7 Top Male Athletes to Watch at the 2022 CrossFit Games 

The 2022 CrossFit Games is around the corner. These are the top male athletes to watch at the Fittest on Earth competition.

Since its first edition in 2007, the Games have grown from a small competition at the historic ranch in Aromas, California, to an international celebration of fitness where the CrossFit community gathers to witness the fight for the title of the Fittest on Earth.

A total of 40 top athletes, who have battled for their place at the Games and have demonstrated their strength, will arrive to Madison, Wisconsin, to fight for the title of the Fittest Men on Earth.  The final stage of the 2022 competition season for which everyone is anxiously waiting will be held from August 3 to 7.

In this article, we are going to tell you which are the 7 top male Athletes to watch during NOBULL CrossFit Games 2022 – athletes who will undoubtedly make us enjoy the best of CrossFit this August.

Top Male Athletes to Watch at the 2022 CrossFit Games

1. Justin Medeiros

The first of our top male Athletes to watch during the CrossFit Games 2022.

Justin Medeiros took off as a professional CrossFit athlete in 2019-2020

season, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been trying to get to the top for years. In 2019 he participated in the first sanctioned event of the season -CrossFit Filthy 150,  winning the competition and earning his pass to the 2020 Games.

Medeiros won the 2020 rookie of the year title by placing third in the Games. That year the final was held, because of the COVID pandemic, at the CrossFit Ranch with only 5 athletes in each individual category.

It was then when the entire CrossFit world began to take this young Athlete seriously. He won the ROGUE Invitational 2021 and it was at that moment, with Mat Fraser retired, that many began to comment that a new era in CrossFit – the “Medeiros Era” – had begun.

He was proclaimed winner of the NOBULL CrossFit Games 2021 being the youngest athlete in history to do so – his first Games title in his second year of participation.

2. Lazar Dukic

Lazar Dukic is undoubtedly one of the promises of CrossFit and one of the top male athletes of the moment.

Lazar discovered CrossFit during an exchange program in the USA. At that time he was playing water polo. One day his roommate, a Serbian CrossFit competitor, encouraged him to do the Murph. Lazar ended up destroyed, he didn’t even finish the iconic Hero WOD. This failure motivated him and from that moment on, he never stopped practising CrossFit.

Source: Courtesy of Lazar Dukic

Today, the 5x Fittest in Serbia is undoubtedly one of those Athletes who goes to the Games with a clear intention to win. He has qualified to fight for the title of the Fittest on Earth 3 times. In his first year, he rejected the invitation saying he didn’t feel ready to go to Madison. He said he didn’t want to be just another athlete, he wanted to be an athlete to remember, the kind that beats the big boys. Which he did in 2021, finishing ninth in the Finals.

Check out our exclusive interview with him here and here.

3. Saxon Panchik

Another one of the top male Athletes to watch, Saxon Panchik had the best result of the Open worldwide. We saw him go head to head in 22.2 with CrossFit Games winner Justin Medeiros.

After his 5th place finish in the last CrossFit Games, the youngest of the Panchik saga decided to move with his family to Nashville to join the PRVN program, coached by Shane Orr, husband of five-time CrossFit Games champion Tia-Clair Toomey.

It’s amazing how much this 25-year-old athlete has accomplished in a sport that came into his and his brother’s lives as a method of rehab after a serious accident. It is worth noting that Saxon belongs to a true CrossFit family as he and his siblings compete in the sport.

4. Guilherme Malheiros

The latest edition of the CrossFit Games has left us with the impressive victory of Justin Medeiros at the age of 22, but also the irruption of another young top male athlete, the Brazilian Guilherme Malheiros, 21 years old, who became one of the favourites of the audience.

Since 2019 he can proudly claim to be the Fittest in Brazil. That year he finished in 48th position at the Games to return in 2021 occupying the spectacular 7th position. His evolution in just two years has stunned the CrossFit community.

Malheiros won several events at the Games, got the crowd in his pocket with his friendliness and totalled 958 points, finishing ahead of athletes much more experienced than him like Noah Ohlsen, Scott Panchik and Jeffrey Adler.

So it looks like we have the younger guys ready to fill the gap left by the great Mat Fraser. Will Malheiros in the future be a threat to Justin Medeiros? Perhaps we will find out when the Games begin.

5. Willy Georges

2020 and 2021 were not good years for Willy Georges. The first one was because of the COVID pandemic and the second one was because of a shoulder injury that kept this French athlete away from the competition floor for a long time.

But it seems that the bad luck ended this season with his participation in Dubai CrossFit Championship. From this competition Georges’ road to the Games was fast – he became the Fittest in France, the second European athlete in the Quarterfinals and finally won the Strength in Depth Semifinals, a victory that opened the doors to the CrossFit Games where he will undoubtedly be one of the top male athletes to watch this week.

6. Roman Khrennikov

Roman Khrennikov is considered one of the fittest Russian CrossFit athletes of all time. Last year he won the Madrid CrossFit Championship and the Dubai CrossFit Championship.

Despite his enormous success as a professional athlete, Khrennikov only managed to compete in the CrossFit Games once in his life in 2020 when the Games were held partially online due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Russian CrossFit athlete has a long history of qualifying for the CrossFit Games, however, he never got the authorization to travel to the United States because his Visa was always denied. In 2018 he won the European Regionals, in 2019 he placed 5th at the Dubai CrossFit Championship and in 2021 after placing 1st in the Last-Chance Qualifier. On all these occasions he was invited to the Games, but could not travel to compete in the North American city of Madison, Wisconsin.

This year Khrennikov will have the opportunity to compete in CrossFit Games live for the first time in his life and is considered by many to be one of the top male athletes.

7. Jayson Hopper

This promising young athlete discovered CrossFit in college when he took part in a preparatory class for the college football team.  He had already heard about the sport and knew that CrossFit was as good for strength as it was for cardio training, and if he wanted to train properly for football, he needed both. It only took a few weeks for him to get passionate about the sport and to watch all the CrossFit documentaries.

Hopper didn’t jump onto the CrossFit scene as one of the top male athletes until 2021 when he won the Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge. Even Mat Fraser was amazed by the performance of the young athlete who follows the HWPO training program.

These are our top male Athletes to watch during the NOBULL CrossFit Games 2022, would you add anyone to this list?

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