MAJOR | HYROX CHICAGO | 🔴 ELITE WOMEN’S RACE LIVESTREAM – 4K

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Going back to the women though if and it’s a very big if this doesn’t play out like we expect and Lauren and mega not leading the charge who’s coming up behind them I could stand here and list almost every other woman in the field is being in contention for the top three but

Let’s start with some some of the the more obvious f is VI Vivian tauto uh the the American she finished fourth at the world championships in man Cher she’s probably favorite for that third spot I would say she’s an athlete that consistently just chips away at her time

Is getting better and better and better she’s not a natural Runner I think she’s got a swimming uh history uh she was a swimmer when she was younger and in fact she was at the uh US Olympic swimming trials in 2016 uh she continues to work on her

Running we don’t probably really know where her ceiling is with her running so if she can continue to improve at that and continued to chip away her time in h Roo then she’s certainly a contender for third spot and at some point we we can see a contended for those top two spots

As well I know we’re biased cuz we’re both Brits we’re not biased at all I’m taking it all back we are massive fans of everyone out on the floor but we have an incredible contingent of British females running top of that list coming into this and sixth Beck

Mason she’s proved time and time again she’s very at home at this level but there’s still a little bit of a gap to go from the top six that she got in Manchester to becoming a top three is this the race where she could really push on and

Develop 100% it is 100% she she’s certainly in contention for for the top three spot today her performance in Manchester was extremely extremely strong she finished it and she’s another one who we see continuously improving and chipping away at her time I know she’s been been working on her running I

Know like things like her 5K time seem to have improved considerably over the summer so um it will be interesting to see what she does now I know she’s been struggling with her thigh to a certain extent uh this is her first like individual race of the season has had to

Go at the doubles in in Spain um so yeah be interesting to see how she does Tara Jackson there running on as the MC’s announce our Elite 15 females to the flooor Alina V now out of Germany changing her coach this year we’ll see how that plays

Out and there goes Linda Meyer as well both those ladies Alina slightly newer in her career Linda quite an experienced athlete coming through obviously Germany where the sport originated but they both have been in and out of mid pack Linda with the odd good results but hopefully today an

Opportunity for them to really stake a claim on the sport there goes Beck Mason and Alandra Greenley viven tudo the on home soil a contender for that third place birth potentially even rivaling the one the only the current world record holder Megan jacobe who comes into this race ranked in second

Behind the world champion Lauren weeks these are the ladies you need to be keeping your ion Megan jacobe blonde hair and headband front and center one person we’ve not spoken about is Camila Massa to the right of jacobe she was a little bit absent to a certain extent last year at the elite

Level but you do not count out Camila nothing beats standing on that start line in the hiero World Series and they are off the women’s Elite 15 series is underway here in Chicago and they are starting at PACE weeks leading the way and that’s what we we might have expected Lauren often likes to go out hot she often likes to try and stretch this field um both myself and Lauren were talking to to to Megan last night about uh you know how she Paces this

Race what she’s gained from experience over the past year of competing in hiero and I think she she alluded to the fact that she’s she’s got confidence in herself now to run her own race and I don’t think she’s going to allow Lauren weeks to to to drag her out faster than

She wants to at this point and our athletes are on to their ski Ys let’s take a little look at who leads you got weeks followed by Overlander first in off the Run they are all though exceptionally close five sear 5 Seconds separated in the top 10 weeks oblander tauto jacobe Mason Massa Jackson green Ley me and V now in that top 10 position jacobe though in fourth at the moment nothing to be worried about I’m sure Greg well no be you know little time that separate them all they’ve essentially all come in as a group Megan

Is very good on the ski as he’s Lauren um and like we talked about before but it will be tempting to try and push it to try and come out ahead of the others but 5 Seconds faster on the ski can cost you like minutes later in the

Race I mean we’ve mentioned that we sat down uh with Megs yesterday and actually one of the kind of most pertinent things for me that came out of the chat that we had was that she had a really hard year last year and we would have never never

Have seen that because all we saw was her bossing it on the racetrack but she’s got you know an 8-year-old at home that she’s constantly leaving to go racing and she has a full-time job and actually the balance of all of that she felt actually really weighed on her

Mentally now the good news is coming into this 2024 World Championship season is that this is her last week of her quote unquote big girl job which means she can go Whole Hog into her coaching and her online programming and being a full-time athlete and Mum which I think

Is actually a really special thing to be able to achieve which is a similar thing to what we were saying about Ryan Kent earlier Ryan has now been able to focus on the sport you know train like a professional full-time athlete and he’s just dominated the field well not dominated

