With the departure of five-time CrossFit Games champion Mat Fraser, the men’s division of the sport has never been more wide open. Fraser’s walk off into the sunset means dozens of competitors now have a legitimate shot he took from them for half a decade.
Someone new is going to emerge victorious this season, and as the semi-finals are about to get official, fans already have their two favourites picked out.
Two names within the world of CrossFit continuously come up for two reasons: one, who should win the 2021 CrossFit Games, and two, who will win the CrossFit Games.
The first is the sport’s undeniable fan favourite, Miami boy Noah Ohlsen. The 30-year-old CrossFit Games veteran has the distinction of being the athlete who got the closest to dethroning Fraser.
At the 2019 CrossFit Games, he wore the leader’s jersey for a substantial portion of the weekend, and ended up coming second to Fraser by 35 points, which is a razor thin margin in CrossFit.
Ohlsen’s lovability is high because he loves everyone, and beams with a positive energy throughout competitions.
Case in point: after the gruelling swim paddle event at the 2019 CrossFit Games, while in a neck-and-neck race with Fraser for the title, Ohlsen was spotted signing autographs right after he finished, personally thanking fans for coming out to the event.
Then last year at the 2020 CrossFit Games, which featured five athletes in the final in-person competition, Ohlsen delivered a number of catchy, laid back, surfer-mentality one-liners for the cameras given there were no spectators to muddle the microphones.
The best of them all, after deadlifting 540 pounds in event three, which clearly took every ounce of strength, instead of roaring like a lion, he walked off the stage with a huge smile on his face.
“Whoa, yikes, got a little funky with it there.”
If you took Fraser out of CrossFit, Ohlsen may have very well been the sport’s top athlete over the past five years. He came fourth last year, sixth in 2018, fourth in 2017, and then eighth twice in 2015 and 2014.
His consistency has been amazing dating back eight years, which is exactly the same amount of time Fraser has been in the sport.
Ohlsen was quite candid in a recent podcast interview about lining up against Fraser, stating that at times, it wasn’t the best of feelings.
“I will say, and this is kind of being vulnerable again and I think these are things that athletes are not supposed to share but I don’t mind, there were times throughout the last four or five seasons that it was discouraging knowing I had to go up against him, but most of the time it was inspiring.”
Now without Fraser looming large over the competition, Ohlsen has a clear path to the title, with little standing in his way other than himself, and maybe one other guy.
Which brings us to a second fan favourite, Patrick Vellner. He said he believes Ohlsen probably got the biggest boost from Fraser announcing he was walking away from the sport in February.
“Someone like Noah is likely to get the emotional burst from this because he is the type of guy who rides highs and lows really hard, he might get really excited by this and be superhuman for a bit,” said the 30-year-old Vellner in an interview with the Post.
Vellner’s personality is similar to Ohlsen’s, and so is his record, which includes three podium finishes dating back to 2016. He’s not intense like Fraser was, nor reserved as someone like Samuel Kwant or Jeffrey Adler are.
Instead he tends to float through events with an “aw shucks” Canadian mentality, peaking at the right times and showcasing his strength without all the bravado.
One of his most memorable moments came at the end of the 2019 Dubai CrossFit Championship. Fellow Canadian Brent Fikowski took the contest, but Vellner won the crowd’s hearts after the last event.
One of the emcees announced that a boy in the stands was celebrating his birthday, and also had cake. He was asked who his favourite CrossFit athlete was and he said it was Vellner.
After the competition was over, Vellner went over to say happy birthday to the boy, and was offered a piece. Normally CrossFit athletes are super strict with their diets, but Vellner obliged, grabbing a piece and eating it as the ceremony begun, and while he was doing media interviews.
The Fraser era is over. The intensity and competitiveness the now retired champion exhibited brought a serious edge to the sport. He had a take-no-prisoners approach and was often sharp in post-event interviews. He was, and still is, an excellent spokesperson for the sport, but was never a fan favourite.
The window is about to close for both Ohlsen and Vellner. Thirty is already over the hill for a sport that is trending younger every year. One, maybe both, may get a swansong this season, or the next, and then it’s likely a new crop of talent will brush them aside. Ohlsen or Vellner, which of these lovable characters will get to put the cherry on top of their CrossFit cake, and eat it too?
