Alec Smith of the Las Vegas Venom and Kyra Milligan of the Southwest Florida Sharks.

Playoffs · 2026 Season

Lions and Sharks Win Playoff Openers – Fan Vote Live for Conference Finals

The Fort Lauderdale Lions went into the Sprint Relay, the final race of a Grid League match, with a 1-point lead over the Palm Beach Breakers. They won the relay by 19.38 seconds and took the first East Conference playoff match of 2026, 19-16.

In the West Conference opener, the Southwest Florida Sharks, the defending league champions, beat the Las Vegas Venom 21-14 after winning nine races in a row. Both winners advance to Round 2 of the playoffs.

Lions vs. Breakers: Decided in the Sprint Relay

The Lions led after every race, and the Breakers kept pulling back to within a point.

The Lions opened with wins in the Partner Forward and the Mirror, taking the Mirror by 10.53 seconds. The Breakers answered in the first ringer point race, a one-on-one race between a single player from each team, to make it 5-4.

The two Echo races came down to fractions of a second. The Lions won Echo 1 by 0.31 seconds, and the Breakers won Echo 2 by 0.87 seconds. The Lions then outscored the Breakers 81-73 in the Strength Ladder, where each successful lift earns points based on how far down the Grid the sandbag sits, and won the second ringer point race to go up 12-8.

Palm Beach Breakers players in the Echo races, which included a handstand complex and ring muscle-ups.

The Breakers won the Jack and Jill and the Men’s Triad, with the Lions taking the Women’s Triad between them. Then the Breakers won the Fan Ringer Point, a one-on-one race picked by fan vote, to make it 16-15 with only the Sprint Relay left.

Eric Cardona of the Lions climbs the rope in the Jack and Jill, and a Breakers player jumps the box in the Women’s Triad.

The relay is worth 3 points to the winner. The Lions brought home the advancement to the Conference Finals with a clean set of burpee to ring touch from Taylor Sturgis to catch back up in a race they were behind on.

Sharks vs. Venom: Nine Straight Race Wins

Both teams played this match without their head coaches, who were away for work and family obligations, a rare situation.

The Venom came out with a convincing win in the opening Partner Forward, finishing 1.76 seconds ahead of the Sharks. Then the Sharks rattled off nine straight race wins, from the Mirror through the Men’s Triad.

The biggest margins came in the middle of the match. The Sharks won Echo 1 by 9.56 seconds, Echo 2 by 7.08 seconds and the Jack and Jill by 17.72 seconds, and they outscored the Venom 75-71 in the Strength Ladder. Wins in the second ringer point race and both Triads put them ahead 19-8 with two races left.

Sharks players in the Echo handstand complex and the Jack and Jill rope climbs.

The Venom won both of those races. The Fan Ringer Point carried a bonus flag, which makes a race worth an extra point to the winner, and the Venom’s player finished in 7.27 seconds to the Sharks’ 8.36 for 3 points. The Venom then won the Sprint Relay ahead of the Sharks, to make the final score 21-14.

What’s Next

On Sunday at 9 a.m., the Lions face the New York Wolves, the East Conference’s No. 1 seed. The Wolves picked 3 burpee backflips for the first ringer point race, with Sydney Pawlak going against the Lions’ Cristhian Felipe Alvarez Diaz. The Lions chose bar-facing burpees for the second, sending Janine Nicole against the Wolves’ Daniel Lynne.

Ringer point matchups for the Eastern Conference Final.

At 11:45 a.m., the Sharks face the Houston Bandits, the West Conference’s No. 1 seed. The Bandits picked bar-facing burpees for the first ringer point race, where Sedona Townsend races for the Sharks against the Bandits’ Colleen Carey. The Sharks chose 5 sandbag over yoke for the second, with Zaien Zafra going against the Bandits’ Madison Waddell.

Ringer point matchups for the Western Conference Final.

Both top seeds earned first-round byes. The two winners meet in the Championship match at 4 p.m. All times are Eastern.

The Fan Ringer Point

Each match has a third one-on-one race, and the fans choose it. The Fan Ringer Point race is picked by vote at unitedgridleague.com/vote, with one vote per verified email address for each matchup. Voting for Wolves vs. Lions is open now, and the ballot for Bandits vs. Sharks goes up Sunday morning.

Voting closes during the match, right after the first ringer point race. The winning race is announced after the Strength Ladder, each team names its player for it after the Jack and Jill, and the race runs after the Men’s Triad, just before the Sprint Relay.

The winner earns 2 points, and the other player earns 1 point by finishing within 20 percent of the winner’s time. A bonus flag adds an extra point for the winner, which is how the Venom earned 3 points from the Fan Ringer Point on Saturday.

Vote for the Fan Ringer Point

Have a question? Email us at staff@unitedgridleague.com