The field but he’s won very convincingly and Megan will have experience a similar benefit from something like that now if we talk about their ski times not necessarily ski times within a high Rock but their 2K ski times if we look through the field uh Megan and

Lauren have two of the stronger 2 km ski times around 738 for Megan 735 for uh for uh for Lauren uh so very very strong on these on this station look at their technique there’s a real variety I mean with the ski it’s about getting as greater reach as

Possible with your hands and then pulling down whether you’re using your legs or your abdomen or in fact your triceps and every athlete’s going to be a little bit different in that regard pending their strengths and weaknesses of what’s coming up I would be thinking personally about protecting my legs as

Much as possible knowing the sleds are underway especially when this is only the opening a th MERS of a very long race but as you can see it was Lauren weeks and Viola Oberlander who were currently one and two hopefully we will have some indication of how they’re getting on in

The ski as Lauren weeks is done and gone the 2023 world champion the first off the ski but no one is that far behind including Megan jacobe Alina I think that’s Lauren weeks just coming in for the sled push there and she’s maybe that was 5 Seconds ahead of

Megan so not a huge gap opening up at all at this Stage the 50 m sled push 152 kg including the sled on there for our women and well light work is that is that fair to say but honestly being up on your tiptoes and pushing the sled it blows out your posterior train your carves are on fire your ankles are probably

Hurting and your heart rate’s going through the roof just because of the sheer EX so it’s finding a pace you can maintain and a position that works you can see the girls opting for the shoulder on bar Approach how does that help the technique that you you see on sled push I think just differs from person to person depending on you know their size their weight their height um different people are going to prefer different techniques and what you just saw with Lauren there is sometimes it’s

Nice to mix up the technique so you know there she’s using her for forearms but on the previous push she was using her hands on the poles so it it just eases off certain muscles slightly using different techniques they’re both pushing very very well here moving it well they are

Taking little breaks you know they obviously they have to manage their legs they don’t want to ruin the rest of their race um but they’re consistently pushing consistently chipping away at that 50 m tauto in third oblander down to Fourth stand on the sled push this is such an absolute grind but

Tauto out of Texas just on the outskirts of Austin she hasn’t had to travel that far it’s quite a nice little flight over um across the middle of America but she has had a real Focus so far on Deca in your experience of that competition like how much does the

Training translate the sense I get from the athletes especially certain ones like Tera Jackson for example is that the training’s pretty similar to a certain extent until you maybe want to challenge for the top spots yeah I think I think that’s just it is a different event there’s there’s

Certainly less strength requirements in it the running is incredibly important as it is in hiero but it’s a much more intense event so it last maybe like half the length of a har so they’re running generally at a faster Pace very intense um the the training to answer your

Question the train I think translates to a certain extent but I think if you like like you said if you really really want to compete then um I don’t think you can train for for one spot and expect to compete at the top in another 7 Seconds between weeks and

Jacobe but going back to tauto this time last year this was her first ever Elite 15 given how much much we say her name that seems kind of mental because she’s really actually asserted herself in Hier rock as a sport she was saying that her real Focus needed to be her running when

I spoke to her in the buildup to this event and she’s worked really hard in that in the offseason but to the point where in those opening runs she was willing to kind of exert more she had more confidence in her ability to go with the pack yeah and can you imagine

The kind of confidence that gives you in general when you know you’re up against the likes of weeks in jacobe so your top four remain the same but Masa Meer and Mason are not far behind at all Rebecca Mason I mean she is probably at this stage the biggest talents come out of

The UK someone that you’ve had a lot of interaction with over the years what can you tell us about Beck be is another I know I seem to keep saying this but consistently chips away at her time and consistently improves um I think she was really pleased with her

Performance in Manchester 6 months ago I think she went into that race hoping for top 10 probably secretly hoping for for for higher in top 10 but she she W the top 10 and she finished sixth looked really really strong um she’s worked on a running I know she’s been struggling

With injuries but has still been able to very well despite the injury um and like I say her 5K running time is Pro significantly um so yeah she’s she’s a very strong athlete and certainly on the trajectory to to to to be in contention for some of these top

Spots she’s uh recently changed her longtime coach as well Jade Skillen now working with Tom Hogan purely for that running f as the ladies are backto back on the sled pull Lauren weeks to the right Megan jacobe to the left of your screen tauto and oanda you’re three and

