Sevan Matossian (00:00):
Okay. I’ll throw, throw Spencer in. If we get Fran bam we’re live. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the winners of the 2022 CrossFit games featuring Brian friend, John Youngs, Matossian, and sea beaver on the back end sea beaver on the back end, Brian, with a hamburger. Brian is in Madison. John is somewhere in the middle of the country. Caleb is in undisclosed Le Kate location. Caleb, you look tan.
Caleb Beaver (00:46):
I’m getting a little dark out here.
Sevan Matossian (00:48):
It’s interesting.
Sevan Matossian (00:50):
<laugh> it’s interesting. Interesting. Uh, Lord CLE, chase Ingram and Adrian Conway did this show a few hours ago. Uh, and they started the show by saying Lauren Cleo started the show by saying that we are on the heels of the CrossFit games. I think what she meant to say is we are on the heels of the Seon podcast. I think that’s a, I think that’s what she meant to say. It is becoming extremely suspicious that every time I have a guest or an idea, they go up an hour or two or three or four before me dread it. Um, I would like to say that, uh, oh, after watching that, I realized that I am the only person in the CrossFit space. Uh, besides Justin’s parents that say his name, right? His name is Justin Maderas. It’s not Maderas but those are the kinds of things that you expect to get. Correct. And that’s why you guys are tuned in here, especially you Ron Sutton, MLK 5, 2 40 CrossFit, Corey, at least car Rido Brandon waddle, et cetera. Yes. John, were you gonna say something?
John Young (01:57):
Nope.
Sevan Matossian (01:58):
You kinda leaned in, you gave me a, a nonverbal cue.
John Young (02:02):
I’m just looking at other things, sorry.
Sevan Matossian (02:05):
Uh, to make sure quality control is in place. We’ve brought John Young. Um, so that Brian, uh, we knows Brian’s been getting carried away with his picks and just fucking choosing every Tom Dick and Harry. Uh, and so we brought John Young in to keep him in check. Um, and we shall see if that works. Brian, do you feel confident with your picks
Brian Friend (02:29):
Much more confident in the women than the men?
Sevan Matossian (02:32):
Okay. John, do you feel confident in your picks?
John Young (02:35):
Yeah. Similar to Brian, but yeah, I’m confident in both of them. I took a risk of,
Brian Friend (02:39):
I’ll just say this, this men’s field is, was the most difficult, um, field of athletes that I’ve think I’ve ever ha ranked for any cross competition.
Sevan Matossian (02:47):
And why is that?
John Young (02:49):
There’s more people,
Brian Friend (02:50):
There’s a lot of depth and there’s a lot of depth at, you know, like throughout the leaderboard. So even in the, I would say up through like 33 or four guys, I was still like, really not, not just having a hard time with one or two, but like there were groups of four or five that I was like, man, I on any given weekend, I don’t like any of these guys could be all of this group of people.
Sevan Matossian (03:15):
Uh, so, so when John, you say there’s more people, there’s not, you mean there’s more people who are good because it is the same amount of guys, right?
John Young (03:21):
Yeah. There’s more, there’s more people where, who are viable for the podium who are viable for top 10 and the guys for sure. And then even the top 20 there’s, it’s just different. There’s different people, different newcomers and people who have been banned people, who’ve tried to come for four years and couldn’t, there’s a lot of different people.
Sevan Matossian (03:41):
So based on how people are at previous CrossFit competitions where you’ve seen them compete, this is a really tight race.
