Mallory O'Brien and Emma Cary are the Future

With just a few points separating them from winning the Granite Games, both Mallory O'Brien and Emma Cary are making a strong push for rookie performances at the 2021 CrossFit Games.

[arielleloewen]

Hey! Arielle Loewen here and I do train at the noon class with my toddler watching me in her stroller 🙈 I since upped it to 2 hours a day but my toddler still joins me 🤣 #momstrength

[KalispellBarbell]

I’m personally fascinated with all the different new athletes making it, and how different all their training methods are.

Unless I’m mistaken, the winner of the Granite games is a new mother, and takes the noon class at her gym.

Really cool stuff, and I’m excited to see some parity at the top of the men’s field as well

[michaelguest]

What really impressed me about these two is that Emma throws up a 200 on her squat snatch and Mallory almost did the same, just barely missing at 200. As it was, she hoisted up 185. For perspective, Haley Adams lifted 185 at the MACC. They would have both been competitive against Toomey and Barnhart at the MACC. That kind of power at 17 is scary and should throw a real scare into the other podium contenders. I have no idea how they would do in a run swim run event or a bike event, but I think they have enough balance in their skillset to make a serious run at the podium and it wouldn't surprise me if they both made it.

[mello]

I haven’t being this excited to watch the games in a while.

[chefmguessefeld]

Well said as usual. I can’t wait for the games. Here’s the thing- these 2 young ladies are clearly the real deal and so good for the future of the sport and their not even close to full development.
On the men’s side Jayson Hopper is bringing some excitement as well.

[michaelguest]

Perhaps the most exciting part of watching Emma and Mallory is the fact that they just arrived ready to compete at the highest level in their first Elite Women's live event. I've always felt that if you are destined for greatness in this sport it shows up very early in your competitive career. Toomey came to the games and finished second her first two years and now has four straight CrossFit Games title. I believe that it is very hard to move up in this sport if you are not close to being at the top in your first or second year of competition. I just think that the competitive gap to get to the top of the sport is hard to close if you are not close when you arrive on the scene at the Games. When you look at other female athletes such as Wells, Barnhart, Horvath, Simmonds, Sigmundsdottir, and Holte they are all very impressive CrossFit athletes but it's hard to imagine any of them winning the Games. Their finish at the Games is wholly dependent upon what events are programmed and whether it plays to their strengths and weaknesses not to mention they all have holes in their skillset.

[matwate]

You're right, Bergeron was just lucky with Katrin and timing, every other comptrain has performed better (on average) pre comptrain

[kelligoodale]

Finally! I'm surprised that it took this long to see these Mal talked about on here, given that Armen has a pretty good eye for who should be on our radar. But then again, since she's an Iowa connection, I've been following her since she was in the age group games with EZ Muhammad as her coach before James Townsend. It was exciting to see her come out on top, and hope to see her continue to rise in the years to come. Both athletes will be fun to watch, for sure.

[rogerpruger]

Can we just say that working with Bergeron is not paying off... chandler didn't need him, Drew Wyman is headed backwards, Barnhart snuck in at MACC

[robertboyd]

I WACTH THEM AND THEY DID MARVELLOUSLY ; THEY WERE OUTSTANDING IT WILL BE GOOD TO SEE THEM IN MADISON

[Fergushow]

So CrossFit goes the same route as women’s figure skating and gymnastics. You may remember when those athletes were in their 20’s and even 30’s until the training started bringing very young girls into the system so they had 10-years of development by the time they were 15-years old. I’m sure there are other reasons like upper body to lower body strength prior to female development as well as having parental support to focus entirely in the sport verses the adults that have to work jobs until they can be fully sponsored. You also have to concede that teens recover quicker which could be a big factor on these 2-3 workouts a day. If this is the future then CrossFit needs to seriously think about how they will market a sport to 25-44 year old women when the Games is made up of teenagers. It will happen sooner than most think.

[danielburgess]

Where are these analysis type pieces from Crossfit HQ? The update shows are good to have back but something is missing. Surely I am not off the money

[dobromirgospodinov]

Armen - there is a very good chance that Mal 1000 or Emma Cary wins the Games sooner rather than later. If we accept that is likely, who is likely to win it first - Emma or Mal? My money is on Mal but it may be even odds

[michaelguest]

Like so many others have said below, you have to wonder what's going on with the Comptrain athletes. I do think that it is too early to make a final judgment as a whole simply because the performances were lackluster across the board for these athletes. It's not hard to imagine that perhaps the Comptrain athletes were just out to punch their ticket to the Games and waiting to peak for the games. Still, until the final event of the Granite Games, I thought Chandler Smith's performance was underwhelming and except for one event at the MACC Barnhart's performance left a lot to be desired as well. Having said that, I didn't see any noticeable improvement in Brooke Wells's performance either. Despite training with Toomey and Orr, she still does not have the engine to get through high-volume workouts, often hitting a wall in the mid to last section of longer workouts.

[skateata]

Mallory used to be a gymnast. I bet she has great genetics.

[gymmingathomefitnessadapta]

SUS... Haley Adams working with Rich can't snatch 190... These girls are snatching 200 at 17... 🧐