Canadian CrossFitter Samuel Cournoyer will no longer participate in the Dubai Fitness Championship (DFC) 2022scheduled from December 2 to 4, 2022, for financial reasons. According to the official list, the German Moritz Fiebig will take his place.
This is the second time that Cournoyer’s plans to compete in the individual division have failed in 2022. The Canadian was in qualifying position after the “Q” of the Rogue Invitational. Yet, he forgot to weigh his weight plates as instructed in online qualifying and was removed from a qualifying position.
In a message to Bar Bend on Instagram, Cournoyer said the trip to Dubai turned out to be too expensive. “It would cost me at least $6,000 just to get there and live there for 10 days. It’s not worth the shot.”
2022 Dubai CrossFit Championship Prize Money
The RX cash prize is as follows:
- 1st: $50,000
- 2nd: $30,000
- 3rd: $20,000
- 4th: $10,000
- 5th: $5,000
- 6th: $2,500
- 7-20: $500
In many ways, Cournoyer is an elite competitor. He finished seventh in the world at the 2021 CrossFit Open and third at the 2021 CrossFit Atlas Games semi-final. He has competed individually at the CrossFit Games three times, finishing 35th (2019), 10th (2020) and 23rd (2021) .
He should have faced stiff competition at the DFC – an elite spectacle that attracts top talent. Ricky Garard and Lazar Đukić, who finished third and eighth respectively at the 2022 Games, will both be in attendance. So will Jonne Koski and Brent Fikowski, who finished 15th and 16th respectively.
According to his account, if Cournoyer were to participate in DFC 2022 and place below fourth place, he would lose money.
Return to individual competition
Cournoyer is the 2022 CrossFit Games Tag Team Champion (along with Rich Froning and CrossFit Mayhem Freedom). He is looking to return to individual competition for the 2023 season.
After initially qualifying via his 10th place finish in the Dubai Online Qualifier and subsequently accepting his invitation, his name was removed from the DFC rankings and replaced by 2022 Games individual athlete Moritz Fiebig. Fiebig just made his Games debut finishing 36th. Fiebig competed in the Dubai CrossFit Championship (DCC) in 2021, placing 15th in a field of 19 male athletes.
Fiebig placed 21st in the DFC Online Qualifier and is the first athlete, male or female, to receive an alternate invitation to the 10th edition of the DFC (called Dubai CrossFit Championships in 2018, 2019 and 2021).
The next logical competition for Cournoyer is 2023 Wodapalooza in Miami – he took third place in January 2022. He is set to compete in the team portion of the event, but an individual performance doesn’t appear to be in the cards .
There are only two routes to qualify for the Elite Division of Wodapalooza: be one of the 40 athletes who qualified for the Games (in the male athlete and female athlete divisions), or through their online qualification. Cournoyer has qualified for the Rogue Invitational and DFC, which hold similar online qualifiers to Wodapalooza, making it a logistical challenge for athletes who want to compete in more than one of these events.
Since Cournoyer did not compete in the 2022 Games as an individual, he is not permitted to compete as an elite individual at Wodapalooza – although he has inquired about an exception.
“I’m trying to get an individual invite to Miami [Wodapalooza] but [haven’t gotten an] answer”, says Cournoyer Bar Bend. “I already do the team division for fun, but I also want to do the individual.”
Granted, Cournoyer’s competitive resume is pretty solid, with a podium finish at Wodapalooza last year and a win at the Games with his team. At this point, it seems unlikely that the young Canadian will feature in individual live competition before the 2023 semi-finals.
Additional reports by Bar Bendit is Senior CrossFit Analyst, Brian Friend.
Featured image by Patrick Clark.
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