Mat Fraser and Tia-Clair Toomey Win the 2020 CrossFit Games — and Shatter Several Records in the Process
Major changes to the 2020 CrossFit Games format due to COVID-19 couldn’t stop two of the sport’s most decorated athletes — Mat Fraser and Tia-Clair Toomey — from once again claiming the “Fittest on Earth” title. And the two athletes won in record-breaking fashion.
Fraser and Toomey were dominant in their 2020 CrossFit Games performances, especially the three-day final stage that took place in Aromas, Calif. So much so that Toomey finished first in nine of 12 events, and Fraser was best in 10 of 12.
Their dominant performances also broke several records. For starters, Nike-backed Fraser now holds the record for most consecutive “Fittest on Earth” titles for a male competitor with five, and Nobull-sponsored Toomey earned her fourth win in a row, which added to her own existing record for women. Also, both Toomey and Fraser had a record six consecutive event wins in 2020, Fraser now has 28 all-time event wins and Toomey has 24, the most event wins at a single Games competition moved to 14 for Fraser and 13 for Toomey, and the largest final point differential belongs to Fraser (545) and Toomey (360).
“The most amazing thing about this year’s Games — and this era of CrossFit — is watching the greatest male and greatest female athletes in our sport at their peak and competing with one another across every event,” CrossFit CEO Eric Roza said in a statement. “Some day, a future generation of CrossFit fans will mark the dominance of Mat Fraser and Tia-Clair Toomey as the period when CrossFit emerged as a global sport, riding on the shoulders of two legends who were competing not only for each year’s title but for their place in history.”
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Rounding out the top three finishers for men was Samuel Kwant and Justin Medeiros. The second and third-place women’s finishers were Katrin Davíðsdóttir (also a Nobull athlete) and Kari Pearce.
“The goal we set for ourselves this year was to create the toughest test in the history of the Games, and I really feel like we succeeded,” CrossFit director of sport Dave Castro said in a statement. “The athletes faced 12 scored events over three days, including a range of challenges and surprises, like the end-of-race reversal to re-run the course on the Ranch Loop, the same-day addition of Happy Star, and the hardest event we’ve ever programmed in Atlanta. The athletes tackled and overcame every obstacle we threw at them, and they have earned their honors as the fittest 10 individuals on Earth.”
CrossFit also announced the start date for the 2021 CrossFit Open: Feb. 18, 2021.
