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Opinion | CrossFit Games 2020: Noah Ohlsen gets second chance to upset Mat Fraser, but can he do the improbable?
- Last year Ohlsen held the leader’s jersey before Fraser mounted a monstrous comeback to win his fourth title
- This year’s scaled down competition could make for a two-man race between the Americans
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The short answer to this question is no, and the long answer is maybe, but probably not.
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Barring injury, the coronavirus or unforeseen circumstances, Mat Fraser should cruise to his fifth straight CrossFit Games title this month in Aromas, California. He will end the discussion about who is the greatest CrossFit athlete of all-time, as he will pass Rich Froning in terms of individual titles.
Or 2020 continues to surprise the world and we get an upset for the ages come October 19-25, where Ohlsen and Fraser, along with fellow Americans Samuel Kwant and Justin Medeiros and Canadian Jeffrey Adler, duke it out at the CrossFit ranch under the watchful eye of Games maestro Dave Castro.
Last year was supposed to be one for upsets and unpredictability. A new qualifying format axed Regionals and replaced them with Sanctionals, and a swathe of country champions were crowned. But Fraser, along with female counterpart and training buddy Tia-Clair Toomey, showed champions hit curve balls for home runs and defended their titles.
Ohlsen’s opening last year came when Fraser was penalised for dropping a weight from his backpack during the Ruck run. Fraser was deducted an entire minute, and Ohlsen blasted to second in the Sprint Couplet and held the leader’s jersey up until the final day.
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