Four but they are building a solid gap of 20 odd seconds only two separating you’re leading two as tight as we imagined Greg this is what we’re here for yeah exactly following on from the what close men’s race it was this is shaping up to be the

Same so coming into this sled pool station just 2 seconds separated Lauren and Megan then Vivian was just 20 seconds behind them and Viola was uh 59 seconds behind Lauren so it’s very very close at the top a lot of athletes looking very strong and this will be

Interesting and Megan will be very encouraged here like I said earlier Lauren’s well Lauren’s strong throughout the race there are no weaknesses let’s be clear on that but the advance ant AG that she has over Megan is generally in the early stages of the race coming

Through the sleds so if Megan can come out in contention with Lauren after these sleds and be feeling relatively good you know if she can continues to hold her run at this point after along with Lauren then she’ll be really encouraged Meg though slightly ahead of weeks in that lane

Number two from the left but we are talking minimal but that does mean that for the first time in this race Kobe is taking a small lead but can she build on it I mean we did say it’s very much about running her own race is this the time where she really

Pushes her head or should she settle back into a certain pace this is the interesting point here on the grid then next we I think Megan’s out there Megan’s out and Lauren let’s see how far Lauren is behind maybe one last pull there yeah maybe 10 seconds

Behind Megan Megan’s opened up a lead there they came into that station effectively neck and neck Megan’s open up a strong lead so let’s see how this running looks she looks really strong she is a runner she’s probably the best runner in this field uh and she’s

Looking strong so far she’s coming out of there looking confident that goes too and there’s Vivian tauto that’s coming out there in third spot maybe 20 seconds behind Lauren don’t sleep on Vivian tauto that’s all I’m saying Austin’s Z but yeah your top three jacobe weeks tauto a little bit of

A change out onto this Run this seems to be suiting Megan jacobe these nice long runs down the long side of Festival Hall here in Navy Pier Chicago believe we’re saying that that were kicking off the season in Navy Pier like it’s just such an iconic venue to start the majors and if the community

Running and racing this morning is anything to go by you know the atmosphere out on the floor now we’re back in our booth must be utterly incredible for the athletes who are running around and we all know being Brits and super serious that the Americans are loud and an absolutely fantastic

Audience yeah I must say the the you know I’m I’m used to the UK events where they’re very very popular you know the atmosphere is amazing but the atmosphere here today has been very similar it’s a it’s a huge venue that we’re in thousands of athletes thousands of

Spectators the the atmosphere has been brilliant and you know the the crowd are very very excited too about these Elite races and the performances that we’re seeing Linda Meyer not on your screen but done with her sleds as she takes back to the Track in our booth here we have a couple of different screens so what you’re seeing is not necessarily what we’re seeing as Megan jacobe is still comfortably out front and by the looks of it giving herself a real buffer that looks like a decent amount of space that she’s

Managed to accumulate between herself and Lauren weeks that’s uh on that point that’s going to be really interesting to see these runs does she open up a bigger gap on Lauren on this run cuz that will give a clear indication as to how they’re feeling coming out the sleds so the Gap

Leaving the sled pool was just 9 seconds between them but Megan is looking really strong and I don’t get the feeling that she’s she’s uh that the Gap is being closed between the two of them on this run remains to be seen obviously but yeah that that will be interesting to

See what what’s the Gap when they come into the uh to the burpees Alina will now also joins them on track coming out of that sled pull obviously Jacobian weeks your one and two to Futo 3 but Viola oblander is occupying that fourth spot and Camila Massa in fifth just

Holding Rebecca Mason to sixth now that is going to be the battle for the potential spots to World Championships of course the top three automatic qualifiers but for the remaining majors of the Season roll Downs roll Downs are possible to Auto qualify for the remaining majors and

Then also even just get in a good time that potentially qualifies them based on time so they they’ll be looking to do that and if this C is you know shaping up to be a quick one as you know some of the men would seem to indicate it is

Then even if they feel they’re not in contention for the top three or the top five they still want to be putting in a good time uh to to potentially qualify them for future Majors now in that battle for top three you know leaving the Deadpool Vivian and Viola were in

Third and fourth they are reasonably strong athletes they they they’re comfortable on the sleds behind them people like Camila Rebecca Mason Linda Meer Terry Jackson they’ve got they’re very strong in the latter half of the race as well so they they’ll be confident that they can close the gap on

Them to as as the race progresses yeah it’s almost the perfect place for them to be as Megan jacobe is first onto the Burpee broad jumps no sign of fatigue or stopping for the American there is now a 22 second gap between Megan and Lauren I mean that we’ve seen bigger gaps come

