Last year we were fortunate to bring you guys coverage of one of the coolest competitions of the entire year for us from Pamplona, Spain. You might remember the athletes running on the streets where the running of the bulls take place, lifting stones reminiscent of some Basque area strongman sport, Karin Frey asserting dominance on the field, and an incredible battle between Uldis Upenieks and Aniol Ekai on the men’s side.
Well, the competition is back, with a new name, at the same venue. It seems to have an even more impressive roster than last year, but unfortunately no dedicated livestream to watch what is absolutely a relevant offseason competition.
Elite Individual Femenino
Karin Frey is back for her first competition of the year. She was not listed on the WFP signed roster despite being top 20 on both the Apollo and Rogue rankings. It’s unclear what her competitive season will look like, but if you’re in Pamplona you can see one of Europe’s fittest females this weekend.
A few of the other headliners from outside of Spain are Noortje Bleeker from the Netherlands and Lena Richter out of Norway.
Most of the best women in Spain are lining up for this as well including Elena Carratala, Silvia Garcia, Alazne Egiazabal, Marina Crismariu, Ana Alquezar, Laura Plaza, Lola Guillen, and Elena Mangas.
Elite Individual Masculino
The international contingency for men isn’t huge in numbers, but the talent is very strong:
- Jelle Hoste is in from Belgium
- Uldis Upenieks is making a return to competition out of Latvia
- Moritz Fiebig is over from Germany
- Toby Buckland who is from the UK but lives in the UAE is also in Spain for this one
All four of those men show up with podium aspirations and potential, but if they want those spots they’ll have to contend with the Spaniards.
Aniol Ekai leads the charge for Spain, however, he is not alone as the depth of the men’s field in Spain is very good. The other names most likely to filter towards the top are Carlos Ferrara, Marti Pla, Dami Martinez, Arnau Sabate, and Pedro Gonzalez.
The Workouts
It looks like 6 elite individual workouts were announced in one post on the picsilshowdown_official Instagram page on January 30, and as with many competitions this year it looks like Mayhem Athlete was involved in the programming.
Wod 1 is a mile run, 11 km bike, 1200 vested run
Wod 2 is 15-12-9-6-3 dumbbell thrusters and burpees
Wod 3 is 3 rounds: 15-12-9 deadlifts, 15 meters of hs walking with pirouette, and three progressive jump rope movements by round (90 double unders, 60 heavy double unders, 30 single crossovers)
Wod 4 is a lifting complex: 1 squat snatch + 1 overhead squat + 2 hand squat snatches + 2 overhead squats
Wod 5 is 3 rounds: 500/400 meter row, 15 lateral burpees over the row, in rounds 1 and 3 it finishes with 20 slam balls, in round 2 there are 40 toes to bar
Wod 6 is 20 front squats (90/65 kg), 5/4 legless rope climbs, 10 front squats (110/85 kg)
Top 10 Picks
Based on the information I have of who is actually on site this weekend, here are my top 10 picks for both the men’s and women’s fields:
| Place | Men | Women |
| 1 | Aniol Ekai | Karin Frey |
| 2 | Moritz Fiebig | Elena Carratala |
| 3 | Jelle Hoste | Silvia Garcia |
| 4 | Uldis Upenieks | Noor Bleeker |
| 5 | Carlos Ferrara | Marina Crismariu |
| 6 | Toby Buckland | Alazne Egiazabal |
| 7 | Arnau Sabate | Lena Richter |
| 8 | Marti Pla | Ana Alquezar |
| 9 | Dami Martinez | Laura Plaza |
| 10 | Pedro Gonzalez | Lola Guillen |
What do you think?
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