John Young (03:53):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (03:56):
But, but not at the very top bottom, really. Okay. Let me just ask you this. Who do you have as your winner? Um, at the very, very top, uh, John,
John Young (04:06):
I got Patrick Valer
Sevan Matossian (04:11):
<laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (04:12):
Is that just to make controversy or that’s a serious, uh, that’s a serious, no,
John Young (04:15):
No. I, I got him to, I, you know, it’s very close and then I just picked who I wanted to win. If it was close. I tried to, uh, see if I could make any kind of an argument that Vener could beat Justin. And I felt like it was really close whenever I looked at the events last year and Vener beat Maderas more than Maderas beat him eight to seven. Uh, he took it off the gas in the last event. So that point spread would’ve been close and ER’s been swimming with Ryan. Lochte the swimming, the
Sevan Matossian (04:46):
Swimming really. Is that true? Is that true? I
Caleb Beaver (04:48):
Don’t. Is that be, or does he just, is that beneficial or did he just increase some, some drinking game?
John Young (04:56):
No, I earned the pool together on Instagram and three days with Ryan Lochte is better than not three days without Ryan Lochte. Uh, so, and it’s the swim event’s in the pool. All of this benefits ner. So I was like, man, if it’s close, I would, I want Vener to win. And I took a chance on Annie last year and it paid off for me. Huge. And, uh, I’m doing the same with Vener this year.
Sevan Matossian (05:21):
Uh, Ryan Steven Lochte born August 3rd, 1984 as an American professional swimmer and 12 time Olympic medalist along with Natalie Kaufman de Torres and Jenna Thompson. He is the second most decorated swimmer in Olympic history measured by a total number of medals behind only Michael Phelps, seven individual Olympic medals where wow. Theor was like, they just ran into each other at the pool. Or like, Lochte like his
John Young (05:47):
No, he’s, he’s had multiple posts on Instagram with Lochte
Brian Friend (05:51):
Tier through tier
Sevan Matossian (05:55):
That’s the T yr thing. Those are the rubber bands or the company gloves, pads, hand, hand, what do they make? Grip pad pull up? What, what are those guys make?
Brian Friend (06:05):
They make tons of stuff. They
John Young (06:06):
Make a lot of gym equipment.
Brian Friend (06:07):
They’re now his, his main apparel sponsor.
Sevan Matossian (06:11):
I thought they made a pull up grips
John Young (06:14):
What
Sevan Matossian (06:15):
I thought tier made. Like what are those things called? You put, you slip your two fingers through ’em and then it’s got the thing that dangles and flaps around.
Brian Friend (06:21):
They might eventually, but they, I, as far as I know, they do not now.
Sevan Matossian (06:25):
Wow. Look at this much. Love from goose island CrossFit. I think we, we talked about them the other day, much love. Oh, that’s where you did the workout.
Brian Friend (06:32):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (06:33):
Much love from goose island. Rachel look, port. Oh, oh. Who do you have? Number one, Ryan.
Brian Friend (06:42):
I won’t pick anyone other than Justin Maderas until someone shows me they can beat Justin Maderas.
Sevan Matossian (06:48):
How about Justin? Maderas
Brian Friend (06:49):
He’s my pick.
Sevan Matossian (06:50):
Okay, Justin, Maderas it is.
Brian Friend (06:52):
Did you like how I said it?
Sevan Matossian (06:53):
Yeah, I did. Uh, and be, and I say that because Adrian Conway had, um, uh, Saxon, he had Justin Madera’s number one, but he had Saxon his number two and Kowski is three
Brian Friend (07:05):
I’m sure. We’ll have a chance to talk about Saxon and Kowski.
Sevan Matossian (07:08):
Okay. All right. Um, can we go, Brian, can we just dig into your Instagram and just start working our way down from the top to the bottom?
Brian Friend (07:16):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (07:18):
And since we don’t have, I don’t have John Young’s list in front of me, John, do you have your list? And you’ll put, and you just tell us who you have in these places also, and I’ll write it down and I’ll start instigating shit. I mean, we’re talking about
John Young (07:28):
If, uh, if you can, the strength and weakness document it’s in that document, if you’re able to pull that up, but I have it in front of me too. So either way it works,
Brian Friend (07:38):
Just email it to me, John.
John Young (07:40):
All right, Caleb,
Sevan Matossian (07:43):
Uh, number one, Justin mades. Uh, but, but it’s interesting, you’re saying the exact same thing. Chase did you, you, your argument is, uh, what have you done for me lately? You’re the winner. So I’m gonna pick you as the winner until, until proven otherwise.
