An athlete drowns at the 2024 Crossfit Games in Texas. The competition is briefly interrupted, but continues the next day. Some athletes are leaving. The CrossFit world is shaken. The tragic accident raises questions.
Start on the first day of the Crossfit Games 2024 The athletes take part in a so-called aquathlon in the early hours of the morning. 40 women, 40 men and 40 teams are taking part in the multi-day competition in Fort Worth, Texas. They are all fighting to ultimately be crowned the “fittest in the world”.
In the Aquathlon, participants first have to complete a 3.5-mile run (about 5.6 kilometers) and then swim 800 meters across the lake in the adjacent Marine Creek Lake. Viewers worldwide can follow the CrossFit Games via live stream. Crossfit fans will also gather on the shores of Marine Creek Lake on the morning of August 8th to cheer on their favorites.
The most important event of the year for CrossFit athletes had just begun when the local police received an emergency call at 7 a.m. A participant is said not to have resurfaced during the 800-meter swim in the lake. The police and fire department searched the lake for a good hour, and the police finally recovered a body from the water.
The coroner later identified the dead man as Lazar Dukic. The 28-year-old was a water polo player before taking up CrossFit in 2021. In his home country of Serbia he is one of the best CrossFit athletes and in Europe he is also one of the best 50. But how did one of the fittest people in the world end up drowning in a lake in Texas on August 8th?
The saddest day in CrossFit history
The sport of CrossFit combines gymnastics, sprinting and weightlifting. The training mixes strength and endurance. The athletes push themselves to the limits of their performance until they can no longer, according to the CrossFit concept. The US company of the same name launched the cross-disciplinary training program in the mid-1990s. With more than ten thousand fitness studios worldwide, the company is one of the largest fitness chains in the world. According to Forbes, the company is said to have generated annual sales of four billion euros in 2015. It is the organizer of the Crossfit Games.
According to the New York Times, Don Faul, CEO of the CrossFit company, confirmed during a press conference a few hours after the tragic event in Fort Worth that an athlete had died during the swimming portion of the first event of the CrossFit Games. Faul pointed out that the CrossFit Games had its own security plan for the competition, which had been communicated to authorities. The remaining events on the first day of competition have been cancelled. Information about the cause of the drowning is not available a week after the accident. Law enforcement is investigating the plans for the event and the circumstances surrounding the drowning, Faul told WFAA.
The CrossFit Games announced on social media that the well-being of the competitors is their top priority. “We are heartbroken over this tragic event,” it continues. A post published a little later is intended to pay tribute to the late athlete. It was the saddest day in the history of CrossFit. The entire CrossFit community is shocked by the loss of Dukic. “Lazar was one of the most talented competitors in our sport, but he was much more than just an athlete,” it said.
Livestream recorded the tragic moment
The live stream recording from US broadcaster ESPN, which is available to WFAA, documents the terrible event. The recordings show how a swimmer in the field stumbles about a hundred meters from the finish line during the 800-meter swimming competition. A few meters away on the water as the crow flies, lifeguards on paddleboards can be seen on the side of the track. The swimmer has trouble keeping his head above water. Eventually he disappears underwater and doesn't resurface.
Cole Learn, a CrossFit athlete from the Canadian city of Ontario, was among the spectators watching the competition on the lakeshore. In an interview with WFAA, Learn reported that he and others in the crowd next to him noticed that Dukic was having trouble in the water. When Dukic stopped showing up, someone from the audience is said to have jumped into the lake. A lifeguard on a paddleboard whistled back at that person and told them to get out of the water, the eyewitness said.
When the person tipped off that someone was drowning, the lifeguard is said to have paddled to the spot. The lifeguard is said to have briefly paddled around the area. Then, according to an eyewitness account, she returned to her starting point on the side of the swimmers' field. “I feel like at that point she should have blown the whistle and stopped the contest,” Learn said.
The competition continued the next day
After the tragic accident, competition resumed the following day. According to the organizer, this decision was discussed with the athletes and Dukic's family. Three days followed in which the athletes competed against each other in various CrossFit exercises such as endurance running, sprinting, jumping, rope climbing, weight lifting and burpees, a mixture of squats, push-ups and stretch jumps. 21-year-old American James Sprague won the title of “fittest man in the world.” 31-year-old Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr from Australia won for the seventh time. The Australian native was named the “fittest woman in the world.” To honor Dukic, the athletes held a minute of silence.
CrossFit athletes during a moment of silence in Fort Worth, Texas.
(Photo: picture alliance / Newscom | Amanda McCoy)
Some participants withdrew from the competition entirely. Including Jeffrey Adler, the reigning “fittest man” and Laura Horváth, the reigning “fittest woman” of the Crossfit Games 2023. Together with other Crossfit athletes, the Hungarian Horvath posted a statement on Instagram. “We have come to the conclusion that further participation in the 2024 Crossfit Games for Lazar would not be the honor we would like.” It continues: “The alternative paths proposed for this year's competition were not consistent with our personal views.”
The deceased's brother, Luka Dukic, who was also a participant in the 2024 Crossfit Games, wrote in a story on Instagram that his brother's death “could have been prevented, and there is no way around it.”
Heat safety concerns in Texas
Nine-time CrossFit Games competitor Brent Fikowski of Canada is president of the Professional Fitness Athletes Association (PFAA), which advocates for stricter safety protocols. A few days ago, Fikowski posted a lengthy message on Instagram describing how the PFAA was pushing for more information about safety protocols for this year's games while raising concerns about temperatures in Texas.
In the post, Fikowski cites emails that PFAA is said to have sent to Crossfit before the games were held. It says: “However, the risk of being unprepared for the heat and competing outdoors is frightening.” But the organizers are said not to have listened to this feedback. “They don’t listen,” writes Fikowski.
CrossFit has held the games every year since 2007, mostly in the summer. In recent years the competition has been held in Madison, Wisconsin. In Fort Worth, Texas, temperatures have exceeded 35 degrees Celsius in recent weeks.
“While I know CrossFit doesn't want to hurt anyone, when they say 'safety is our top priority,' I no longer believe that,” Fikowski said in the statement. The safety of the athletes comes second at best. According to Fikowski, this strategy recently went terribly wrong, with the most tragic consequences.
