Behind the Decision to Continue the 2024 CrossFit Games

August 16th, 2024

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

As more information becomes available, and as we await the findings of CrossFit’s “third-party investigation,” we have been able to piece together more details from day one of the 2024 CrossFit Games and the decision to continue following the tragedy at Marine Creek Lake. See more below.

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Lazar Ðukić Support Funds have been set up here and here for those who are able to give. If there are other memorial funds or fundraisers in the works, please contact us.

Support the Professional Fitness Athletes’ Association here.

“How could the best swimmer drown? Was it a heatstroke? A heart attack? Could I have noticed something if I’d looked back at the water? Why didn’t anyone save him? Were there enough lifeguards? The water was so murky I couldn’t even see my hands. Was it safe to have an open-water swim at all? This wasn’t just an inherent sports risk—it felt preventable due to a lack of safety measures.” - Jelle Hoste, 2024 CrossFit Games Event 1 winner via Instagram

Credit: Carlos Fleury

As we continue to digest what happened last Thursday when Serbian competitor Lazar Đukić died during the swim portion of Event 1 at the 2024 CrossFit Games, more and more details are starting to come to light.

From athletes and other eyewitnesses, we are learning more about what happened that day — both immediately after the event ended and in the ensuing hours.

We are documenting all of this below to better understand what ultimately led to the decision that the 2024 CrossFit Games would resume on Friday after a tribute to Đukić.

Here’s the timeline of the events that took place that day, based on the facts available to us right now:

7 a.m. CT.: Event 1 of the 2024 CrossFit Games kicks off at Marine Lake Park in Fort Worth, TX, starting with a 3.5-mile run followed by an 800-meter swim.

7:37 a.m.: Đukić is seen for the last time above the water in the lake, and then is seen disappearing into the lake. Read former lifeguard and 10-year affiliate owner Rudy Trevinos’ eyewitness account, as he watched from the finish line.

7:37-8:00 a.m.: As more and more athletes cross the finish line, Đukić’s girlfriend Anja and his brother Luka Đukić, who has finished the event, grow concerned, as Đukić, a former water polo player and strong swimmer, hasn’t been seen crossing the finish line.

Word starts to spread that Đukić may be missing, and his name is not on the leaderboard.

At 7:51 a.m., MCU Managing Editor, Joe Genetin-Pilawa, who was standing on the Marine Creek Lake boat ramp at the finish line alerted the MCU team via Slack message that “Lazar is missing at the moment.”

At that point, however, people are still hoping that his chip timer just isn’t working, which was also the case for athlete Henrik Haapalainen.

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Talking Elite Fitness Discussion with Joshua Hicks: Sean Woodland, Tommy Marquez, and Lauren Kalil interviewed Joshua Hicks, the Medical Team Lead for the CrossFit Games from 2015 to 2022.

They discussed how emergency action plans are created and executed. Hicks also noted that any event organizers who might want guidance on writing emergency action plans for swim events or otherwise can reach out to him. Watch the interview here.

Constantly Varied Conversations: On Wednesday night, John Wooley and Sean Woodland hosted a live conversation and answered viewer questions about the events of the 2024 CrossFit Games. Topics ranged from how the risks that led to Lazar Ðukić’s death could have potentially been mitigated to where CrossFit goes from here.

PRVN Fitness Helpline: Earlier this week, PRVN Fitness announced on Instagram that it had opened a helpline “for anyone in need of a helping hand or a safe space to talk.” Email here “to speak with a team of mental health professionals on standby to help.”

The post continued: “Grief will look different for us all, and time will help heal, but today we must be there for each other and make sure no one is alone during this time.”

International Functional Fitness Federation (iF3) Working Group: iF3 President Gretchen Kittelberger announced yesterday that the organization is creating a working group to review and edit its current safety standards. It will then revise its event-sanctioning program.

ICYMI: Over the past two days, more and more athletes have spoken out about a “pattern of behavior” at the CrossFit Games, citing previous examples from previous years in Madison, Carson, and Aromas. One of the most powerful has been Professional Fitness Athletes’ Association President Brent Fikowski. More here.

Credit:@welcome_to_the_mill / Instagram

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