Down let’s be honest but that’s promising for me and that’s very promising yes as she opened up um 30 seconds 12 13 seconds on that last run Alone um which is a significant difference for these two ladies you know not much separates them on on the run in

Generally so 9sec difference on one run is quite significant um so Megan beat very very encouraged by that and she’s looking strong on these burpees these burpees like we said earlier Jack your heart rate up you can start to feel really compromised really struggling but she’s just chipping away at them keeping

Moving um you know not showing not showing signs of fatigue at this stage if you are a slightly new viewer to the sport of H Roo you’ll notice that the athletes hands have to be within one foot of their landing spot of their two feet and they have been

Instructed in their athletes briefing yesterday that it needs to be a twoot twoot takeoff and Landing they are very stringent on the movement stand to make sure that the sports fair and accessible for everyone they are however allowed to step up very much the same in CrossFit

If that is your background the Step Up is fine as long as you take off two feet land on two feet and put your hands down within a foot of your Landing Square the field now very much joining Lauren Meg and Vivien on the burpy bro jumps this lovely wide angled shot showing your top six distance is always interesting in the jump as Megan jacobe done and dusted with the burpy broad jumps transitions into her run let’s go jacobe

But yeah the distance of the jumps how do you keep your heart rate at a point that it isn’t over compromised because it’s such a gassy part of the workout to go run burpees run we were chatting about it with Chris Hinshaw earlier you know keeping your heart rate at a level

That’s manageable is really important and if that’s taking smaller jumps and that’s what you should do even though it maybe requires more burpees and blows out your trips a bit more I mean who needs triceps on a row right honestly this is just a total assault on every single body part and so

Much of it is mental how deep into the pain cave can you go so Lauren is now out of the Burpee broad jump to 23 seconds behind Mega so no real change in their times on that station they both performed incredibly impressively they both you know kept moving kept chipping away it they’re

Going to be hurting on this run though that’s Lauren on the screen there she’s looking like she’s running very strong as we often see with Lauren um 22 seconds between them look at Megan jacobe there just so comfortable obviously working as well with Rich Ryan who we saw come in in

Fifth in the men’s race Rich Ryan specifically programming her running like clearly those two have found a bit of a special ingredient haven’t they working together with two real standout performances this weekend already yeah both actually like two of the ACT if we were talking just pure running uh abilities two of the

Strongest runners in the field actually um and you know clearly they’ve been been having a good training block between him and Ryan Kent I know that there’s a lot of them that they train together quite often so they’re all performing at the moment extremely well today is that Megan coming

In to the rad yes that’s Megan on the rad let’s see how far Len weeks is behind us so Lauren the Gap is open open up in that last run the gap between Megan and Lauren has opened up by another few seconds the 35 second difference between them coming into the

Row oh the row a time for one to collect themselves get your breathing back under wraps maybe shake out that muscle yeah none of that happens I’m totally lying it’s one of the worst periods because it really feels like you’re at that halfway point right it’s very much warning on

You that you still got three more rounds to go and so much more running the interesting Dynamic if you like on the row is that they’re they they’re sitting next to each other so they can see what paces the other is running like they can see what distance

Uh is between them and because it’s machine because it shows you your pace it gives you an it almost like it’s feedback as to how you’re feeling like you you know you can go onto this machine fresh and pull a certain rate per 500 M if you’re really struggling

Then the machine will show you that and your Paces will show you that um so you know if Lauren Lauren’s going to be conscious that she wants to claw back that 35 seconds somehow on Megan she’s going to be having little glances to the side seeing what Megan’s screen is

Showing seeing how far she is behind seeing what pace she’s uh going and then she’s going to be tempted to try and push it to try and top that pace but will that push her over the edge and compromiser for the rest of it so that looks like it’s Vivian tauto

Running into to the Rock Zone as we know Megan jacobe is well past the 300 meter Mark yes and that’s weeks as well past the 300 M Mark just under a third of the way through this workout on the rower as the rest of the field don’t

Join them let’s let them enjoy their their row look at the bottom of this field the roll Downs what excites me about this is that many of them are in their debut of the elite 15 but they all kind of to a certain extent came through

Together out of running in the Pro Race at World Championships in Manchester so Maria fesk Zara Pani they were a part of a bit of a Sprint finish to a certain extent but they’re all they feel like they’re going on this journey together Kate D was there as well they’re all on

