go!
It is an open spot
for the bronze medal today.
Those teams who has the chance
to take the bronze medal.
In this heat,
it is Sweden and Brazil.
And in the upcoming heat,
it is United States and Russia.
The team getting the best score
of those four
will take the bronze medal today.
Final reps for Sweden on lane 3.
And it is Sweden taking
the lead in this heat!
Back on the rower for the second time.
And it is Sweden
back on the floor in the lead.
Final 15 worm thrusters for Sweden.
Sweden, who has the chance
to take the bronze medal today,
but they also need to be quicker
than the United States
and Russia in the next heat.
So they need to pick up the pace.
Final reps for Sweden.
And they are done,
and finished for Sweden,
taking this heat win.
If Russia or the USA could beat this time
in the next heat,
they'd knock Sweden
off that podium position
and claim the bronze
for themselves.
Go!
It is the final heat of the final test
of this whole weekend.
And going in today,
we had Russia on third place,
but it's an open spot
for the third place right now.
Is it gonna be Sweden, Russia,
or United States
on the bronze today?
In the lead, we have Norway,
first one on the worm.
The first round of 15 worm thrusters.
Followed by Russia and United States.
Now also Canada done with their rowing
and on their first 15 worm thrusters.
Final reps for Norway
on their worm thrusters.
And it is Norway in the lead
back on the rower.
Second round on the rower
for Norway in the lead
at lane 4.
Second place, we have United States on lane 1,
back on the rower.
We are two minutes into this workout.
It is Norway in the lead.
Second is United States on lane 1,
followed by both Russia
and Canada on third place.
Final 15 worm thrusters for Norway
to take this heat win and the gold medal.
Final calories now
for United States at lane 1.
And we have the final worm thrusters now
for Norway at lane 4.
It is...
It is United States on
their final 15 worm thrusters.
Now also Russia and Canada
are picking up their worm.
Norway taking this heat win
and final five...
Final thrusters for United States.
One more.
And there we have United States,
second place in this heat.
Third place, we have Canada.
Final worm thrusters for Canada on lane 3.
Hand goes up for lane 2, Russia.
And there we have a finish for Canada,
taking third place in this heat.
And we have two more to go
for Russia on lane 2.
[]
And they are done,
and finished for Russia.
The USA came across
a mere 19 seconds behind Norway,
but in this short test,
19 seconds was a lot.
While they were pleased
with their performance,
they didn't realize it was
13 seconds slower than Sweden,
enough to put them
in third place in this test
and dash their hopes of the podium.
Canada finished next,
coming in 18 seconds
behind the USA.
This put them in fifth place
for the test, but because
of their superior performance
in the previous tests
of the weekend,
their silver medal podium spot
was secure.
It is time
to see who are the world champions, 2019.
In the final standings,
it was Canada's Alex Parker
who took the win with 570
out of 600 possible points.
Taking first place in three events
and second place in two others,
she was essentially untouchable
over the entire weekend.
It was a good weekend,
I kinda came in
with no expectations
because I had no idea who I was
gonna be competing against.
I knew some of the U.S. team
and some of the Canadian team,
I've competed against them before,
but I didn't know who was gonna be here
from other countries
like Sweden or Norway,
so I just kinda went in
just trying to do
as best as I could in each event,
and I did that, so I ended up
getting first place,
which was... which I'm happy with.
Joining Parker on the podium
were her rival, Jordan Adcock,
in second place,
as well as Norway's
Matilde Garnes in third.
She edged me out
for the majority
of the events, I would say,
but it was kinda back and forth,
back and forth,
throughout each event.
So overall I ended up finishing in second.
Pleased with that,
but of course,
always wanting to get to that top spot.
While all three
of the U.S. men's competitors
made a strong showing over the weekend,
it was Zach Sowder
who pulled off the victory.
It feels good to win.
It was just really stressful.
It was very fun and exciting,
but like, it's almost like,
glad that's over, it's a relief.
You kinda sit there and like,
you're in a little bit
of like pain from the workout,
but you're just like
just sweating, breathing hard,
and like, man, I'm glad
it happened how it happened.
There was two points
separating me and Khan Porter
for first place,
and so it was like
literally whoever won out of us
would win the competition,
and the workout literally was
a minute and like 50 seconds.
So just all-out, empty the tank,
hold nothing back,
see what happens.
So we both did that and finished
like maybe five seconds apart,
but I was able to edge him out
and take the victory.
Last year I came into this thing
and I was like hoping,
if everything went right,
I would win,
but I came off
with like a fifth-place finish.
So, kind of all year,
I've been ready for this event
to kinda get a little bit of redemption,
so it was nice to come back and do it.
While Matt Dlugos and Zach Watts
didn't make the podium,
they made a strong showing
at this year's Worlds
and they'd be back again in the future
to give it another shot.
[]
Sowder was joined on the podium
by Latvia's Uldis Upenieks
and Khan Porter from Australia.
I took second place overall,
which was,
yeah, really, really...