Brian Friend (07:56):
Um, well, yes, but,
Sevan Matossian (07:57):
But there’s more than that, right?
Brian Friend (07:59):
Yeah. Uh, every, I mean, well, his, his competition performance starting last year at the games through semifinals of this year, every competition that he’s done, he’s been the best guy in it. I’m specifically talking about live competitions and he’s been, um, PR like increasingly impressive in each one relative to the next closest competitors. So what I mean by that is he beat valor at the games by about 80 points, over 15 events. He beat hopper at the semifinals by the same number of points over six events. So he is putting that margin against the field he’s competing against in a much smaller number of events. Um, I also think based on, I mean, he doesn’t put a ton of stuff out there for people to see what he’s doing throughout the year. And ner posts a lot of his workouts, a lot of his training sessions, but Justin doesn’t do that so much. So you have to do a little bit more, uh, digging or know the right people to kind of find out what’s going on with Justin in terms of his training. But everything that I’ve heard is suggestive of a better version of Justin Maderas than last year at the games.
Sevan Matossian (09:07):
Uh, two things you didn’t mention, but that, um, I think you definitely thought of is his coach, Adam, uh, Knifer totally stable, crazy stable situation, added an athlete, Ellie Turner to the mix who Justin, at least, uh, um, from what we’ve heard is extremely happy with and is, uh, helped his training and, uh, and his age, how old was he last year?
Brian Friend (09:31):
23. I think he’s 24 now.
Sevan Matossian (09:33):
So we have to assume he got significantly better by significantly. I mean, within the margins of his level.
Brian Friend (09:40):
Yeah. Well, you know, he, he didn’t win with like this like random display of performances. He was mostly consistent. He had a couple below average and a couple real, you know, up top three finishes. But so, so when that happens, you can hone in on, on things in the off season, much more easily. Like he could pick a couple of things specifically to try to improve over the course of this year. And I think that he’s been successful in the pursuits of those couple of things.
Sevan Matossian (10:12):
John, when you pick Patrick ner and then we start the show does part of you go like, fuck, I don’t really wanna argue this.
John Young (10:20):
No, I love to argue it.
Sevan Matossian (10:22):
Okay. Give it, give it, give it, give it to me. Give it here. Lemme just say this. Let me say this while you, I think you’re behind the eight ball before you dig in. Okay. If you had to pick Patrick last year, I’ve been like, okay, because, because I know Patrick is smart, um, he’s kind, but he’s extremely intimidating in his own way. He has incredible presence and confidence. Um, and, uh, there’s a casualness to him that could mislead his opponents. And he, I could see him maybe like possibly taking the edge by head fucking Maderas, but now Maderas has gotta win. And so like any two wins,
Brian Friend (11:00):
He beat him at rogue.
Sevan Matossian (11:01):
Okay. Uh, right. Two wins across the games champion. He’s going as the fittest. And I just have to think that like psychologically, um, Justin’s in a better place and Patrick’s in a lesser place
John Young (11:14):
Psychologically like half
Sevan Matossian (11:16):
J Justin’s the champ. Any, any doubt he had of whether he could beat the great pat Vener is now gone. And any thoughts away? A little fire. Okay. Um, okay. Maybe. Okay.
John Young (11:28):
You know, Matt and rich, both had incredibly humiliating losses when everybody thought they were going to win. And then that fired them up to be unbeatable. Justin did not have that. He came in and he won and he didn’t really, I don’t know if he expected to win or not, but everything has been a perfect run for him. He’s never, he’s not running to any adversity thus far, as far as in a competition goes. And I mean, that’s credit to him. His execution on events is, is, is flawless. That’s, that’s a trade of his that’s really good. But if you look at ER’s last day on in 2021 game,
Sevan Matossian (12:05):
Well, J Justin Maderas was born in like Lodi or Stockton. That’s pretty fucked up. But anyway, go on, sorry.
