Grid League 2026 – Wild vs Venom: Wild Push Venom to the Final Race

The Atlanta Wild brought one of the youngest rosters in Grid League into the 2026 season opener and led or sat level with the veteran Las Vegas Venom for ten straight races. Then the fans got their say.

New for 2026, every Grid League match includes a fan-voted ringer point, a one-on-one duel where supporters vote ahead of time on what the test will be. Think of it as an All-Star skills challenge dropped into the middle of a live match, except the points count. The Miami crowd voted for heavy clean and jerks, 300 pounds for the men. With the Wild up 15-14 and two races left, Atlanta sent out Kawika Henderson, a strength specialist who came into the weekend still recovering from dehydration. The Venom countered with Tyler Anderson, an Olympic weightlifter who played for the original Daytona Beach Venom and is back on the roster after time away from the sport.

Henderson got the bar overhead but couldn’t complete enough of his lifts before time. Anderson lost his grip on the first clean, reset, and finished all three reps in 19.34 seconds. The DNF cost Atlanta the lead for the first time all match, and the Venom closed out the Sprint Relay to take the opener 19-16 at the Miami International Fitness Expo on May 23.

A first half decided by fractions

The Venom dug themselves an early hole, taking a penalty in the opening partner four race and walking away with zero points. In Grid League scoring, a race win is worth two points and the loser still earns one by finishing close enough behind, so a zero stings twice.

Las Vegas spent the next hour climbing out. Camron Colbert beat Devon Braykovich in the first ringer point, nine tall wall balls, to square the match at four. The two Echo races split, and the margin on the second one was 0.59 seconds.

The Wild flexed in the ladder, the strength race where players alternate down the Grid lifting progressively heavier bars, outscoring the Venom 81-73. Atlanta is built for that race. Three of their men and three of their women cleared every bar on their side. But 81-73 falls inside the ten-point window that still earns the loser a point, so the Venom escaped with something.

Then Wild rookie Gavin D’Amato drew the ring muscle-up duel against Alec Smith, a four-time CrossFit Games athlete and one of the first people to ever butterfly a muscle-up. D’Amato touched the rings first and pushed the pace before Smith’s rhythm won out. Halfway through the match, the score sat at 10-10.

Trading punches

The Wild took Jack and Jill, the bodyweight specialist showcase, by seven seconds after their rookies recovered from early faults on the triple touches. The Venom answered in the female triad, where Tori Hite and the Venom women held off Atlanta on the closing 205-pound axle bar deadlifts to win by 0.69 seconds. The men’s triad went the other way, with Patrick Long powering the Wild through the heavy back half of the race.

Six of the first ten races were decided by less than ten seconds. That left it 15-14 Wild, with the fan-voted clean and jerks waiting.

The finish

“Eyes on our side of the grid. Clean reps is the key.”

Wild captain Amanda Fischer , before the Sprint Relay

The Sprint Relay closes every match and pays three points to the winner, which means no lead of one or two is ever safe. One player on the Grid at a time, eight elements, and four men and four women have to cross the finish line. The Venom led it wire to wire. Mixas Miller, making her Wild debut on a torn meniscus, ground through 25 thrusters at 100 pounds to open for Atlanta, but a faulted devil’s press in the middle of the race widened the gap. Robbie Rodriguez ran the anchor leg for Las Vegas, finishing 25 thrusters and crossing the line at 4:16.38, seventeen seconds clear.

Final: Venom 19, Wild 16.

The scoreboard went to Las Vegas, but the Wild walked away with plenty. Miller debuted on a torn meniscus and never backed off. Trey Gordon played all over the Grid in his first match and chased the Sprint Relay anchor to the final rep. A team this young trading punches with that much veteran experience for twelve races is exactly what coach Danny Jackson wanted to see in week one. The rematch is worth circling.

Race-by-race results

The Wild are the official Atlanta team of the United Grid League

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