In 2022 a new mastermind entered the arena to craft the tests for the Fittest on Earth. Longtime CrossFit Games Head Judge and Seminar Staff Flowmaster Adrian Bozman's approach to programming the CrossFit Games brought the sport's top athletes back to the basics while challenging them to develop new skills. Tia-Clair Toomey vied for an unprecedented sixth title while rumors of retirement swirled and Mal O'Brien continued to rise. Meanwhile, 2021 Fittest Man on Earth Justin Medeiros worked to defend his title against determined competitors such as Roman Khrennikov - a multiyear qualifier who had yet to step onto the Games competition floor - and Ricky Garard, newly returned from a four-year ban for violating CrossFit's drug policy. In "Fittest on Earth: Retro/Active," watch as athletes face familiar movements with new twists, some thriving and others learning the hard way to begin anew with the basics, this time paying more attention.
From Rich Froning and Annie Thorisdottir to Mat Fraser and Tia-Clair Toomey - if each new generation of champions sees further than the one before, it's because they stand on the shoulders of giants. When Fraser declared he would retire from competition after the 2020 season, he opened the door to a new wave of challengers. In 2021, new and seasoned competitors marked the 15th year of the Games with 15 events designed to test the limits of human potential and their worthiness to be called the fittest. Amid the surprises, upsets, and staggering displays of incomparable athleticism, Toomey ticked on with consistency and calm like a clock in a thunderstorm, all while shattering records and securing her place as the most unbeatable athlete in CrossFit Games history. At the 2021 Games, we witnessed the return of some of the sport's greats and the rise of the new initiates - those who will carry the mantle of the Fittest on Earth for the next generation.
To be called the Fittest on Earth, one would have to be capable of conquering a number of both physical and mental challenges. In the year of 2020, those challenges were plentiful. "Resurgence" captures all the drama as the organization of CrossFit pivots to pull off an in-person event amidst a world pandemic. Developing a new competition format to narrow a large field of athletes to only 5 men and 5 women. These athletes descend on a small ranch in California to take on whatever challenges are necessary to be crowned the Fittest on Earth.
In 2019 the fittest athletes on earth took on the unknown and unknowable during four intense days of competition at the CrossFit Games. "The Fittest " captures all the drama as chiseled athletes descend on Madison, Wisconsin, to face a series of trials. On top of the physical challenges, this year the sport grew from 40 men and women, to over 100 of each. But with this new format came cuts of the field, so for the final half of the weekend, only 10 men and 10 women move on to determine who is the fittest. The best among them enter the pantheon of CrossFit giants and earn the right to call themselves the "Fittest on Earth."
Tia-Clair Toomey is an Australian weightlifter and CrossFit Games athlete. She is the first three-time consecutive CrossFit women's champion.