John Young (12:13):
The, the last day in 2021 for CrossFit games ner was first, first, and then it didn’t matter because Justin was too far ahead and then he just didn’t try. And he wasn’t first in the, yo I think the yolk was the first event that day, but
Brian Friend (12:30):
He was like, ER’s event finishes on the, it was, uh, second first, and then whatever he took in the final.
John Young (12:37):
Yeah. But, and he was
Brian Friend (12:39):
Third. He
Sevan Matossian (12:40):
Was third. I liked it better the way John said it first, first, why do you, he
John Young (12:43):
Had one of the greatest, last days there was to have until it didn’t matter anymore. And he didn’t try cuz it didn’t matter. He had second locked up the last events kind of just there to beat. Um, I just think it’s much closer than people want to think. They wanna try to make Maderas into the next Fraser. And I have not seen that from him. He doesn’t look like the next Matt Fraser to me and he could, this year he could win by 130 points and then he is gonna be untouchable, but this is the year for Vener to win. And if he doesn’t win this year, I don’t think it will happen. And I think Maderas will go on a run cause I don’t see anybody beating him unless Roman makes this huge gain that I don’t know about.
Sevan Matossian (13:28):
What don’t you see? That, that, that, uh, that, um, uh Froning and uh, Fraser have. The only thing that I see different is Maderas has a better coach than either phoning or Matt ever had is a better training partner than either Matt or Fraser ever had. And, uh, he is, um, better them better than them all around in, in comparable metrics.
Brian Friend (13:49):
That’s a, I would be careful with that statement. I mean, Matt did train with Tia at one point,
Sevan Matossian (13:53):
That’s your job to be careful
Brian Friend (13:55):
And, and rich did train with Matt at one
Sevan Matossian (13:56):
Point. Yeah. At, well, there you go. There’s my point. Oh. And, and to be fair, rich trained with Miko Salo, Dan Bailey, Josh bridges. But, but, um, but Maderas is, is, is, has been with, has a lot of stability in his camp that Matt didn’t have a
John Young (14:14):
Lot. Yeah. But I almost think that would work against him if somebody has, you know, everything is hunky Dory for him, like there, there is something to being like, I never wanna let this happen to me ever again. Mm-hmm <affirmative> like that can fire up people so much to get so good.
Sevan Matossian (14:31):
And how many years did T and Matt train together? How many years did T and Matt train together? One, two
John Young (14:36):
Since 2018.
Sevan Matossian (14:39):
Oh, they did train that long together.
Brian Friend (14:40):
Basically two years.
Sevan Matossian (14:42):
Two years.
Brian Friend (14:44):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (14:46):
Like at people of Highland.
Brian Friend (14:48):
I mean, the thing, the thing that John’s saying that is accurate is Maderas holds the edge over Vener in terms of execution. And in particular, when I think about Vener, there are some specific events that he has, you know, failed to execute on when it mattered the most in recent competitions being the last event is semifinals. The last event, a rogue event, eight at the CrossFit games last year, those are the three that stand out to me event eight was the handstand walking, uh, workout where he should do well on that. But the points he gave away there in my opinion, were more detrimental than the points he gave away on the swimming workout, because that’s a workout that he, yeah, for vena, cause that’s a workout where you look at it and you say he has top five potential here, but if you, but he kicked up and missed implement after implement, after implementing that workout and Justin didn’t, he J you know, he wasn’t as good on paper, but he was better on the field of play.
Brian Friend (15:46):
And then you come to you look, I mean, last year, ner out, snatched him in the snatch event. A couple months later, you go to rogue and it’s a couple squat snatches at 2 0 5 under pressure. And under that pressure, Vener misses one. And then you come to the final event of Atlas games where he’s been locked in, locked in with a Adler and a, you know, going back and forth all weekend, vying for the title there. And, you know, pat wants to win the title and he makes three mistakes in a three minute workout. And I was like those things, if he, if he cleans those up, if he doesn’t have those this week, he will be in the mix to win the games. But the fact that he’s consistently had an, an event like that and Justin hasn’t is enough for me to say, Justin’s the favorite?