This journey together how much does that almost take the pressure off of like this absolutely Monumental moment in their career where they’re suddenly on the world stage surrounded by your world record holders and Lauren weeks and me jacobe is it’s a fantastic experience of me you’re you’re right it does feel like

Some of them are coming through it together I know Kate and Zar are good friends for example but it it it helps to push each other on as well you like you’re all chasing a very similar goal the same goal really uh and and that it

Pushes you on to be surrounded by people like that um The Experience today you know competing on the grid competing against you know some of the best athletes in the world it’s it’s it’s huge amount of experience that can be beneficial for you going forward so even

If they’re not you know Racing for the top three today necessarily the experience that they gain can only benefit them in in the future Maria fess uh debut was in fact in Chicago in the Pro as Megan is done and dusted on her rower we need a nickname for her like the blonde

Machine Super Flash I’m not sure I’m just making all sorts up now every’s just laughing at me in the room we need to we need to find her a superhero name and Lauren weeks of course we weeks and jacobe on another Whirlwind Adventure in the HX World Series year one and

Two at the moment but look at that I would say the Gap is growing as we see Lauren weeks still on her rower not though looking fatigued in any way but also not looking like she’s panicking is she just finishes off her final couple of 100 Meters she’s not particularly looking fatigued that just leads me to think that Megan jacobe is just on another level today we’ll try and get you the splits of the time difference between them all 51 seconds now Megan jacobe on Lauren weeks as Vivian tauto has passed

The 900 meter Mark over only a couple more pulls for Vivian tauto who’s looking to have largely wrapped up this third place but Linda mayor next to her on the row are like we said growing through do not sleep on Linda mayor who of these ladies are going to

Come off first look at the far right hand side of your screen and Viola Overlander interesting technique there to me either she knows something that we don’t on the rower or she’s beginning to get tired you can see her really utilizing her legs over her

Arms that’s the kind of thing I do when it’s starting to get H but Megan look at her the runaway train from the USA Camila had unbroken W balls in Manchester so we know if she gets to that w War station and say there’s 20 seconds in it she could climb that right back I mean every single drop for warble

Probably takes about 3 seconds if you take a break you know there’s a good chance that that could take up four four W ball shots and she could build that right back into it she’s uh she’s had an injury-free offseason as well which like always helps this course the national uh the

North American championships course was her Elite 15 debut a few years ago so she’s very confident here let hold it this I uh I had a really interesting conversation with her actually she’s uh got a figure skating background and you go okay so maybe that doesn’t exactly

Translate but you’ve done some sport but she had her first child at 21 she’s now got three children so she has been a mom and she’s done like many years of her life just not doing any sort of training at all and then at one point she just

Went oh you know what I want to start training for something that was only 2.5 years ago you know Mama 3 started training for something and now she’s comfortably you know in the top five of Hierro race it’s it’s really impressive it’s very impressive and I Al

I also think when someone hasn’t come from a a background that they’ve been running at a higher level for all of their lives I think that’s exciting to see what the potential is as you go forward you know if someone really does focus on their running even if it is

Like you know not you know when when you’re 15 16 17 18 years old or something like that it means that that the the improvements that you can make can be significant now we’ve got Megan and Lauren both in on the farmers carries here Megan uh Lauren came in 54

Seconds behind Megan there so she’s not closing that Gap I mean no not on the run but you should have seen the pace that she took off when she picked up those two dumbbells dumbbells those two kettle bells but look Megan jacobe already gone I don’t think there’s anything that

Lauren weeks is going to be able to do now to catch her that’s just Megan is just on fire it’s too much of a gap as Lauren tries to push and eek every ounce out of herself with those two 24 kg kettle bells another point to make here is that

Like the next station with the lunges is one where traditionally Megan has been stronger than Lauren so if we look at Megan world record Pace the lunges were a fairly incredible time there when we saw Lauren earlier in the season racing Dubai throughout the race I was following it and Lauren was consistently

Headed at that world record Pace until it got to the lunges and that’s where she dropped the time so there’s there’s nothing to indicate at this stage that Lauren is going to claw Back Time on Lunes obviously we don’t know how Megan is feeling if she has gone out too hot

And then just like the L you know killer or the W Wars killer and she can’t do a Unbroken like she typically can then that remains to be seen it’s always possible uh but for Megan to have this lead at this stage of the race when she

Knows deep down inside that she’s very strong on these last two stations uh she’s going to be feeling very good but that’s what’s going to be so exciting for me when we start getting to these other major races right those top five because we got roll backs once Lauren

