The Global Sport of Fitness Names Samantha Briggs and Joshua Al-Chamaa as the 2021 UK National Champions
July 15, 2021 – London, UK – CrossFit, the Sport of Fitness, named Samantha Briggs and Joshua Al-Chamaa as the Fittest Man and Woman in the UK, based on their final national standings in the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games season, a multi-month competition that began in February with 264,000 athletes competing across 150+ countries in the CrossFit Open.
Briggs and Al-Chamaa became the women’s and men’s National Champions by finishing the highest among any of the athletes from the UK in the last stage of the competition reached by at least one athlete from the UK.
“For athletes around the world, the CrossFit Games season represents the ultimate test of fitness, as they go head-to-head against hundreds of thousands of top competitors across 150+ countries,” said Ollie Mansbridge CrossFit Country Manager for UK & Ireland “Thanks to their extraordinary performances in the 2021 CrossFit Games season, Briggs and Al-Chamaa have proven themselves to be the Fittest Man and Woman in the UK, and they can proudly wear the crowns of CrossFit UK Champions for 2021.”
The CrossFit Games began in 2007 in Aromas, California, as the first competition to objectively measure fitness. Unlike traditional specialist sports like track or weightlifting, CrossFit does not program the same traditional events that reward a limited set of skills in each competition.
Instead, athletes from around the world are tested against a variety of unannounced events, each with different movements, equipment, and time domains. Competitors are required to train for the unknown, and the scores of events have included everything from distance swims to obstacle courses, Olympic lifts, handstand walks, sled pushes, rope climbs, and odd-object carries.
“CrossFit is a global sport, and we’re proud to recognise the individual achievements of the top men and women competing around the world,” said Dave Castro, CrossFit GM of Sport. “National pride runs deep in CrossFit, and these titles celebrate the impressive feats of fitness and talent of those athletes who have demonstrated the highest levels of fitness in their countries.”
This year, the CrossFit Games season includes four stages:
- A worldwide Open competition involving athletes around the world competing with one another in a virtual competition from their gyms or homes,
- A virtual Quarterfinals in which the top 10% of individual competitors from each continent completed new challenges from their local gyms,
- Ten continent-based Semifinals – half in-person and half virtual – where 300 men and 300 women competed to total to qualify for the final stage, and
- The 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games, at which 40 men and 40 women will compete in Madison, Wisconsin from July 27 – August 1 for the titles of Fittest Man and Woman on Earth (as well as hundreds of additional athletes representing teams and adaptive and age group divisions).
CrossFit began crowning National Champions in 2015, and the first six years of champions were based solely on each athlete’s performance in the worldwide CrossFit Open. Given the changes to the 2021 CrossFit Games season schedule, the process for crowning national champions was adapted, so national championships are now awarded to the individuals from each country who reach the furthest stage in the Games season. If more than one individual reaches the same stage of competition, the champions are determined based on their respective placement in that round.
About CrossFit:
CrossFit® is the world’s leading platform for improving health, happiness, and performance. In the 20 years since its founding, CrossFit has grown from a garage gym in Santa Cruz, California, into the world’s best-known fitness brand. CrossFit is committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for everyone, and millions of people have already experienced CrossFit’s transformational benefits through workouts in more than 12,000 affiliated gyms across 150+ countries. CrossFit, LLC also runs the CrossFit Games season, beginning with the annual CrossFit Open, through which athletes at every level compete worldwide, and culminating in the CrossFit Games, where top athletes compete for the title of Fittest on Earth®.
Additional information
About The CrossFit Games: https://games.crossfit.com/about-the-games
The History of the national champions: https://games.crossfit.com/article/history-crossfit-national-champions/open
2021 CrossFit National Champions Explained: https://games.crossfit.com/article/2021-nobull-crossfit-games-national-champions/games
Photo Credit: CrossFit Inc