John Young (16:29):
And I don’t dispute that. I think he is the favorite, but I think it’s much closer than people think. And if it’s close, I’m gonna pick the guy that I want to win. Just, I did the exact same thing with Annie. Last year, I keep bringing her up cuz nobody had her finishing that high and it happened. And so I picked the guy that I want to win and it’s that guy falling off the ladder.
Sevan Matossian (16:50):
So this is, uh, the ladies, gentlemen, please take a moment to, uh, study John Young’s pick for the 2022 crossword games. Uh, champ, can you guys hear the, I better turn the volume off. I got shut down last time for that. Here we go. We oh, oh little something. Ah, he’s a bully. Where’s he going? Ah, yes. Well, oh my goodness. That’s brutal.
Brian Friend (17:20):
This is something you have to love about pat though. He’s not afraid to laugh at himself.
Sevan Matossian (17:24):
No, not at all. He’s he? He’s a cool cat that’s for sure. Um, okay. Okay.
Brian Friend (17:33):
Yeah. Saw earlier today and he said equity hug.
Sevan Matossian (17:37):
<laugh> that’s good. Tell him to stop worrying about that. Tell him to stop worrying about that photo. He didn’t see that he didn’t see that. Oh, uh, oh, we’ll get back to that later. Uh, okay. So, uh, in, in first we got, Brian has Justin Maderas, uh, uh, John Young has, uh, Patrick ner, um, uh, Brian, will you be surprised if Patrick ner wins?
Brian Friend (17:59):
Pleasantly surprised.
Sevan Matossian (18:01):
Okay. But surprised. And, uh, John, will you be surprised if Justin Maderas wins?
John Young (18:05):
No.
Sevan Matossian (18:07):
Okay. Okay. Uh, oh, I, uh, I put that, that was, that was my fault.
Brian Friend (18:13):
John people know it that I’m, I’m a, uh, friendly with pat ner huge fan of pat ner. I think it would be amazing for his career if you want. I also think that it would be really good for the landscape of the men’s division, if someone, other than Justin won, because you know, we haven’t had that in a while where it’s like people trading blows type of situation. It’s just like the next guy up. And then they win until they leave and the next day up and they went until they leave type thing. So I would, you know, I think for the sake of the sport and the competition, anyone that that’s able to beat Justin this year would be a really positive thing. And I think it’s
Sevan Matossian (18:45):
The, I think it’s the opposite.
Brian Friend (18:47):
No, it would motivate him to be better. He’d have that adversity that John’s talking about and everyone would then say like, no, the guy’s beatable,
Sevan Matossian (18:53):
Lance Armstrong. He, Justin Maderas is gonna be the Lance Armstrong. Sorry, Justin, that doesn’t end well for Lance bear with me. I don’t think he would want that comparison. He’s gonna be the Lance Armstrong, um, of, uh, of course it’s winners repeated winners that help the sport.
John Young (19:10):
I don’t know, 2015 through 2017 for the women. You don’t remember how
Brian Friend (19:14):
Excited it’s rivalries, it’s rivalries that people wanna see
Sevan Matossian (19:17):
For, for those of us who are invested already, the rivalries are cool. But for those from the outside, if you wanna draw on new people, it’s like, Hey man, come watch the cross.
Brian Friend (19:25):
Are you excited to watch Tia this year? Or are you more excited to watch Laura Gabby, Haley male, Danielle Calca vibe for the podium?
Sevan Matossian (19:34):
Uh, yes. And I, I don’t know what they, if that was a yes or no question, I think it’s just my way of dodging it. But did Torian pro sell out because Tia was there or did it sell out? Cuz people wanted to see the up and comer. Ellie Turner. Ellie who
Brian Friend (19:47):
Sold out last year.