Omega have secured their tickets we know they’re racing at every single major race so even if they are coming one and two at the majors sudden we’ve got three spots we can be talking about who are going to World Champs in you know third fourth and fifth which gets super

Exciting with this middle group of athletes who right now are fighting for Fifth and potentially a roll down based on the Legacy invites but we’re going to be having this conversation every time we go to a major like who’s coming fourth and fifth suddenly we can talk about so many more

People I don’t know it just makes the sport the sport it’s about the race within a race it’s not just about who’s leading and that is really exciting exciting place to be in especially when things are so tight in the middle of the Table Megan jacobe lunging her way to Victory I really hope I’m not doing the whole commentators curse thing here but she’s looking super confident there is no middle steadying step that you can see when fatigue steps in I mean volunteers the heart and soul of the hiero community all decked out in

Our principal partner Puma I put on their trainers today and I told you t i while we were walking over I felt like I was walking on a cloud I don’t know it’s because I never wear Runners so it might it might have been because I was wearing Runners for the

First time but no they are they are very comfy indeed um side note a bird just flew in here welcome to the commentary box here at the High Rock uh open Major here in Chicago so Lauren’s into the so Lauren’s just come into the Sam eges as well but

She’s 1 minute 11 behind Megan at this point and Megan doesn’t look like she’s slowing she’s just stepping through confidently there looking really really good so I don’t think the Gap is going to Lauren will really really have to move here to close the gap the

The gap’s got bigger it’s improved uh an extra 9 seconds now jacobe has on weeks 1 minute 11 now like I honestly can’t see where that’s going to be made up no it’s it’s very hard to see now if Megan was like poor at w BS and we knew

That Lauren can go unbroken then maybe we’d be saying yeah it can be done at the W BS Megan’s fairly consistently recently done unbroken wall balls so it is hard to see where the G can be made up should also mention the time that Megan’s doing here since she came into

Those sandbag lunges in just under 49 minutes um that’s like on for a very impressive time potentially a sub 60 that I think we’re going to see here from how exciting nothing gets you more fired up than a sub 60 in the female field absolutely love it I mean it just goes

To show that the boundaries that being broken by the female athletes at the moment and especially I mean as we’ve already established I’m not a m but one day I hope to be but to see it done by women who have children and who have

Lives and jobs like that just gets me so excited as a female athlete in the Spate orbe it at the community level it really is a sport for absolutely everyone and watching the elites here today in their incredible athletic performance you know that’s only the tip of the iceberg

Because you’ve got people using this to challenge themselves like dayto day um personally in my box I’ve got six or seven members and we only operated around 80 members you know like all like signed up for their first ever HX race this year like that’s how this is now

Kind of taking a bit of a foothold these are people who only started CrossFit cuz we’re very new started CrossFit you know about a year ago um and they are looking for ways to you know test themselves and they’re looking to hos to do that which is really really cool and we’re all

Going to travel up to um Glasgow and Berlin I think are our two that we’re doing you know a little bit of a Welsh contingent let’s go and the just on that point about you know Megan being a mom and and and having a job and still operating at

These levels these Elite athletes are huge Inspirations to the rest of the community we’re going to see like 175,000 athletes in in hups next year 65 races the sport is growing so much and these are at the the top of that Sport and they’re an inspiration and it’s easy

To look at these people and say oh they’re just professional athletes they just train all day uh they got got no other worries nothing to worry about but it’s not like that at the moment in this sport you know eventually I think we’ll see it professionalize of it you

Know sponsorship opportunities are open up we’ve got the prize money um but right now the there’ll always be an inspiration really but really just going to that point about Megan M man Laur man they’re huge inspiration to to all the other athletes the final steps for Lauren

Weeks on the sandbag lunges and she’ll join Megan jakov on the final run as jacobe laps Carolina Silva from Portugal our 15th ranked athlete out on the field just goes to show how fast jacobe has been out there absolutely incredible one more step for weeks and she is onto her final

Kilometer but you sense the change in music the tension builds as Megan jacobe starts believing starts thinking starts imagining starts knowing that this title could be hers and the gaps opened just wildly 141 jacobe is taking this by storm the crowd’s certainly getting hyped here on Navy Pier in festivalall

