After nine CrossFit Games appearances, three podium finishes, and six top-fives, one of the sport’s most decorated athletes, Brent Fikowski, will take the competition floor for the final time at the 2024 Rogue Invitational next weekend in Aberdeen, Scotland.
In an exclusive interview with the Morning Chalk Up, Fikowski explained that, at 33 years old and after a decade at the top of the sport, “it just feels like the right time to retire,” he said.
This became clear to Fikowski after the recent TYR Cup exhibition in Huntington Beach, CA, at TYR WZA SoCal when he had the chance to meet one of his idols, Joshua Medcalf, the author of Chop Wood Carry Water: How to Fall in Love with the Process of Becoming Great.
- Medcalf told Fikowski: “Be relentless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.”
Fikowski took Medcalf’s words to heart and realized what is really exciting him these days is his work with the Professional Fitness Athletes’ Association (PFAA).
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Ultimately, Fikowski’s commitment to professionalizing the sport has reached a point where it is “overpowering my level of excitement to continue just focusing on competing,” he explained.
- “For months, I have been splitting my time between being an athlete and PFAA initiatives, and I have decided to make the PFAA into the success I know it can be for the next group of athletes that come after me. This is how I need to spend all of my efforts,” Fikowski added.
Though Fikowski will no longer be able to serve on the PFAA’s board of directors, as it is made up only of competing athletes, he intends to embrace his role as the PFAA President, a position he was elected to by the PFAA board.
The ultimate goal, as it has always been for Fikowski, is to help CrossFit athletes become true professional athletes.
- “That needs to be a full-time focus for me,” he said.
What Retirement Means for Brent Fikowski
Unlike other sports, the word retirement is a murky one in CrossFit.
- When an athlete retires from football or rugby, they generally stop playing football or rugby (unless their last name is “Favre” or “Brady.”)
But when a CrossFit Games athlete retires from CrossFit, they continue to do CrossFit, and often, they’re still competitive despite their best efforts to scale it back.
Remember the supposedly retired Scott Panchik in 2022?
- The nine-time CrossFit Games vet announced his retirement after the 2021 CrossFit Games. Yet, there he was at the 2022 Semifinals competing because he was still fit enough to compete with the best in the world, even though he dialed back his training considerably.
Fikowski, though, is adamant you will not see him accidentally qualify for the 2025 CrossFit Games.
- “I don’t plan on doing the Open,” he said. “When I do something, I try to be all in on that thing…[so] moving forward, I will be training a lot less. My vision for that is getting in the gym and setting an alarm for 60 to 90 minutes and getting out, and that’s my exercise for the day.”
That being said, Fikowski admits the word retired is nuanced, as it suggests he’s going to sit back and relax.
- “Obviously, the word retire, I suppose, implies that I’m no longer going to work, which is certainly not the case. But as far as being a competitive athlete, that side of my career is over. I’m switching careers, is the better way to put it,” he said. “I want to spend that same level of focus [I did as an athlete] on new things.”
A Look Back at Fikowski’s Career
Fikowski first made a name for himself in 2013 when, at 22 years old, he finished sixth at the Australia Regionals behind big-name Australians at the time, Rob Forte, Chad Mackay, and Brandon Swan.
He was stoked.
- “I would say I probably overachieved…I was very proud and excited,” he said of his first Regionals experience.
But then his expectations grew.
The following year, Fikowski, who moved home to Canada in the interim, missed qualifying for the Games by one spot at the Canada West Regionals.
A year later, a similar story: Fikowski placed seventh at the West Regionals, two spots away from the cut line. He started to question whether, at 6-foot-2, he was too tall for the sport.
- “After the 2015 regionals, I was thinking, maybe I should just do rowing. Maybe this isn’t for me. Am I built for this? Is this trending in a direction where I just can’t keep up?” he said of his thoughts at the time.
Fikowski was heartbroken to have come close yet again. But looking back a decade later, he thinks these early disappointments were a blessing.
- “Had I made it in 2014, or had I made it in 2015, I don’t think that I would have had the same success or longevity in my athletic career [as I did],” he said.
In 2016, Fikowski finally punched his ticket to the Games when he won the West Regional and went on to finish fourth at the Games in his rookie season.
After that, Fikowski became a mainstay in the sport, qualifying for the next eight CrossFit Games, logging three podium finishes along the way, including a third-place finish at the most recent Games in Fort Worth, TX.
