2019 Wodapalooza: Tia-Claire Toomey, Patrick Vellner Win In Miami And Advance To CrossFit Games

These elite athletes will have the chance to become “Fittest on Earth”.

Miami’s Wodapalooza is home to many big fitness events, and a CrossFit qualifying competition is one of them. Twice defending women’s champion Tia-Claire Toomey, 2018 runner-up Patrick Vellner, and team ROMWOD/WIT (Jamie Greene, Jessica Griffith, Cody Mooney, and Alec Smith) have all qualified for a spot at the 2019 CrossFit Games.

The Australian, Tia-Claire Toomey was very impressive as usual taking a convincing lead over the competition in route to winning her third CrossFit Games title. It seems there’ll be a little chance for anyone to overtake her come August.

Tia-Clair Toomey wins the final event to leave no doubt about who our elite female champion is #WZA19 pic.twitter.com/QLwxl6W14H

— The Wodapalooza (@thewodapalooza) January 21, 2019

Now, the Canadian Patrick Vellner finished behind Mat Fraser in 2018 so he’ll be looking for some revenge. He wiped out the competition in Miami and there’s no doubt he will give Fraser a run for his money. He finished 3^rd a few times prior to last year so a sense of urgency should force him to perform at his best ever.

Patrick Vellner extending his overall lead with the win in Circus Act #WZA19 pic.twitter.com/CSOlqITUVf

— The Wodapalooza (@thewodapalooza) January 20, 2019

Finally, Team ROMWOD/WIT edged out Team Lesserevil and even Rich Froning’s CrossFit Mayhem Freedom (Defending team champions) to qualify for the Games.

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Your Elite Team Of 3, ‘Team Foodspring Athletics’ flexing because of the 5 workouts so far, they have won 4. ??

A post shared by Wodapalooza (@thewodapalooza) on Jan 20, 2019 at 7:39am PST

Wodapalooza is the second Sanctioned event which can qualify an athlete for the Games in 2019. Last months event was the Dubai Championships and many athletes will have a chance to advance come August, through several other qualifiers (National Championships and the CrossFit Open).

Athletes who placed second and third will have another chance to qualify for the CrossFit Games through an offered “wildcard” spot to compete at CrossFit Fittest in Cape Town contest. As we get closer to the 2019 CrossFit Games, we can expect to see some exciting new competitors earning a spot to compete in the finals.