Something I was really,
really pumped about,
bit surprised about,
if I'm being completely honest.
I think that the leaderboard
changed a hell of a lot
all throughout the weekend.
I think I sorta sat...
I think the lowest I sat was around fourth.
I think I was in third
most of the weekend,
sorta sitting around
that third-place mark,
and then it was only this morning
that I moved up into second.
There were a bunch of guys
that were in the mix
for quite some time.
With their first-place finish in test 6,
the Norwegians sealed the deal.
Four first-place finishes,
one second, and one fifth
had them at 537 total points,
more than 150 points ahead
of the second-place team.
And in Norway's team,
we have Ingrid Hodnemyr,
Lena Amalia Richter,
Morten Rasch Arnesen,
and Sigleif Myklebust Ravnestad.
The Canadians joined them on the podium
with 380 points.
And from Canada, we have
Jake Hansen, Lynsey Martin,
Ryan Tomiyama, and Shaundra Bruvall.
Sweden took the third-place position,
edging out the USA
by a mere five points.
And Sweden's team is
Angelica Bengtsson,
Charlie Karlsson,
,
Zanna Bjrnson.
Despite the historic dominance
of Americans in this sport,
the Scandinavian teams had exerted
their home-team advantage
this year and ruled the weekend.
It was obviously a successful weekend.
I think we left a few medals out there,
but it's something
to work forward... work towards
in the future, and I'm excited
to be a part of it.
On the women's side,
we had Jordan Adcock,
who is...
she's a heck of an athlete.
I think she's only gonna get
better, she's very young.
She finishes with a silver medal
and very proud of her.
She was fantastic all weekend.
Really pushed for that gold
and just came up a little bit short.
It was a great competition
on the men's side.
All three of our male
individuals were fantastic.
Matt Dlugos finished fourth,
but honestly, he was fantastic.
He was our national champion.
He's also 6'4",
and a few of the tests here
were very challenging for a guy his size,
and he really performed phenomenally
against world-class competition.
And Zach Watts, who's, you know,
just a young buck, man, he's got
all the talent in the world,
he's just gonna get better,
and he also had a top-10 finish,
so really, really happy
about how
the individual males competed.
The team this year
was a little bit of a mixed bag.
I think we were sitting
in second after day 1,
just a few points off
out of the gold medal spot,
and then yesterday,
unfortunately,
the bodyweight tests
were a big challenge,
and today we had to fight
our way back, and we almost did.
We finished in fourth.
We finished, I believe,
five points off the podium.
You know, I'm a sucker
for team competitions,
so that one hurts a little bit, honestly.
I don't think the United States
should ever finish fourth in a competition.
It's unacceptable.
So I blame myself for that,
and I think we've just got to get better.
We've gotta work harder
and next year come back,
but it's unacceptable
to finish off the podium
for the United States.
We've got too good athletes,
and so, for next year,
it's just something to push for.
We have one more award tonight,
and that award goes to our best nation:
United States!
In the final standings,
we had one male individual on the podium
who finished with a gold medal,
we had one female who finished
with a silver medal,
and the team finished in fourth place.
So overall, we had two overall medals,
but I believe because we had
two fourth-place finishers
on the male individual side
and the team side,
that that pushed us to the forefront
as far as the lead nation with medals.
I believe we tied Canada,
but because we had better finishes,
that we ended up
as the top nation overall,
which is obviously great,
I'm very proud of that,
and hopefully we can continue
that for years to come.
It's really cool, like,
we were talking earlier,
like, it's cool to compete
and win for yourself,
but like, all weekend,
I've been wearing that USA shirt
and we traveled together,
rooting on each other,
so you really...
It's bigger than yourself.
We got that gold medal,
so it means a lot more
than just going to a random competition
and then winning it for yourself.
So, yeah, hopefully just
every year I'm competing
in fitness, this will be one
that's on the calendar for sure.
It's cool that I won the Worlds
in a growing sport.
I like to support sport in all ways,
and, like, coming in first
makes the weekend better than
it could've been, so it's good.
I care a lot about the growth
of an athlete
and a coach in this sport,
and that's one of the biggest
emotional pushers for me
is to have a place and a home
for these coaches to grow
and for these athletes to attach to
and be really excited about, you know,
things like wearing
the Olympic country jacket.
You know, that gives me goosebumps.
We've seen tons of growth very quickly.
I think probably beyond
anything I would've expected
back in 2016 when I started.
Everybody's in it for the right reasons.
They want to grow the sport,
they want to make it better
for the athletes,
they want to make it better
for the coaches and, you know,
the officials on the floor.
Nobody's here because they think
they're gonna become rich doing this.
Everybody is here because they genuinely care
about the sport and they want to do...
They want to see it succeed and grow
and be around for a really long time.
[]
Please rise for the national anthem of Canada.
[]
Alex Parker, Canada.
[]
Please rise for the national
anthem of the United States.
[]
And please rise for
the national anthem of Norway.
[]