Free Standing Handstand Holds first entered the CrossFit competition world back in 2020 when it was programmed as Event 6 of the online portion of the 2020 CrossFit Games. In it’s debut Katrin Davidsdottir won the event with a time of 2:54, 41 seconds longer than second place Kari Pearce. Noah Olsen won on the men’s side with a time of 1:37, just two seconds longer than Mat Fraser.
Since the movement’s introduction athletes and fans have seen handstand holds appear twice more in elite competitions. Last year at Wodapalooza, elite athletes were asked to complete a max handstand hold as Part B of the max clean and jerk event, but as an added wrinkle, this handstand hold was completed on parallettes. This event was won by Rebecca Fuselier(1:27.44) and Cole Greashaber(1:28.25).
The third appearance of the Freestanding Handstand Hold appeared this past week at The Fittest Experience. This event was won by Tracy Johnson (2:11) and Bill Leahy (1:30).
As with many movements in CrossFit, we slowly see their appearance trickle down from the CrossFit Games down to competitions with a wider range of athlete abilities. 2023 Wodapalooza had 39 CrossFit Games athletes in the field, while the Pro field at the Fittest Experience had 2 past Games athletes, and 12 individual Semifinal athletes from 2023.
At the 2020 CrossFit Games the average handstand hold length for the women was 1:29.6, while on the men’s side the average length was 1:05.3. At Wodapalooza, the average hold length for the women was 29.7 seconds and for the men it was 31.8. Whether it was the fatigue from the Clean and Jerk, the use parrelettes or a combination of the two, the Wodapalooza version of the event appears to be significantly more difficult. This week at The Fittest Experience, the average hold of the women and men was nearly identical at 1:03.29 and 1:03.10 respectively.
From an evolutionary standpoint, it is interesting to see the men’s field from the 2024 Fittest Experience having an average handstand hold length of just 2 seconds below the 2020 CrossFit Games field.
Looking at an all time record standpoint, Tracy Johnson’s time from The Fittest Experience puts her in some illustrious company, as her time would place her 4th all time behind Davidsdottir, Kari Pearce and Danielle Brandon.
| Top Freestanding Handstand Holds from Competition – Women | ||
| Katrin Davidsdottir | 2020 Crossfit Games | 2:54 |
| Kari Pearce | 2020 Crossfit Games | 2:13 |
| Danielle Brandon | 2020 Crossfit Games | 2:12 |
| Tracy Johnson | 2024 The Fittest Experience | 2:11 |
| Haley Adams | 2020 Crossfit Games | 1:59 |
| Melina Rodriguez | 2020 Crossfit Games | 1:59 |
| Samantha Pugh | 2024 The Fittest Experience | 1:56 |
| Kristin Holte | 2020 Crossfit Games | 1:54 |
| Andrea Solberg | 2020 Crossfit Games | 1:53 |
| Brooke Wells | 2020 Crossfit Games | 1:50 |
Looking at the men’s all-time records, Leahy’s time also places him 4th all time behind Noah Ohlsen, Mat Fraser and Samuel Kwant. Surprisingly, Cole Greashaber’s time from Wodapalooza on the parallettes is 5th all time, and is the only time from 2023 Wodapalooza to make the top 10 on the men’s and women’s records.
| Top Freestanding Handstand Holds from Competition – Men | ||
| Noah Ohlsen | 2020 Crossfit Games | 1:37 |
| Mat Fraser | 2020 Crossfit Games | 1:35 |
| Samuel Kwant | 2020 Crossfit Games | 1:32 |
| William Leahy | 2024 The Fittest Experience | 1:30 |
| Cole Greashaber | 2023 Wodapalooza | 1:28.25 |
| Jonne Koski | 2020 Crossfit Games | 1:27 |
| Adam Davidson | 2020 Crossfit Games | 1:24 |
| Travis Moore | 2024 The Fittest Experience | 1:23 |
| Andris Sturans | 2024 The Fittest Experience | 1:21.44 |
| Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson | 2020 Crossfit Games | 1:21 |
Only the 2020 CrossFit Games had the Freestanding Handstand Hold scored as a full event. The 2023 Wodapalooza event was worth 50 points as it was paired with a max lift event. The 2024 Fittest Experience handstand hold was worth 33 points, as it was grouped together with other specialty skill events of max Triple Unders in 3 minutes, and max unbroken ring muscle ups in 3 minutes.
CrossFit as a sport is evolving, with Freestanding Handstand Push Ups, Pull overs. Handstand Walk hurdles and other high skill gymnastics movements have been introduced in competitions in recent years. As the collective sport evolves, it can be expected that the free standing handstand hold will become standard in training and new records will likely be set in the not too distant future.