Friend of the Week: Nika Maisuradze Dominates at Eurasia Throwdown Final

Image Credit – Eurasia Throwdown

This week’s “Friend of the Week” comes from us courtesy of Brian Friend’s travel adventures. Brian found himself in Istanbul, Turkey covering the Eurasia Throwdown Final as part of his second stop in the “2024-25 B.Friendly Fitness World Tour” and found a diamond in the rough, one of the reasons why he has embarked on this globe-trotting adventure.

Nika Maisuradze is this week’s recipient for the week of March 4-11, 2024 after his performance at the Eurasia Throwdown Finals.

Eurasia Throwdown Final

In a field of 25 elite men it was the 24-year old Georgian who stood tall amongst the Eurasia Throwdown field. He took home first place in four of the six events enroute to a comfortable 13-point victory in the international field.

He opened the competition with a third place finish, completing 30 front squats, 20 shoulder-to-overheads and 10 thrusters in 3:44. He would then go on a four-workout win streak highlighted by his 5K row time of 16:46.7 in Event 2. The overall win is his first career competition title.

CrossFit Open Workout 24.2

More fitness was in store for Maisuradze after his championship performance in Turkey as he returned home and completed Open Workout 24.2 at CrossFit 148, finishing with 902 reps. That score ranks 744th worldwide. Coupled with his impressive 70th place in 24.1, he ranks 209th worldwide and 76th in Europe.

Get to Know Nika

What makes Maisuradze so unique in a stacked European CrossFit is how he uses his fitness. In 2022 he was the starting running back and Most Valuable Player of the Rustavi Steelers, a amateur American-rules football team in the country of Georgia.

He’s only had one season of CrossFit under his belt, competing in the 2022 season where he finished as the second “Fittest Man in Georgia” and an impressive 881st worldwide in his first Open. That led to a Quarterfinals berth where he placed 250th in Europe, an improvement from his 261st place in Europe in the Open.

Since the 2022 season he has been gaining more competition experience throughout Europe competing in such events as the Lowlands Throwdown, Butchers Classic, Tarragona Throwdown and Amsterdam Throwdown. He’s been training alongside Beka Kvernadze, the reigning, defending, four-time “Fittest Man in Georgia”.

Other Notable Performances

• Henrik Haapalainen (Finland) – In front of a packed house at CrossFit Härkä in Finland, the three-time Games athlete went head-to-head with fellow countryman Jonne Koski and the two put on a show and finished with the two top times of the Open workout 24.2. Haapalainen edged out Koski with a world-record 998 reps (later reduced to 997 reps due to a penalty) ahead of Koski’s 995 reps.
• Travis Mead (USA) – Fitness freak Mead continued his history of amazing performances in the Open, this time putting up the world’s fourth-best score in 24.2 with 985 reps. At 37-years old he leads the stacked 35-39 men’s Masters division. His 24.2 score was 28 reps better than his closest competitor in the age group.
• Kendall Gilmore (USA) – The 17-year old leads the 16-17 year old girls age group division after her impressive performance in 24.2 which saw her complete 835 reps which not only won the workout in the age group but also placed her 228th in the world.
• Maddox Metcalf (USA) – Like Gilmore, Metcalf leads his age group, the boys 14-15 division, finishing with 900 reps in 24.2, 44 reps ahead of runner-up Pablo Tronchon.

Know a Great “Friend of the Week” Candidate?

If you’d like to submit an athlete to be considered for “Friend of the Week”, please email Patrick Clark at pc@bfriendlyfitness.com or submit through DM on the B.Friendly Fitness Instagram. For athletes to be considered, it must be for accomplishments for the preceding week (Monday-Sunday) and must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. EST the Monday after. Please include any verifiable results, links, and a brief explanation of why that athlete should be considered.