Wes Piatt’s Third Place

By Various

June 05, 2013

Josh Bridges and Kenneth Leverich had first and second place practically secured at the Southern California Regional. The battle was for third.

On the final day of competition, two men went head-to-head for the last Games spot: Tommy Pease and Wes Piatt.

“To be real honest, there’s probably going to have to be a couple of people that maybe don’t do so well, and I’m gonna have to do really well, but I think it’s inside of me to do that,” Pease said at the end of the second day.

During Event 6, Piatt fell behind on the handstand push-ups, allowing Pease to pull away for a bit before Piatt caught up on the walking lunges. He beat Pease by 18 seconds to finish the event third; Pease finished sixth. Piatt had climbed three points closer to third place, but Pease was still seven points ahead with one event remaining.

“Piatt needs to dominate Pease here in this workout if we wants that third and final slot,” said commentator Josh Everett.

And that he did, finishing second while Pease tied for ninth. The finish created a tie with 69 points, but Piatt owned the tiebreaker by virtue of a second-place event finish that was better than Pease’s best placing of third.

Director of the CrossFit Games Dave Castro delivered the good news to Piatt, who reacted first by yelling.

“Thank you so much,” he told Castro through tears.

Video by Dave Leys.

8min 38sec

HD file size: 243 MB
SD wmv file size: 108 MB
SD mov file size: 53 MB

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Additional reading: The Sport of Fitness: SoCal by E.M. Burton, published May 28, 2012.

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8 Comments on “Wes Piatt’s Third Place”

wrote …

Man I feel bad for the other guy, that had to be crushing!

wrote …

Pease you got screwed over buddy. I hope you're taking it ok. Come back strong next year and kick ass!

wrote …

HQ can give anyone they want a spot in the Games, right? They need to give Pease one.

wrote …

I don't know Pease but I would say that if HQ "gave" him a spot at the games he would hate it. He doesn't give me the impression of someone who wants to be given anything. He tied on points. Rules had been established and published as to what the tie breaker was. HQ stuck to the rule book. I don't agree whole heartedly with everything that HQ does but if they start bending the rules that are in place then their legitimacy goes in the toilet. If I'm missing something here please post back. Hats off to both of these beasts for taking their bodies and fitness to the limit. Unbelievable effort all around.

wrote …

What a monster. Hopefully, he'll be affiliated with a different region and the games will soon be in his future.

replied to comment from Richard Douglas…

Richard,

I only mean they should give him a spot because they errantly told him he'd qualified before results were finalized. It's the human thing to do when you have negligently kicked someone in the gut.

wrote …

Wow! I love this game! Felt bad for the other guy, but still Wes Piatt fought it till the end, AMAZING!

replied to comment from Richard Douglas…

Right on brother. Take nothing from either dude. They both put in phenomenal performances. And because of the fact that human (in their cases "Superhuman") performance limits can be whisker close - rules for this possibility must be in place. Furthermore - no one should want to dishonor Pease's efforts by "giving him" a spot. I'm sure he wouldn't be interested anyway. He's a true fire breather and a warrior who will use this to dust the field in a few short months. CFFFCF!