Hinshaw on Fraser Penalty at the 2019 CrossFit Games 

Speaking of penalties, is 60 seconds on a 30 minute event equal to a 10 second penalty on a 30 second event? And cutting to 10 athletes. Lots of questions about CFGs penalties. This should be written and provided in the event briefs.

Great interview! Thank you guys for this.

Very funny you guys! Thoroughly enjoyed this! 😂 GREAT JOB!!

I recommend to listen to Rory mckernan's interview with him :) first thing they address, I think its honest!

Go see day 2 press conference. It is 1st question. Mat talks about his mindset. He was in the zone. Couldn't tell. I believe it.

Great interview. Thank you My question is why nobody told him he lost a bag. Just took the video. What’s done is done. He is 4 times the Fittest .

Great conversation guys

They’re lucky the penalty wasn’t as harsh as the sprints ... the 10 second penalty they gave Brooke wells took her out of the entire games

It seems clear to me that the judges got the penalty right. The problem was equipment failure. Fraser did not take the bag out intentionally and all four speakers in the video agree that he didn't intentionally leave it behind. So there is no reason to penalize Fraser for cheating: he didn't cheat. The question that remains is, how much time should be added to his score so that, a) it removes any slight advantage Fraser may have received and, b) athletes are not tempted in the future to make "accidents" happen to their advantage. As far as (a) goes, the bag fell out on the final turn, as Fraser was about to enter the stadium (according to the Crossfit announcement). Hence Fraser enjoyed little, if any, advantage from the mishap. I think he would have finished fifth. The penalty dropped him (I believe) ten or so places in the standings and thirty points. This would seem harsh except for consideration (b): ensuring that athletes are not tempted to make "equipment failures" happen to their advantage. The goal here is to impose a penalty harsh enough to discourage bad behavior in the future. While the extra sixty seconds cost Fraser far more places than he could have lost had the bag remained in the ruck, I believe it was the right call. Athletes will recognize that any "mishap" will cost them more than fair play. The right message has been sent. I am writing this on Sunday, after having watched eight events (I haven't yet seen the results of the first competition today). Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but an unintended consequence of the penalty may be that Fraser will not finish first in the games. This is a huge consequence for a very minor mishap. At the beginning of the day, Fraser's cumulative finishes over eight events total 59, while Olson's total 60 (I hope I have that math right), yet Fraser began the day fifteen points behind Olson. Fraser has also finished first four times to Olson's once. If Fraser ends the day out of first place by fewer than 30 points, he will have missed being the fittest man on earth not because of his own efforts or Olson's superiority, but because he was unlucky in the equipment he received.

He got penalized for a ruck pack failure. How is this Fraser's fault?

4X WINNER!!! Dropped to 17th.. Dude destroyed everyone despite!!! That’s the only reason the race with him and Noah existed. Although Noah looked solid.

Does anyone know if the zipper broke? or if the bag came open? Looks like it broke seeing as everyone was loading from the top and it fell out the side...

Imagine this your in a race where you have people bumping into each other as their trying to pass each other. Now, imagine you're on your last lap and you feel some thing or someone brushing against your leg. watching the video he turned to look to see who brushed up against him as he proceeded to pick up the pace. he never looked down.

Anyone who's spent time with a pack will know to put both zippers flush at one end to prevent gravity/ruck movement from opening the zipper, goruck should have hopefully have explained a few helpful tips like these to either the judges or athletes. Saw this in training happen quite a few times.

Explain this to me and correct me if I’m wrong. If Mat supposedly knew he dropped the pack why wouldn’t he go back? He would have got a higher score by far with the stop to pick up weight than he did with a penalty.. he’s a smart man. He knew he needed to finish with all his weight, why would he risk the UNKNOWN consequences of not finishing with all his weight on purpose?!? He won anyway but I really hope people stop to think about the logic.

I certainly do not think Fraser is a cheater or intentionally left a bag behind. However, I lost a little of respect for Hinshaw with this elaborate excuse for Fraser. He didn't finish with a 10 lb bag, he deserves to be penalized regardless of intent. Will Moorad lost bags, stopped picked them up, and got passed by several people. It's a sport, there are rules that have to be enforced without regard for intent.

I think the games needs to be more aware of the materials they are giving to athletes. The bikes were a joke several years ago when Velner's bike basically fell apart and he lost a bunch of time. Obviously these bags were not made well since Fraser was not the only competitor to have issues. He's not gonna stop when he needs a win. Although now some of the penalties are holding him back, he's not gonna take extra time to turn back and get that sandbag. It is more a case of bad production/bad materials.

