Tag: Mal O’Brien
Mal O’Brien Announces Her Withdrawal From The 2023 CrossFit Season
Mal O’Brien has been on the top of the women’s leaderboards in CrossFit for the entire 2023 Season so far, but her streak will now come to an end. O’Brien shared some unexpected news to her Instagram on May 16th where she revealed that she will not take part in this week’s 2023 CrossFit Semifinals. Obviously, the Semifinals are the only way of qualifying for the 2023 CrossFit Games. So, there will be no way for Mal to earn her qualification for the most prestigious CrossFit competition in the world.
Mal O’Brien did not reveal any exact reasons for her withdrawal from the 2023 CrossFit Season. She did, however, issue a statement revealing that she is dedicating her time to some personal challenges.
“With a heavy heart, I’d like to share that I won’t be competing at Semifinals this weekend.
Sometimes, we face personal challenges that demand our attention and care. It’s important to prioritize our well-being and embrace the support of loved ones.”
O’Brien knows that she still has many years of competition ahead of her, but something unspecified has happened and it is evidently more important than CrossFit. So, she has come to a conclusion for what her priorities are.
“Remember, life isn’t just about winning trophies or achieving goals—it’s about finding balance, taking care of ourselves, and cherishing the moments that truly matter.”
Related: A Look Into the Incredible New Mat Fraser’s HWPO CrossFit Gym
Mal O’Brien At a Glance
Mal O’Brien has been unparalleled this season, having emerged victorious in both the 2023 CrossFit Open and 2023 CrossFit Quarterfinals. So, it was evident that Mal was in the shape of her life and that she was the main favorite for the title of Fittest Woman On Earth this year.
Born in 2004, Mal O’Brien is just 19-years-old. So, she still has a lot more time to claim the most coveted title in the sport. However, she has achieved a lot in the sport already. After spending some time in the Girls division, Mal O’Brien tried her luck in the Individual Women’s division in 2021. She immediately found success with a seventh place finish at the 2021 CrossFit Games and earned a “Rookie Of The Season” title that same year as well.
In addition, Mal O’Brien returned to the CrossFit Games in 2022 as well and put up an even better result. She took an early lead but was unable to fend off Tia-Clair Toomey. So, Mal settled for a second-place finish.
Mal O’Brien’s 2023 CrossFit Season Performances
2023 CrossFit Open — First Place (116 points)
2023 CrossFit Quarterfinals — First Place (53 points)
2023 CrossFit Season Withdrawals
It seems that the 2023 CrossFit Season has seen more major athlete withdrawals than ever before. Most notably, Tia-Clair Toomey announced at the start of the season that she won’t be competing due to pregnancy. Some months later, Tia-Clair gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. So, with the 6x CrossFit Games champion out, everyone was eager to battle.
One of the biggest favorites for the women’s title this year was Kara Saunders. However, Kara also got pregnant and withdrew.
One more major name in the women’s division decided to take some time to rest and it was Haley Adams. Haley had battled with an eating disorder and experienced mental health struggles which forced her to focus on what matters the most.
On the other hand, the men’s division also experienced a major loss, as Ricky Garard injured his shoulder in a mountain bike accident and had to conclude his season way too early.
Related: Tia-Clair Toomey Unveils Full Day of Eating During Pregnancy
Now Mal O’Brien is added to this list of athletes who withdrew as the biggest upset so far. She was without a doubt the biggest favorite for the title this year, but there is a high probability that she will come back stronger and win it in the years to come.
Published: 17 May, 2023 | 9:29 AM EDT
WATCH: Rob Kearney Takes On CrossFitters Mal O’Brien And Jake Marconi In Deadlift Challenge
Mat Fraser hosted an intense battle of strength between Rob Kearney and some elite CrossFit athletes.
The dynamics of strongman and CrossFit are extremely different and it is always interesting to see athletes go up against each other. In this instance, Rob Kearney took on CrossFitters Mal O’Brien and Jake Marconi.
Kearney has been busy competing in strongman fighting for some of the biggest prizes in the sport. O’Brien is coming off a year where she was named the 2021 CrossFit Rookie of the Year while Marconi continues to be an elite athlete. This contest was shown on Fraser’s YouTube page as the three athletes took on deadlifts for reps.
It is clear that Kearney has the largest deadlift of the group given his stance as a strongman. He deadlifted the day before this contest and completed four reps of 805 pounds. Completing many reps for time is not usually what he does during strongman contests.
“It depends on the contest. We have both a deadlift ladder working up to 880 and we’ll also have a deadlift for reps around 750. So typically, eight reps is the biggest I’ve done,” Kearney explained.
Deadlift Challenge
All athletes were tasked with completing the deadlifts and reloading their bars to the appropriate weight for the next lift.
385 pounds for 2 reps
365 pounds for 4 reps
335 pounds for 6 reps
315 pounds for 8 reps
255 pounds for 10 reps
195 pounds for 15 reps
“Rob deadlifted 805 for four reps yesterday. Rob clearly has astronomically high deadlift numbers so it’s kind of like a fun experiment. Jake has a 515 deadlift. Rob has a, best ever was 970. So close to double but I watched him do 805 for four reps yesterday and like, it was cardio,” fraser said.
“So let’s see how he does with way, way lower percentage for him but it’s something that is completely out of his element.”
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Rob Kearney made the first bars look easy given the weight that was on the bar. Fraser said that these lifts were “about 38 percent” of what Kearney can put up. This was referring to Kearney’s max lift of 970 pounds.
As the contest went on, Mal O’Brien finished the workout ahead of both Kearney and Marconi. Once the workout was over, Kearney admitted to liking this method of deadlifting.
“I actually like doing touch-and-go. Like time under tension wise. I feel like it’s a lot more effective. I always get more fried doing dead-stop reps.”
O’Brien took home the victory in this workout ahead of her scheduled appearance at the 2022 CrossFit Games in Madison, WI from Aug. 3-7. Rob Kearney will continue to train in order to compete against some of the other elite competitors in the world.
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