Also the 2023 edition of theAthens Throwdownn ended! There were many Italian athletes who traveled to Athens to participate in one of the main ones international events dedicated to CrossFit®.
the competition, held from 5 to 7 May, had the participation of athletes from all parts of the globe, who battled for the top step of the podium.
For the uninitiated, they were planned individual and team competitionsa total cash prize of €53.550, rewarding athletes from 1st to 5th position!
Index
Athens Throwdown 2023: the results
Top 5 elite men
- 1st Giorgos Karavis
- 2nd Alex Kotoulas
- 3rd Wojciech Laszczak
- 4th Alexander Plyushkin
- 5th Đorđe Đurić
In the Elite Man category, won by the Greek Giorgos Karavis the Italian athletes who placed better were:
- #14 Alessandro Anania (Prenestina CrossFit®)
- #17 Andrea Russo (Cross your limits)
- #18 Juri Ascenzo (CrossFit®Megara)
- #19 Alessio Casile (CrossFit® Mola di Bari)
Top 5 elite women
- 1st Karin Frey
- 2nd Elena Carratala Sanahuja
- 3rd Matilda Spanou
- 4th Brasseur Jennifer
- 5th Fédra Szakolczai
As for women, in the Elite Woman category, won by Karin Frey (CrossFit® Alpha prime), our best positioned Italian crossfitters are:
- #14 Giulia Gastaldo (CrossFit® Turin)
- #19 Viola Meccariello (CrossFit®Prenestina)
- #24 Roberta Fiorini (CrossFit®Testudo)
Top 5 elite teams
- 1st Team KingsBox
- 2nd Centrum Treningu Ełk
- 3rd The Pulse Program
- 4th Crossfit la Ciotat
- 5th Timón y Pumba Team
in the category Team Elite, won Team KingsBox (Kristof Horvath, Axel Lundgren) but our Italian teams didn't disappoint us:
- #8 Souvlaki Carbonara (Stefano Di Francesco, Riccardo Romano)
- #19 Rio & Helsinki (Andrea Micci, Alessio Lugara)
- #24 Team Anarchy (Federico Aliano, Alexander Gagliano)
Other category
Obviously the competition is not made only of the elites! We had Italian podiums in many other categories.
In particular, in the master 45 where Andrea di Salvatore (Crossfit Parioli) managed to bring home the victory in both divisions, confirming once again as one of the strongest master athletes in the world (if you remember it has arrived 5th in the semifinals, winning the invitation to the Games).
Ours too master lionesses gave a show: Christine Mainetti (cat. Master 40) finished 2nd, Barbara Macaluso (cat. Master 45) finished 3nd, Paula Cerrone (cat. Master 50) finished 3rd… Lots of stuff!
Let's take a look at the best positioned Italian masters:
Master 35 man: 6th Matteo Santaniello and 8th Renato Fezia
Master 35 woman: 6th Silvia Caucci and 7th Elisa Montagna
Masters 40 Man: 3rd Giuseppe Girelli and 7th Andrea Belussi
Masters 40 women: 2nd Cristina Mainetti and 4th Cristina F Andries
Masters 45 man:1st Andrea di Salvatore
Masters 45 women: 3rd Barbara Macaluso and 6th Valentina Belotti
Masters 50 women: 3rd Paola Cerrone
In scaled individuals, worth mentioning Simone Traverso (arrived 5th) and Monica Martinuzzi (arrived 3rd).
Instead for the category team scaled men, The team CrossFit® Black Deer (Simone Moretti, Fabio Di Benedetto) finished 5th.
in scaled mix team, we had the podium of Catania on fire (Davide Scuderi, Valeria Barbara Marletta) who brought home the 3rd place!
We at Crossmag.it were able to contact some of the athletes who took part in the event, who, with great availability, answered our questions.
Interview with Alessandro Anania (elite men)
Hi Alessandro, how was Athens?
The race went well and it was truly a wonderful experience. It was the first international competition in which I participated, it was really nice to compete with athletes of such a high level and on a spectacular competition field, it was very stimulating and I think these are experiences that make you grow a lot.
I had the goal of being in the top 10, I came close!
For you, what was the most difficult moment of the competition?
Unfortunately I arrived at the competition not in top shape, due to a small child accident in hand 3 weeks before the race, which penalized me especially in the snatch.
That was the hardest moment for me, already from the warm up area every snatch reception was a pain so I grit my teeth and tried to do the best I could bringing home 115kg, I could have done better.
How do you rate your season so far?
I evaluate the season so far very positively, next year I will certainly aim to do fewer races, trying to get to the top of physical and mental shape.
The goal will be to qualify for the semifinals!
What will your next challenge be?
The next challenge will be the Steelman at the end of May which I will do with my girlfriend Viola! Can't wait 💪
Interview with Giulia Gastaldo (elite woman)
How did you live this experience in Greece? You finished 14th among many top-level athletes, are you satisfied?
It was crazy and very inspiring to compete with such high level athletes. I'm satisfied with the result and I didn't expect it as it's only the second elite race I've done abroad.
What do you think penalized you? Was there any wod that you suffered the most?
The second wod penalized me a bit, certainly the db bench presses are a bit my bête noire, but at the same time there were many gymnastics wods in which I had so much fun, the first favorite was definitely wod n1.
