DALLAS — The CrossFit Games resumed on Friday, a day after competitors Lazar Dukic has passed away after he went underwater and did not resurface during a swimming competition in a Texas lake.
In a post on the social platform X, CrossFit Games officials said they and the entire CrossFit community were “devastated,” and while their first instinct was to “shut down,” “isolate,” and “grieve,” they decided that “the best way to grieve is together.”
After the rest of Thursday’s events were canceled, competition resumed with a moment of silence and an announcement that this year’s games, which run through Sunday, would be dedicated to Dukic. Many of the athletes who lined up for the ceremony were in tears.
Here are things you need to know about the tragedy and the CrossFit Games:
Dukic was a 28-year-old competitor from Serbia. The CrossFit Games reported in its post on X that, in addition to being “one of the most talented competitors in our sport,” he was “a son, a brother, and a friend to virtually everyone who knew him.” It called Dukic “fiercely competitive, incurably cheerful, and uncommonly kind.”
Dukic’s biography on the CrossFit website says he was the third-ranked CrossFit athlete in Serbia and 88th globally. He finished ninth in his 2021 Games debut, eighth the following season and ninth in 2023.
Dukic, who also played water polo, was an athlete ambassador for FITAID, a sports drink brand, said Gijs Spaans, the general manager of FITAID in Europe. Spaans said Dukic was a driven athlete and “just a really, really good guy,” the kind of person who “lights up the room.”
Fort Worth police said officers working the event were notified that a participant was missing after he was last seen in the water and had not resurfaced. Firefighters were called to the scene around 8 a.m., and the dive team pulled Dukic’s body from Marine Creek Lake just after 10 a.m.
The Tarrant County coroner has not yet released Dukic’s cause of death.
Before the 800-meter (0.5-mile) swim, participants completed a 3.5-mile (5.6-kilometer) run.
Kaitlin Pritchard, a spectator, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that she was at the finish line of the swim event when she saw Dukic approaching. She said he was one of the swimmers she had noticed and had changed their swimming patterns, which she believed was because they were tired from running.
Pritchard saw people on paddleboards on the lake, who she assumed were lifeguards, but she didn’t see anyone jump into the water to rescue anyone, she said.
CrossFit CEO Don Faul said in a statement to The Associated Press on Friday that safety is “of the utmost importance” and that officials have “strict protocols in place for every event during the CrossFit Games.” He added that the organization has launched an investigation into Dukic’s death that will include “an independent, third-party investigation.”
The day before, Faul said at a news conference that security personnel were on site at the swimming event, but he did not provide additional details. CrossFit did not immediately respond to a request for details about the security plan.
CrossFit was founded over 20 years ago in a garage gym in Santa Cruz, California.
The website says it is a fitness program that features workouts that involve “constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movements.” CrossFit said Friday it has more than 12,000 affiliated gyms in nearly 150 countries.
According to Darin White, director of the Center for Sports Analytics at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, CrossFit’s popularity is due to the community spirit created by the intense workouts.
“It’s very community oriented, you’re part of the gym, you’re part of that community and you encourage each other,” White said.
According to White, training activities include everything from weightlifting and gymnastics to running, swimming and rowing.
The mission of the Games, which were first held in 2007, is to find “the fittest athletes in the world,” according to the CrossFit website. They change each year, and often details are not announced until just beforehand. Competitors come from all over the world.
The city of Fort Worth said on its website that this year’s games are expected to draw 10,000 people.
White said ESPN’s coverage of the CrossFit Games in recent years has helped spread its popularity around the world. He said the Games are similar to a decathlon, but with a dozen or more separate events, and sometimes athletes don’t know what their next event is until minutes before it starts.
According to CrossFit, more than 343,000 competitors from around the world competed in this year’s CrossFit Open, the first phase of their competitive season, which culminates in the crowning of champions.
___
Miller reported from Oklahoma City. Associated Press writer Josh Kelety in Phoenix and AP Sports Writer Pete Iacobelli in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed.