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Russian CrossFit Athlete Roman Khrennikov Enters USA

Roman is now in the USA.

In a recent interview with the Morning Chalk Up, Roman Khrennikov and his manager Snorri Baron Jonsson revealed that the world class Russian athlete has made the decision to arrive early in order to ensure he will be able to compete in Madison at the 2022 CrossFit Games.

Roman Khrennikov Arrives

He has been repeatedly denied an entry VISA to the USA for the previous four years, even with spots secured at the CrossFit Games.

Earlier in 2022 he was finally granted access.

Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there have been many sanctions against Russian athletes, companies and organisations.

CrossFit released an official statement March 1, 2022 regarding the Russian military’s actions in Ukraine.

The names and flags from Russia and Belarus will not be recognised throughout the CrossFit season and will be removed from the profiles of individual and team competitors, the company announced.

Additionally, CrossFit will cease to license or produce competitions in both countries until further notice.

Khrennikov’s manager stated that “He is sad about the situation and is worried about the people in Ukraine. Roman has been a long time ambassador for an Ukrainian CrossFit endemic tech company and he has friends over there so it is absolutely clear where his heart is at in this matter. He was one of the first Russians across all sports to speak his mind, which he did in a post on his social media the day after the invasion started. Doing posts like this is now, as I understand it, banned by law in his country and it can carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. This understandably puts stress on him as far as addressing anything further related to this situation.”

Roman was forced to make a last minute decision to travel to the USA.

“After four years of trying, [and] to have finally received the visa, I did not want to take any chances. I realized that the only realistic chance I had to salvage my 2022 CrossFit Games season was to travel to America right away and stay there for the rest of the season. It was a hard decision for me for many different reasons.”

He will unfortunately now not be present for the birth of his child.

Snorri Baron Jonsson added, “Roman had to leave behind his pregnant wife, family and friends with no guarantees whether embarking on this journey would actually work out and furthermore with no guarantees on what situations they would be faced with in his absence. Their first child is set to be born in a few weeks and Roman will not be able to be present for that or to be there to assist his wife as she recovers from giving birth. This is an enormous sacrifice for him to make and a definite highlight of his life that he will not be able to experience. However, he and his wife made this decision collectively as she 100 percent supports him in his sporting journey.”

Read the full interview here.

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