How do you rate your season so far?
My season is going well for now, but we can always do better.
What's your next challenge?
The next challenge should be in Valencia in a few months for the Taronja Games. So full speed ahead 💪🏻
Interview with Andrea di Salvatore (master 45)
Tell us: did you expect to win in Athens?
In that week I had just snatched the ticket to Madison, so I left under the underdog! But, like all races where you are the favourite, the pressure builds and everyone is expecting something; everyone wants to beat you!
I was quite tired and worn out by the Semifinals, which I had done up to three days before. With my coach Federico Ticenghi, we were undecided whether or not to commit ourselves to this race, until the end.
But Athens is a match I really care about, because it was the first (or second) international match I've played and I really like the energy you breathe in that arena.
We were a very close-knit team: Federica [Mandrici], Federico [Ticenghi], I have always been together and I held a summit with them to decide whether to compete or not.
Since Faith was unable to compete, it seemed absurd to give up since I was there and had passed qualification. So, we can say that it's not that I expected to win, but I expected to do well, since a lot depends on the wods that come out!
Which wod did you like the most and which the least?
The workouts were all beautiful! Someone more for my strings, someone else less! They were wod, in part, very loaded and muscular.
The first were: hang power cleans, bench presses, and barbell jumps! The hang cleans were many, the bench presses just as much, it was a 6 minute wod sprint.
I realized that I improved a lot in these skills after the beating in Miami! I got a 3rd place in this test and I liked it enough!
The Wod 2, on the other hand, was definitely more in my comfort zone: a 26-minute endurance where you had 2k bikes and started a very long series of exercises.
Having had 2 scores, this score gave me a big advantage, because I made 2 first places, both in the first round and at the end of the reps.
So obviously, in bodyweight wods I still have a big lead!
But in my opinion, where I performed the most was the wod with the sprint of 20 thrusters and 40 cal bike, which I finished with a great time!
Think I did 40 cal bike in less than 2 minutes, which is not easy! I finished in second position, which made me detach from my main opponent, the Greek host.
There was the whole grandstand rooting for him and only Federica rooting for me and yelling at me how to manage the workout. I loved this one, maybe it was the coolest one for me!
Then even the final was a show: even if I had already won we had a strategy! Getting other stronger athletes tired with heavy d-bals and heavy deadlifts knowing that in gymnastics (ring muscle up) I had a much longer set than them!
The Greek had the advantage, I overtook him… so shutting down the arena was a great satisfaction! Then winning at the Greek's home, in his home, in his arena, in his stadium and with his audience was even better!
The second arrived is a Semifinals athlete, Nikos Paneris, the third Peter Andersson is a Games Athlete, who did the Games until last year. So I had bread for my teeth ... it was a great competition!
How was the weather there? You were an immense group of Italians! tell us!
So, this year we were so many! Definitely the event abroad where there were more Italians! Last year, I still have a photo, where there were four of us in the warm up area, this year there will have been more than 100.
This is because we have always talked about this race in recent years, anyone who asked me "which race to do?", I replied: Athens!
Because it's a well organized competition, the warm up air is wonderful, the floor is crazy, the arena is incredible, the support is amazing! Each category then has 3/4 athletes from Semifinals or Games so the level is very high.
I consider it as one of the best races in Europe together with the French, Madrid and German; they are all on the same level.
Even the jackpots, for the elites, but also the masters are very high! So many people come to put some money aside!
Then Athens is a cheap city, where you pay very little for everything so it's not expensive.
However, we are all happy with this edition, we put the Italian flag on the podium and we are very happy that the level of Italian crossfit has been confirmed!
How do you rate your season so far?
My season up to this point has been great; let's start from January: Miami.
In Miami I confirmed myself among the 10 in the world, but I wasn't happy with how I did in all of Miami.
Back in Italy, I did the Winter Modena Challenge and won first place together with Stefano Fabbrini. From there, I threw myself into the Open, Quarterfinals and Semifinals, snatching the pass for Madison!
For this alone, in my opinion, the season is to be framed!
But that's not enough for me! I start preparing for the Games, I qualify for the French and, in the midst of all this, there was this victory in Athens that I really cared about!
Do you think that the first time I went to Athens, I saw some monsters competing and I said: “ok, I have to become one of them”, well maybe now I can say it!
What does the future hold for me? I just declined the invitation to the French Throwdown, because it would hinder my preparation for the Games, I'll probably do the Roma Throwdown as a team with Federica and I'm considering qualifying for Battledrome, then there are also the AFFI finals but it's all to see together with my coach!
How are you preparing for Games 2023?
As soon as I finished Athens, I took 2 days of rest and from today we started moving again. This week will be unloading, then we'll have 6/8 very heavy weeks where I'll have to go and look at all the age group wods from past years to figure out what needs to be trained the most.
Surely they will be loading wods, where I will have to add the yoke, the sled, the carries, the run, the bike and, fortunately, swimming.
To go to the Games you have to totally change the management of your life! I will get up every day at 5:30/6 am to do a training session, then have breakfast, go to work, go back to the garage and do a second session, which will be pure WODs to touch all the systems and various dominate and then eat and throw myself back at work.
I'll do this for 3 months hoping I don't break out but that's what I want to do, isn't it? Then we'll sum up!