As athletes and community members shared their favorite memories of Wodapaloozas past, many of the OG veterans recalled fondly the 2016 competition, dubbed “Water-Palooza” due a weekend of torrential downpours. With storms in the forecast, Sunday opened with a full slate of final events for all divisions and despite a midday rain delay and some adjustments to “Dale” for the elite teams and individuals, the day concluded with full stands and tight races. All of the elite divisions took on “Dale” and “WZAOC Remix,” a workout based on the final event in the online challenge and qualifier this year.
The elite teams took on “Dale” first, an elimination-style sprint and both the men and women competed simultaneously. The sprint consisted of a handstand walk, a sandbag carry, and burpees over a line in a relay for the teams and a one-time through sprint for the individuals.
On the men’s side, The Boys (Noah Ohlsen, Chandler Smith, and Travis Mayer) took the event win, their fourth of the competition. Samsarellamann (Tyler Eggimann, Phillip Muscarella, and Denis Samsonov) took second with Team Hercules (Logan Collins, Roy Gamboa, and Travis Williams) finishing third. The women took the floor next and Omnia (Marykay Dreisilker, Elisa Schauer, and Kelly Stone) earned their first event win of the competition. Team Kriger ((Ingrid Hodemyr, Kristin Holte, and Lena Richter) grabbed second place, the third second place finish of the competition for the Norwegians, to go along with three first place finishes. Team Fleo Fuego (Jessi Harper, Shelby Neal, and Ashleigh Wosny) took third, their highest finish of the week.
Elite individuals came to the floor next, with both men and women competing at once. Samuel Cournoyer earned his first event win of the competition, while Josh Gervais took second and Alexandre Caron grabbed third, his second third-place finish of the week. On the women’s end of the floor, Dani Speegle took down the event win, Olivia Sulek finished second and Freya Moosbrugger grabbed third. It was the highest finish of 2022 WZA for all three women.
The final event, “WZAOC Remix” was last up under the lights and on the team side it consisted of ring muscle-ups and worm clean and jerks. The women’s teams battled it out and when the dust settled, Team Kriger stood atop the podium, with MayFem (Andrea Nisler, Haley Adams, and Taylor Williamson) in second, and Team GOWOD (Mia Hesketh, Julie Hougard, and Solveig Sigurdardottir) earning bronze. The men closed out the team competition with The Boys taking the top spot overall, Thunder From Down Under (James Newbury, Khan Porter, and Matt Dlugos) in second, and Team Hercules (Logan Collins, Roy Gamboa, and Travis Williams) in third.
The individuals closed out the week with their version of “WZAOC” which included toes-to-bar and devil’s press. The women were up first and after nine minutes of pain, Emma McQuaid finished in first overall to take home the $100,000 check, Bethany Shadburne finished in second, and Arielle Loewen took third. On the men’s side, Patrick Vellner completed the three-peat taking first place, while Alexandre Caron took second, and Samuel Cournoyer finished in third.
It was an amazing week and a fitting end to a “Decade of Celebration.”