Sevan Matossian (19:49):
Oh, well pro I would give to, oh, did it really?
Brian Friend (19:52):
I think so. They always have good backfire all competitions.
Sevan Matossian (19:56):
I know that you fucked me up
Brian Friend (19:57):
CrossFit. The CrossFit fans in Australia turn up for competitions.
Sevan Matossian (20:02):
Uh, I am very excited to watch Tia. I think she’s joking. Right? Is that what that sweat head means that she’s joking?
Brian Friend (20:08):
Uh, I don’t know. I mean, the thing is everyone should be excited to watch Tia, but it’s not gonna be that fun of a competition. It’s just gonna be an impressive performance.
Sevan Matossian (20:18):
Uh, Tom, Tom Hoffman says rivalries would be better. Yeah. I hope the next Christmas party where you, uh, you go to there’s three, Chippendales talking to your wife. Let’s see. Let’s see how you like that.
Brian Friend (20:28):
And a Manor in the corner. Right?
John Young (20:29):
Think about this
Sevan Matossian (20:31):
About,
John Young (20:33):
Say, save ner wins the games this year and then at rogue Roman wins. And then you got the three of them going to the CrossFit games in 2023. You don’t think that would be so much fun?
Sevan Matossian (20:43):
It is. It is. I’m just, it is. It is. I, I, I, I’m not saying it’s, it’s a close second for me. Don’t get me wrong. I would still enjoy it, but I, I really, I, I, I’m really excited to see Justin, the Justin Maderas dynasty. I’m pumped. Okay. Number, number dose. Can we go back to the slides, Caleb number dose.
Brian Friend (21:05):
We’ve pretty much done. One in two.
John Young (21:07):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (21:09):
Um, I do. Adrian said this will be the most exciting games ever. Uh, and uh, I, I cannot disagree. This will be the most ex exciting games ever. And I say with all humility because, um, the Seon podcast is covering it. So he forgot to say that at the end. Okay. Uh, number two, Patrick Vener Brian picks. Patrick. Who do you got
John Young (21:35):
Justin.
Sevan Matossian (21:36):
Okay. Well, shit Brian. What’s right. We did know this. Okay. Number three, Brian,
Brian Friend (21:46):
Number three. I’m taking, uh, Roman Koff.
Sevan Matossian (21:50):
Oh, wait. Before we go there. Tell me what happened last year when you picked Annie, what was that? John? You were flexing honest a little bit about Annie. Tell me about how that played out last year. What did you tell us? I kind of remember that you had Annie. I
John Young (22:00):
Think, I think I, I think the, I wasn’t on for last year 20, 21 games, but at rogue I picked Annie second and you all thought I was on crack for having her over Laura and it ended up that’s what happened.
Sevan Matossian (22:13):
Okay. And, and, and was that the same kind of circumstance where you were picking who you’d like more?
John Young (22:18):
Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (22:19):
What’s not to like about Laura HT. She’s so personable, chatty, Cathy and sweet.
John Young (22:24):
I’m pretty sure you’re the one who said Annie is CrossFits darling,
Sevan Matossian (22:27):
Right? No, I didn’t, but that’s, I’ve heard, I’ve heard rumors of such <laugh> okay. Roman, uh, uh, Roman Koff, Brian, um, he seems a little unproven to be putting on the podium.
Brian Friend (22:41):
So this is a good example of the difference. When I put out power rankings compared to predictions, uh, my power rankings throughout the season, I’m much more conservative in the way that I place athletes based on the totality of their career. And at the games, I’ll take a little bit more risk and this year, yeah, I’m taking a risk with this pick of Roman and I’m taking that risk based on basically exactly the, uh, opposite of what you’re suggesting is that I think he has set himself up with what competitions he’s been able to do over the last four years, to the point where he has enough competition experience, that he’ll be, uh, well equipped to manage the weekend. That is CrossFit games. There were certainly gonna be some new things, uh, that you can’t replicate. Cuz there aren’t any competitions that are this long, this many events, this depth of field of athlete.