As Megan jacobe closes out her final kilometer and sometimes arguably it’s easier to chase than be chased you know she’ll know what she needs to do as Megan jacobe reaches the wall balls 6 kg for the ladies 100 W balls to a 2.7 M Target no is catching this Woman lovely depth from the world record holder 5858 Megan jacobe she knows what’s needed to go sub 60 she’s done it before and she might be on to do it Again Paul stay where you are full body Megan’s looking incredibly strong now in the W balls but if we look at that that that chase for third spot with Vivian Vivian is currently in in third place but Linda is closing the Gap and if we

Look at the most recent runs on the on run seven alone Linda clawed back 20 seconds on that run the previous run she CL back 11 seconds so she’s going to be confident well I think there’s a a 20 second Gap going into that that final

Run but Linda is it will be feeling good on the runs and she’s she knows she’s gloring back like 20 seconds per run uh you could easily catch up at the wall balls and literally having neck and neck uh having a w b off for a place at the World

Championships it must be a surreal experience being the only woman at the W ball station she’s out there completely isolated but she’s not dropping that ball Megan jacobe your leader And look who joins her it’s Lauren weeks side by side the two American great in women’s H rocks fighting it out on the final station of this absolutely gring race there’s little weeks will be able to do now Megan jacobe an Unstoppable freight train ever since she left the station in

Fact actually jacobe played this so well because she didn’t get sucked in in those opening exchanges through the run all the ski she didn’t necessarily B her time but like we mentioned she certainly did run her own race yeah yeah she did like you say Lauren opened up a it was

Only a very small Gap really in those in those early stages but it even I think it was seconds on the first round for example it’s easy 6 seconds over a kilometer can can be a significant difference to how you feel for the rest of the race so she trusted herself and

She didn’t get drawn into it and you know clearly she’s been strong throughout this race and There She Goes Megan jacobe your 2024 major Chicago Champion what an unbelievable performance from the world’s best that was so unbelievably impressive they oh but the battle for third is on tauto versus Maya they reach

The W ball Greg at exactly the same time this is what Racing’s all about this is what we want to see this is exactly what we want to see a space for the World Championships up for grabs at the wo balls coming in together who’s going to break first let to each other

You know how good you’re feeling this is where you really need to dig deep HX is about digging deep it’s a mental game at this point you know they both can do these W BS they’ve both done them a thousand times before but how dig are

You willing to De deep for that for that place at the world championships and look these girls are digging deep I’ve not seen weeks rest once and so far nor Meer or tauto so so much riding a ticket to the world championships in nce in June do it

Now and your entire season can be based around performing at that one race I mean you can go to the majors there’s prize money up for grabs but what a weight off your shoulders if you know that you are sorted for the big one of the Season you’re right that’s an absolutely

Huge advantage to know that you need to Peak for a race in June and not have to race have to get a time and not have to compete the majors not have Podium for the rest of the season cam Massa and Beck Mason came in neck and neck but that is Lauren weeks

Your runner up here in Chicago always so impressive watching these two women do their thing it’s never not a battle between two of the best in the sport we’ve not seen Vivian or Linda break yet who’s going to be the first to break and maybe it’ll be neither of them in which

Case it comes down to how quickly they’re scorting how quickly they’re throwing the ball how quickly they can can they cycle it you know sometimes it’s that’s literally what it comes down to at this level when they can all go unbroken it’s it’s yeah it’s incredible to

See I mean just visually I would say Vivan has the edge there she’s just got a slightly quicker cycle speed and she’s not holding out in the bottom at all you can see Maya is really driving with her legs though that certainly helps with high it minimizes the risk of no reps I

Mean I’m just I’m double guessing myself here it really could be anyone that’s kind of the beauty of it you see masassa there opting for a slightly wider foot stance that’s interesting cuz it doesn’t quite allow the depth of the other girls that could catch her out you’re right she’s she’s moving quickly

But I think if we we were just talking about cycle speed there I think Linda’s edging it right now oh Vivian’s broken Vivian’s broken that’s going to encourage Linda look Linda’s still going still going and she’s going to know that she’s she’s gotten it now she’s got the

Edge if she can just keep going keep moving she’s got a spot of the world championships the smile that you just saw on Linda Meyer’s face there and it’s Linda Meer gets her ticket to WS third place for the German I’m not sure we saw that coming

She built through the entire race quite literally at one point I think she was in eighth and she is just chipped away periodically over the last hour and look at what Eric’s got a a bronze medal here in Chicago as tauto also crashes over an absolutely admirable effort and we we

Know how how brutal it is to be caught on the final station honestly is it’s so not easy she’s done such a fabulous job across the race she held third for the majority but these girls you know they’re impressive they’re athletes they know how to win yeah they are we we talk