Fikowski earned the nickname “The Professor” during his time in the sport because of his methodical and tactical approach, his attention to detail, and his constant fine-tuning of his game.
Worth Noting: Fikowski has finished in the top four at the last eight major events he has competed in:
- 2024 CrossFit Games — 3rd
- 2024 North America West Semifinals — 2nd
- 2024 TYR Wodapalooza — 2nd
- 2023 Rogue Invitational — 4th
- 2023 CrossFit Games — 4th
- 2023 North America West Semifinals — 2nd
- 2023 TYR Wodapalooza — 4th
- 2022 Dubai Fitness Championship — 3rd
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Ultimately, Fikowski said he feels like he’s “the fittest I have ever been.”
- “I’m still improving. And my coach and I have definitely cracked the code these last two years on what it takes for me to be highly competitive and successful, which is a really good feeling,” he added.
Considering this, we had to ask: Why retire when you’re clearly still at the top of your game?
Fikowski admits the decision hasn’t been easy, but he can’t ignore what’s setting his soul on fire.
- “It’s a little bittersweet to leave some of that progress [I have been making], but I’m just really excited about new challenges. I think that’s the big thing. Yeah, you could always do one more. There’s always one more event whenever you choose to move on from something. I’m not being pushed away or forced away. I’m being pulled to another calling,” Fikowski said.
He added: “I’m proud of what I have done. But I think I can do more for the sport and more for the athletes, my friends, and my peers not competing than I can while competing.”
What Fikowski Will Remember Most
When Fikowksi looks back on the entirety of his career and thinks about what he is most proud of, he is adamant that there isn’t one performance or result that stands out.
- “It’s not so much the singular moments that are the things I’m the most proud of, like a specific workout or a specific trophy,” he said.
Instead, the lessons he learned along the way, the progress he made, and the hurdles he overcame at certain times in his career make him the most proud.
Fikowski pointed to the 2019 and 2020 seasons — when he had two of his lowest back-to-back finishes at the Games (23rd and 15th) — and his rebound in 2021 to finish third in the world as a notable example.
- “The comeback in 2021 was very, very sweet,” he said.
Performances aside, many of the moments he said he holds closest to his heart have nothing to do with the performances at all.
- “It’s little moments that I really cherish with other athletes…like having a laugh with Jayson Hopper in between the heavy sandbags at the 2022 Games,” he said.
Or that time in 2018 when Ben Smith rallied a bunch of athletes during the bike event at the Games to catch the group ahead of them.
- “And we were like, ‘Yes, Ben,’ and we all sprinted to then catch them,” he said.
It’s these little moments “that maybe the camera doesn’t capture…that maybe aren’t those highlight reel, slow motion moments,” that Fikowski said he would cherish the most as he steps away from competition.
- “Sure, the memories of events are nice, but the relationships are what truly last,” he added.
One Last Hoorah
Fans will have one last chance to see Fikowski on the floor next weekend in Aberdeen, Scotland, at the 2024 Rogue Invitational, where he said he’s planning on taking a “Bob Barker approach.”
- “He retired from The Price is Right, and he treated his last show just like any other show. He ended it the same way,” Fikowski said.
In that vein, Fikowski intends to show up, as he always does, and compete as hard as he can.
- “I’m not going to be blowing kisses mid-workout or something like that. You’re going to see Brent’s pain face,” he said. “I’m still going to treat it the same way [I always do]. I’m still going to make notes. I’m still going to learn from each event…and I’m just going to compete really, really hard.”
And after that, he will move on to the next chapter, where he will give it everything he has, just like he always has as an athlete.
- “I have never defined myself as an athlete. I am a person, and competing in this sport has been my outlet for high performance…But I have never really defined myself as an athlete,” he said.
“I’m just Brent.”
As for how he hopes the CrossFit community will remember him, Fikowski shrugged and said that’s not for him to decide.
- “For me, sports is unscripted storytelling, where the audience gets to make up their mind on the meaning of what they’re watching,” Fikowski said.
The Professor concluded: “I have always just tried to do my best, but I’m happy for people to make up their own minds on how they view what I have done. But hopefully, I have put on a bit of a show.”
Yes, you have, Brent. Thank you.
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Featured Image: Scott Freymond