After two consecutive bridesmaid finishes, Tia-Clair Toomey has finally earned the title of ‘Fittest Woman on Earth’ at the 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games. Reigning ‘Fittest Man of Earth’ Mat Fraser defended his title with another huge margin-finish from his closest competitor, Canadian Brent Fikowski to close the games. Toomey’s win is the narrowest margin of victory, while Fraser holds the largest margin of victory in the history of the CrossFit Games.

It was an intense battle right down to the wire, with fellow Australian compatriot, Kara Webb on her heels down to the last 13th event of the multi-day games in Madison, USA. Toomey had been leading right from the run-swim-run start and had only dropped to second place, through obstacle races, gymnastic-based and weightlifting-based events. The Australian Weightlifting Olympian also declared that it was far better winning the CrossFit Games, than making it to the Olympics last year.

“”Last year I was truly honoured to be on that podium. This year, I knew I had to believe in myself. ‬I learned so much from last year. I’m truly grateful for that experience. I’m really grateful for my journey so far. Hopefully I have a few more years to come.” said Toomey.

Australia seemed to dominate this year’s games with a 1-2 win, while 2011 and 2012 CrossFit Games champion Annie Thorisdottir from Iceland completed the podium. Fellow Icelandic athletes Sara Sigmundsdottir finished fourth while the reigning two-time defending champion Katrin Davidsdottir finished fifth. African Jamie Greene was the best placed rookie finishing in eigth place.

In the men’s race to the title, Fraser looked hardly challenge throughout the four days, winning by 216 points over second-time competitor, Fikowski who won the first run-swim-run event. No matter what Games Director, Dave Castro tried to conjure and throw spanners into Fraser’s works, nothing seemed to stop him. Instead, he rose to dominate and won three events en route to winning the title.

Having won the title two times in a row now, Fraser believes in improving himself each step of the way. He trains on his own and believes putting in the hard work when no one is looking, in order to achieve success.

“I knew it was a weakness, so it was something I trained day in and day out.” says Fraser, on working on his mental capacity.

Australian Ricky Garard was the highest placed rookie, finishing in third place overall and winning two events in the games. Canadian Patrick Vellner and American Noah Ohlsen finished fourth and fifth respectively, while 2015 Games winner, Ben Smith finished eighth.

Four-time Fittest Man on Earth, Rich Froning and his team at CrossFit Mayhem lost their Fittest Affiliate Cup title to Wasatch CrossFit in this year’s games. Froning’s CrossFit Mayhem had won the title for two years in a row in 2015 and 2016.