More than two minutes into this video and Hinshaw hasn't gotten around to the answer, and has repeated himself. Twice. I can imagine how a Sunday sermon by him would stretch into a full day. LOL

Especially when everyone in that run had the Dan Bailey drool face going near death he ain’t notice that shit

It’s tough to believe that Mat was strategically looking back at competitors. The coincidence is too unlikely. However, you’d have to a total Fraser hater to believe that he knew that a sandbag had fallen. He seems like he was disturbed by something but there’s no way he registered what it was. He should not be thinking about the supplied equipment failing.

After seeing the video, I thought it looked like he looked back pretty quick and kept going. It was like the sudden drop of the bag/weight made him think he was bumped by someone trying to pass him. As hot as he was about Ricky G. cheating last year, it doesn’t seem like he’d have realized a bag dropped and just keep going. He’s smart enough in the sport to know he’d be penalized. Interested in hearing what Matt’s explanation is.

I’m trying to find video of it, anyone have somewhere to start?

What is there to talk about - things like this happen every year but just because it is Fraser it is some big thing...really?!

I personally thought he turned because he heard something hit the ground but wasn't sure what it was. I'm OK with the penalty. It could have been worse but I'm glad it wasn't.

Mat Fraser said in another interview that his coach was Shane Orr.

I kinda miss the challenge now lol

No matter if he saw it or didn't see it he didn't finish with the sandbag end of. But the 1 minute penalty went easy on him. He didn't finish with the sandbag so lucky he wasn't given last place or a DNF

Only a real Fraser hater would think he actually seen that sandbag.

When Kara Saunders didn't finish all her reps in a previous year, they simply figured out how long it would have taken her to do those 3 reps and added it to her time....about 6 seconds if I recall. They could have just seen how long it would have taken to put the weight in the bag and add that amount of time...

We need more #JackLikeJackie

Rule book supposedly was to assess a penalty of 5 minutes he got lucky...or if was anyone they would had received the the full 5 min

I don’t think he realized what happened. Why would he risk penalties?

I like Mat. But why did the same thing happened to other athletes and they stopped and had to pic up a 10 pound back. I would rather like his view. Not somebody that biased. Who cares anyway. Mat will probably win. As a coach you should keep with coaching 💯

Fraser didn't know he dropped it. Fraser confirmed Orr was his coach all last year. Hinshaw seems to just want his time on camera.

The question should not be a penalty for the bag breaking or unzipping. Clearly if the judge gave the okay that it was zipped in the beginning and Fraser did not unzip it himself, he is not at fault for that. Rather, the penalty should reflect the predicted time he would have gotten if he had 10 pounds extra on his back. How much slower would his pace have really been?

If Mat had seen the weight fall off of his bag, he would have definitely picked it up and shoved it in his bag and continued running.

Hinshaw is a good story-teller and can probably sell ice cream to eskimos but that's not what M. Fraser said in an interview about what happened. Hinshaw: "He's trained to look back at the competition only during turns...that's what he was doing...blah, blah, blah...", LOL!

Hey 👋 congrats to Noah Olsen

WOW!! Just saw this interview. I never thought there was any intention to cheat!! Didn't cross my.mind. My initial thought he was checking who was behind him and then "possibly" in his exhausted brain felt a change in the Matix and took a peak. I can't imagine at the end of all that ruck sack running he would had any ability to "think" about anything other than who was behind him and putting one foot in front of the other. Those that would even think for a second that he would do anything to jeopardize his good name in this sport.... doesn't follow Crossfit ❤💪

I dont think anyone truly believes he did that on purpose.

Who's the gal?

No you won’t feel 10lbs leaving your pack, SMH on that comment. Especially, while your running deep into a workout.

So these comments that says fraser cheated also suggest he is stupid by forgetting the number of people and cameras in the games? I saw the video. Thats a peak! Either he felt smthg hit his thighs or he was peaking the athlete behind him. If i was fraser, ill sue the company who owns the bag that may have cost him this game or worse his name in the community

These 2 guys are haters. Either the equipment failed or the judge failed to see the zipper didnt get fully zipped. Either way it wasnt frasers fault... we wouldnt be even talking about this is the equip/judging didnt fail.

A 15-20% change in weight....I doubt you could feel the difference. In addition, 10lb less didn’t help him much given the short distance remaining in the race. At most this should have cost him a place or 2.