Brian Friend (23:31):
But I think that Roman can draw on enough competitions that he’s been at to have confidence coming in, that he can hang with these guys. Um, and you know, most, most people haven’t really had a chance to see him do, do any competitive events since probably, uh, the last time he competed in Dubai, which he did very well at, but he’s been progressing in the things that were the biggest problems for him back then. Uh, and, and in particular he’s been getting stronger, uh, while it’s seemingly still maintaining his, you know, aerobic capacity and uh, gymnastics as he’s gained weight. And that’s like, that’s always the check. If you’re gonna be an athlete, that’s trying to gain weight and get strong. But your gymnastic suffers at the expense of it. That’s a problem. I don’t think that’s the case for aerobic.
Sevan Matossian (24:21):
Uh, I’ll be back with a question in one second. John, who do you have? A number three.
John Young (24:25):
So I’m gonna stipulate. We did not look at each other’s, uh, ranking predictions before we made them. I made mine like three weeks ago and I have Roman Coff at three as well.
Sevan Matossian (24:36):
You guys are fucking nuts.
John Young (24:39):
You guys are. Let me ask you something.
Sevan Matossian (24:41):
Okay.
John Young (24:42):
Simon, do you think, uh, lizard our duke is good.
Sevan Matossian (24:45):
Is fit. Yes. Yes.
John Young (24:46):
Do you think Ricky Ricky guards fit? Yes. Roman beat them by a hundred points in Dubai. He’s a hundred points better than them. He was, it was Roman. And then everybody then Ricky and Lazar and then
Brian Friend (24:59):
No, no, no, no, no. Behind Roman by a hundred points was Borman. Carl Goodmanson
John Young (25:05):
EKG was, is there too, but I’m Lazar and Ricky were the podium, but yeah. Oh, you’re talking about, I’m
Brian Friend (25:11):
Talking about is three years ago.
John Young (25:13):
Yeah. He beat him as well.
Sevan Matossian (25:14):
<laugh> then I’m putting, then I’m putting Roman at number one. I just knocked him Maderas out. Uh, okay. But here here’s here’s the thing here’s here’s the thing. Let me ask you this about Roman. Let me, let me fuck with your guys’ head a little bit. If Roman were outside the top 10, would you be surprised?
John Young (25:33):
Yes,
Sevan Matossian (25:35):
Brian? Yes. If he was out the top five, would you be surprised?
John Young (25:40):
Yeah. Less surprised, but, but a little, a little surprised
Brian Friend (25:45):
If you’re asking me what I think his range of finishes are. I would say it’s
John Young (25:49):
Three to six.
Brian Friend (25:50):
I was gonna say three to eight or nine.
Sevan Matossian (25:53):
So it, it really and, and okay. And let me go the other way. Uh, John, you first, would you be surprised if Roman Koff won the games?
John Young (26:02):
I would be, but I don’t put it out of the possibility.
Sevan Matossian (26:05):
It’s not like last,
Brian Friend (26:07):
I would be less surprised if you won than if you finished 12.
John Young (26:10):
Yeah, same.
Sevan Matossian (26:11):
Wow. Okay. So it really is one of the greatest guys in CrossFit games. History has been sitting on the sidelines for how many years now, because he couldn’t come to the country.
John Young (26:24):
Four,
Brian Friend (26:25):
Four.
John Young (26:26):
Wow.
Sevan Matossian (26:26):
Crazy
Brian Friend (26:27):
For three. This so four, I guess, crazy.
John Young (26:30):
And the hit, like his, his only weak spot, his, his strength. And he put on 30 pounds last or this last year in Dubai, they were like, they didn’t know who he was. Cuz he was so thick. He weighs like two 20 and I thought his cardio would suffer. And it, it hasn’t. He’d
Sevan Matossian (26:49):
Be, what about those ears? Are those ears? Aren’t gonna slow him down on a 3.5 mile run or the swim.
