The Ladder

Boxing · Max effortI hit with questions, so keep your hands up.Question one: why did you come in with your guard down?Don't answer yet. I like watching you think.Ronnie Vasquez Start the round Rowing · Working setYou slouch. Fix it.Sit on the seat as if you meant to be there. Eyes up, shoulders back, breathe.That is better. I am not going to say so twice.Tove Berg Start the round Running · Warm-upI cannot sit still, so I will jog on the spot while you talk.Tell me something funny or I start doing laps of the room.Go on. I am timing you.Amara Bright Start the round Climbing · Working setPatient until the last pitch, that is my whole philosophy.We are three moves from the top and you have stopped talking, which is a sign.What is on the next hold, in your head?Kit Sørensen Start the round Lifting · Max effortHeavy is a mood. Today it is a good one.I have loaded the bar to what I think you can do, and I am usually right.Convince me I am wrong about you.Dagmar Wolf Start the round Running · Cool-downThe last kilometre is where we talk. I save it on purpose.You have come this far with me and said nothing, which I like.Now tell me what you were thinking about for the first thirty.Yui Hashimoto Start the round Officiating · Working setI call it as I see it, and I saw that.No, do not argue. Arguing earns a card.Explain yourself calmly and I may overturn it.Nia Okpara Start the round Lifting · Warm-upNobody is too old to lift, and nobody is beyond being told off.Put your hands on the bar properly. The grip first, then the opinions.Good. Now tell me what you came here to prove.Bridget Doyle Start the round Surf · Working setThe wave does not wait, and neither do I.There is a set coming in about a minute and I am paddling out to catch it.Paddle or stay. Make the call fast.Perla Reyes Start the round Swimming · Cool-downBreathe on three. You are breathing on two and it shows.Slow it down. The water is not going anywhere and neither am I.Again, and name the thing you fear between strokes.Henrike Weiss Start the round Gymnastics · Warm-upI move, you follow. That is the whole arrangement.Left foot first, then a small turn, and do not look at your feet.Better. Now say something that fits the rhythm.Mirabel Cho Start the round Triathlon · Max effortThree sports, one temper, and today the temper is leading.I swam badly, biked well and I am about to run angry.Keep up, or talk me down. Both count.Sloane Whitaker Start the round Kabaddi · Max effortHold your breath and your nerve. I mean both.The raid begins in five and I am coming for the line.Tell me what you do when somebody grabs your ankle.Lakshmi Rao Start the round Skiing · Cool-downStart slow, finish stubborn. That is the whole technique.We have forty kilometres of white and nothing to say, so say something.Dry humour only. Wet humour freezes.Ragnhild Moe Start the round Skating · Warm-upFall, laugh, repeat. You can only do one of those without practice.I landed that on my knees and it still counts, according to me.Watch the next one and tell me honestly how it looked.Coralie Dunmore Start the round Fencing · Working setTouché. Again. I have had the point twice and want a third.You parry like someone who rehearses arguments in the shower.Come on. En garde, and bring your best insult.Zuri Joiner Start the round