So what I heard, IF he hade noticed the bag falling out and picked it up. He was not allowed to take the rucksack of during the course anyway then he be DQ. And run with the bag in he’s hand was not following the standard 🤷‍♂️

Much respect to Fraser but Rich is the smartest in the sport. No question.

He won fare and square! You guys have too much time on your hands! Go do Mary .

So question is, was the penalty good enough? We have to accept the truth, the sack didn't hold, there were other reports of weights falling out from other athletes sacks. So clearly there is fault in the equipment. Is that the athletes fault? No. Overall, Mat lost 20 points because of the penalty. For me, considering he was at the end of the race when the sack fell out, and he was in the zone with a coaches drilled in instruction of not to fully look back, a one minute penalty is more than enough. I personally look up to him so a part of me wanted it to be less, but I think it was the right call considering the circumstances. The end :) P.s He still won it all :D

its over and done..onward and upward....

They also only film the best. They would have never noticed a no name because they don't film them.

What is really messed up is people are watching and filming this and say nothing. This is Crissfit's fucked up programming. But all is mute now anyway because he came back and took the title. End of story!!!!

This is why killcliff taste better 😂😂

Looking behind on a straight is a weakness? What a silly statement? Infact Frazer had a completely different explanation to this coach's explanation.

We get it... he's trained to look behind him on the curves.

Talk about a lack of integrity on the part of Castro (games chairman), Glassman (the oracle on range of movement and equality), and especially on Fraser (who seemed not to notice-but looked down right at the bag). I mean they penalized him, but in reality he DNF the run as Rx'd. He did not end up with the Rx'd weight in his ruck at the finish line. And it was no equipment malfunction either. He just did not take the time to zip his ruck up properly. But hey Castro (mr. frogman) I guess you would have let that slide in the teams right. And hey Mat (helluva an athlete despite this) I guess when top prize money is what it is you can play dumb. And Mr. Glassman to be silent and not have a say is gutless. Integrity check? Failed by all three on this account. I know what I won't be teaching if I ever get back to CrossFit.

Saying it was strategically doesn't make sense since he hadn't reached the turn yet, weird excuse from Hinshaw.

i watched the video, hes doing his job....running. the kit he was given failed.

It wouldn't have changed the outcome if they let the whole group take their bags off completely and made Fraser add 100lbs. He would have smoked em regardless so who cares. Plus how bout he's not in control of the bag staying in there. Fire the staff that put it in there.

No reason for penalty it is the product faulty.

Matt turns around, but he clearly does not turn far enough around to have the bag in his field of view. Just watch the video and look at where the bag dropped and where his eyes are looking. Also, there is a line of judges/marshals eyeballing him the whole time. None of them made any indication they saw it either. They were looking at Matt and seemed to be wondering why Matt looked behind himself. I blame the equipment setup for the athletes. That should be impossible to happen. Someone needs to provide evidence that Matt purposely dumped the bag. Nobody is and nobody is even considering that. It was equipment failure and in my opinion, the penalty was inappropriate given the facts.

Biased AF. He looked back and DOWN the moment after the weight fell out. I've looked back and I've seen people look back. That wasn't a look to see where other people were. Also, there was wall on that curve that would obstruct your view of people behind you. You can be an honest person your whole life, up until the point you are dishonest. I'm not saying this is Fraser, but this could be anybody. And why not just ask Fraser instead of having his biased yes man trainer make up excuses?

The guy is so "smart" he can watch the breathing rate of others during a race but is so locked in the zone and unaware of a bag falling out, and didn't see it? The reality is he's a competitor and it's not advantageous to go back for it. In the moment, he's likely thinking the penalty is likely less of a problem than maybe losing a spot or five by going back for the bag - and the possibility of your mind playing tricks on you and taking the chance of leaving it behind is also better than going back for it...unless you know the penalty ahead of time. The athletes should have been told how impactful it can be if you drop a bag and leave it. I don't believe the looking back on a turn explanation one bit. That's not what was happening there.

X

who cares about it, the guy just went there and did his thing, also had 2 other bad events and guess what... he kicked Noah´s ass so hard

I really like Hinshaw and Fraser... but I call BS on this one...lol

Fraser got screwed and still found a way to win, hard work pays off,,,,,,again! Can not wait until next year when he breaks the 4 win record.

He didn’t do it on purpose it was a malfunction and it fell out. But to say that you can’t feel a 10lb difference your wrong. Example if your squatting 300lb then immediately change it to 290 it feels that much lighter. Especially in the shape and endurance they have. It’s not like a normal person dying a workout your talking about the elite of the elite. Especially the way his coach is saying he paces himself the way he does.