Old Country, New Sport: The Europe Regional

By Sevan Matossian

May 31, 2010

Last year’s Europe Regional was a small event that nevertheless produced the 2009 CrossFit Games men’s champion. Still, it didn’t showcase the full talent of the area, and no women represented the continent in Aromas.

In 2010, the Europe Regional was a different story, with almost 60 competitors vying for a total of six spots in the CrossFit Games. This time around, the nation of Iceland was included in the event, meaning top 16 Games competitors Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson and Annie Thorisdottir would be battling for spots. Making things even more interesting, American Blair Morrison joined the fray. After finishing seventh in last year’s Games, Morrison has spent the year studying and training in Europe.

Also of note, the competition took place at the Eleiko Center in Halmstad, Sweden. As you might guess, finding top-end equipment was not an issue.

The competition also hosted a pair of athletes from CrossFit Pori, and affiliate owner and CrossFit Games champion Mikko Salo was on hand to coach in advance of the defence of his title in Los Angeles in July.

If the Europe Regional was under the radar last year, it’s definitely a focal point this year as the 2010 CrossFit Games approach. This is Sevan Matossian’s story of the weekend.

33min 59sec
HD file size: 1.22 GB
SD wmv file size: 406 MB
SD mov file size: 365 MB

Please note: These files are very large. They are long and even the SD versions are higher quality than the normal Journal videos. They are not meant to be watched streamed. Please download the entire file to your hard drive before watching it (right-click and choose Save Link As...).

Additional video: The Complete 2009 CrossFit Games, published December 2009-January 2010.

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20 Comments on “Old Country, New Sport: The Europe Regional”

wrote …

Great video! Good Job everybody! It's always fun to see other people around the world making all these effort for the same reason that i crossfit. For the qualifers : Have fun at the Games and give it all you have :D

wrote …

Awesome video! I really like the Deadlift/Burpee WOD. I'm going to have to give that a go!

wrote …

Sevan is brilliant.

wrote …

Another amazing video from Sevan! Top-fricking notch!

wrote …

yes, another excellent video Sevan, congratulations & thanks.

now...please tell me you shot some more footage of Mikko the Cyborg while you were there

Ian Carver wrote …

Great vid!

Make no mistake about it - the Euros are coming. Having spent time as an American athlete living and competing in Europe, I can attest to their tenacity, work ethic, adaptability and perseverance no matter what odds face them. They are rich with ability and desire. Hang on folks, it's gonna get interesting in the next few years!

Great work to the European Regional Qualifiers!

wrote …

Does Annie Thorisdottir not count as 'representing the continent'? I know she qualified via a different route but still, as a European, I feel she was representin' big style!

wrote …

I love the Eleiko guy's take on high rep Olympic Lifts. Great explanation.

wrote …

Oh, and the entire video was just awesome. Very well done Sevan.

wrote …

Great video and a great competition. I agree with Kevin #8, that dude's opinion on high rep olympic lifting was simple and brilliant.

wrote …

Blair for new Batman! Great Guy.

wrote …

Quality work Sevan, it was a pleasure to meet you. It's amazing that you covered the whole event like this on your own, awesome!

wrote …

Awesome video. I hope we'll see more videos from Europe in the future :)

wrote …

Great video and a nice opportunity to see what Europe is doing. It's also nice to see that corporate sponsorhip from Eleiko, too. Amazing facility and crazy stress tests on their bars. I've been convinced to buy Eleiko bars, now. However, I don't see myself doing a 1.5 ton DL anytime soon.

wrote …

Samantha Briggs & Annie T...let's hope the US girls have stepped up their game. Can't wait to see how the women's event pans out!!

wrote …

Sevan, I really liked your vid.

Great style, great use of emotive music, worked brilliantly :-)

Thank you for asking intelligent questions, getting that level of insight about the athletes, organisers,sponsors AND great quality video is outstanding!

RE:What the Olympic lifter & Coach said about C&J, Snatch and CrossFit- Genius!

wrote …

Great vid. Ditto on all the points above. Thanks

wrote …

Annie is only 20?! Man...I feel like a little school girl after seeing her kill those wods...well after seeing any of those athletes perform really.

wrote …

Such a great video. Plus it shows my favorite part about Europe....every one speaks English!

wrote …

Sevan!

What's the name of the beat playing during the intro (and reappeares a lot of times during the video)?

Thanks