So much you know today just purely about pacing your higher-ups I think if we look at Linda I think she has extracted every last bit of Potential from herself today she has paced that to Perfection we saw the split times dropping we saw the Gap dropping between her and Viv she

Was really in aren all the time and there goes Camila crossing the line in fifth spot really impressive performance from Camila uh in a time of we’re not sure yet how good your eyes like GRE cuz that’s a very small screen no very impressive still five athletes on the wble station

As the sixth joins them we’ve got Violet oanda Elina Ville now Viola oanda she is in a big race for oeland she occupied third for a short amount of time and that is a great result for Alina Ville now absolutely awesome for someone who’s still so new to racing her second season

Upcoming and closing out this in the top six terara Jackson a Deca world record holder she closes out her race I’m not going to lie I’m not even sure she looks particularly tired it’s a a huge amount of work over a very short space of time and you look

At these ladies and I mean I don’t sure we say they make it look easy but if the average person tried to race the pace we’ve just witnessed you know the likelihood is you would implode yeah it’s uh like we keep saying you have to dig very deep in hiero and

Then and then you have to finish off with 100 wo balls it’s incredibly tough and they’re just chipping away it looking very very strong still um I think this is Zara uh Pani Kate DAV and Maria fesic I think we’re looking at here uh all looking really good and

There goes Zara are crossing the line there so to to to reiterate we the top three finishers today have qualified for the World Championships once more the top finisher has qualified themselves for all the majors next year and the top three have also qualified the themselves to the remaining Majors this year let’s

Take a little reminder of who has now qualified Ryan Kent the winner here in Chicago in the men’s race Ryland shg in second and Alexander ronevich those are your three with tickets to the world Champs in in June and of course all remaining major races for the season pending of course

Them accepting their invites but really really exciting to see a rookie amongst those names of course we know what Ryan Kent can do we know what Alex ronvi can do but oh my God Ryland Shad that is so exciting for the sport having someone youthful exciting and able to hang with

The big boys coming straight in yeah and someone that it doesn’t feel at least to me like he’s he’s focused on hiero until and there’s Kate Davey crossing the line there Kate’s first appearance on the grid really impressive performance a huge Mount Shield game from this experience um but yeah going

Back to going back to Ryland like like I said it doesn’t feel like he he’s been trying to Peak for this race or the race that qualified him for it if he does choose to focus on it now um is his potential is it could be it could be

Really good to see Ryland does what he wants Ryland wanted to be in Greece last week doing well at Trifecta which he did he came second he then fancied a little trip to Istanbul he then fancied a trip to Switzerland and now he’s here taking his ticket at World Champs utterly

Amazing Daniela kouto there finishing off her War balls the Portuguese late call up but the women who we will see in France Megan jacobe Lauren weeks and Linda Meyer this is so exciting we already know that should have they qualified Megan and Lauren were both going to be racing every single major

This season but now the opportunity exists for Linda Meyer as well as the last of the field chip away at the final wall balls Alandra Greenley just behind Daniel Auto there that’s not something we expected Greg but you know like we said at the start of the show she’s a full-time doctor her

Priorities maybe aren’t always going to be racing great to see her out there and getting it all completed alongside young rookie from Portugal and the cheer crew is out in force that’s what you need at these moments isn’t it a big group of girls standing around you saying you do not

Put that wall bble down so let’s take a look at the results jacobe of course your champ from here in Chicago but Camila Massa finishing top five and Vivian tauto fourth so much to look forward to from this middle of the pack Rebecca Mason equals her result from World

Championships I mean that’s a nice uh looking leader board of ladies as we get ready for Stockholm Greg the season is underway the season is well underway we’ve seen two fantastic races incredible performances from athletes this early in the season now they’ve qualified for the for the world

Championship but I know many of them are expecting to perform in the remaining majors of the Season you know we talk about Megan and and Lauren a lot today it’s very little separated them today it would be very hard to call for future races if anything’s going to separate

Them um so yeah fantastic opening races of the season so after a six month Hiatus since the 23 world championships the elite 15 season is very much back in business whilst local triumphs obviously will continue this afternoon here on Navy Pier in the community racing our gaze

Now turns to the global stage six tickets to Worlds have been secured and they’ve set the tone for a grand spectacle in June but the journey doesn’t end here three more Majors on the horizon two last chance qualifiers await so we’ll see you in Stockholm from Greg Williams myself huge

Congratulations to all of the athletes and everyone who has booked their ticket tenise goodbye but only for a little bit