Brian Friend (26:54):
Oh, you you’d be excited to see him on that uh, running event. Oh,
John Young (26:58):
I, I bet he wins that minute.
Sevan Matossian (27:00):
Hey are him and Ricky just gonna pull away on that. Like they’re just gonna be out there just running by themselves, just shooting the shit.
John Young (27:05):
I think Roman will handle the pig a lot better. And then Ricky will run a lot faster and it’ll come down to the SEL and I think Roman will carry that better than Ricky. If AKI will be in the mix too in that. But that’s what I think will happen.
Sevan Matossian (27:20):
Who, okay. Uh, anything else you guys wanna say about Mr. Roman before we move on to number four?
Brian Friend (27:26):
Uh, I think Roman’s gonna make a lot of fans this weekend.
Sevan Matossian (27:29):
Good.
John Young (27:29):
Yeah. If, uh, Roman is basically Ivan Drago, if he was likable, he’s a monster and people just don’t know him.
Sevan Matossian (27:40):
Well, we’re about to know him. He’s going to
Brian Friend (27:42):
I’ll tell you what I thought. He, I saw him at the check in today in uh, art tour seminar office with him. That guy is big too.
Sevan Matossian (27:48):
I wonder if there’s any chance Roman, if he let’s say he wins the games, let’s say he does. Well, if he doesn’t go home with the, with, with the, um,
John Young (27:57):
I think that would call in the question. Madera’s just last year win
Sevan Matossian (28:01):
With the, with the well, with the risk with, oh, that’s interesting with the risk up Ryan.
Brian Friend (28:07):
Well, I mean, there’s like, there’s nothing, you can never take anything away from someone who beat the field that was presented before
Sevan Matossian (28:14):
Them, but it makes for fun conversation. Roman,
John Young (28:16):
Who was the fittest man in the world though?
Sevan Matossian (28:19):
He didn’t show up cuz he was stuck in
John Young (28:21):
Russian. He wasn’t there
Sevan Matossian (28:22):
We’ll find out. I
John Young (28:23):
Don’t think that would’ve happened. I don’t think that’s gonna happen, but it, you know,
Brian Friend (28:26):
So you’re saying Justin might’ve been the fourth fittest last year
Sevan Matossian (28:30):
Because him, Ricky and who else? Who else didn’t know? Ricky. Oh, uh, Matt Fraser and rich phony weren’t there.
John Young (28:37):
He’s the Ricky <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (28:39):
Uh, Justin’s really the fifth FITT guy on the planet. Uh, okay. Uh, I, I like your thinking though, John. I like your thinking. Um, number four,
John Young (28:46):
If Justin’s watching, I think you are the fittest man in the world right now,
Sevan Matossian (28:50):
Too late. He hate too late, much too
Brian Friend (28:52):
Late
Sevan Matossian (28:56):
Number cuatro B kg, Borman. Carl Goodmanson from Iceland.
Brian Friend (29:03):
Uh, yeah. Who John who’d you have for?
John Young (29:05):
I have uh, Brent OWS.
Brian Friend (29:08):
Okay. Where
Sevan Matossian (29:09):
You have EK. I’m gonna say, I wanna say this before Brian for Brian. Not to have Brent up there. I think he thinks something’s wrong with Brent. He knows something.
Brian Friend (29:18):
So
John Young (29:19):
EKG.
Brian Friend (29:20):
So John’s got, we have the same top five. He’s just got Justin and pat flipped and he’s got Brent and EKG flipped. Um, I think that both EKG and Brent Frankowski were competing at the games last year at less than a hundred percent. I think that both guys have taken a very calculated approach to this season, with the intention of getting here to the games, uh, and, and, and trying to win it. I think that both guys believe that they have the chance to win. And, and I, and I think that both guys do have a chance to podium for sure. Like a hundred percent. I don’t know if either of ’em can win, but I think that up, if you just look at their careers since 2000.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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