10 min readAT JUST 24 years old, James Sprague has already reached the top of CrossFit. Twice.
He first earned the title of Fittest Man on Earth in 2024, completing a rise through the sport that began when he discovered CrossFit at 12. But the championship came under circumstances no athlete could have prepared for: Competitor Lazar Đukić died during the opening event of the Games, casting a shadow over the competition and leaving Sprague struggling to reconcile his win with the tragedy surrounding it.
Two years later, Sprague won again.
At the 2026 CrossFit Games in San Jose, California, the Adidas athlete took on the most expansive individual competition in Games history: 20 scored events designed to test virtually every dimension of fitness, from strength and gymnastics to endurance, speed and power. Sprague finished with 1,318 points, holding off Dallin Pepper by just 27 points to become a two-time champion.
The win was built less on outright domination than relentless consistency. Sprague remained near the top of the leaderboard across four days of competition, held off repeated challenges from Pepper and entered the final event still needing to protect his lead. A 10th-place finish was enough. Sprague was the Fittest Man on Earth once again.
Sprague has also emerged as part of a generation tasked with carrying CrossFit forward at a crucial moment for the sport. The 2026 Games marked its 20th edition. Hyrox and other hybrid competitions are booming. Run clubs have turned recreational endurance into social competition, and CrossFit itself is confronting questions about accessibility, affordability, and how to attract new athletes without abandoning the methodology that built it.
Men’s Health connected with Sprague via Adidas following his second Games victory to talk about how he trained for the biggest test of his career, the confidence he believes separates him from the field and where CrossFit goes from here.
MEN’S HEALTH: You won your first CrossFit Games in 2024, and now you’ve done it again in 2026. How does becoming a two-time champion feel different from becoming a champion for the first time?
JAMES SPRAGUE: The first time I became a champion, it was under a circumstance that I didn't imagine becoming a champion under. We had a tragedy happen at the CrossFit Games where one of our friends and competitors passed away in an event. There wasn't a lot to be happy about. Even though I achieved this goal that I've set out my entire life and wrapped my entire life around being able to achieve, it didn't feel like I achieved it. This year, under a healthy environment, with everyone safe and the competitors enjoying themselves and the atmosphere brighter and happier, this felt like something I could celebrate and really dwell on and be proud of.
MH: After winning in 2024, you went from chasing the title to being the guy everyone was chasing. How did that change your approach?
JS: The first time I had a breakthrough, which was right before the 2024 win, I started to realize, “Hey, people are trying to beat me now”, and I need to see myself as setting the standard for what's possible in workouts. When I go into each individual competition or workout, how can I maximize my own performance and not compare it to anyone else's? It came down to self-belief. My training is going well. I'm going to continue getting better. As long as I have that self-belief and my training continues to get better, there's no reason I shouldn't be confident enough to stand on top.
MH: What did preparation for the 2026 Games actually look like? Where did you need to become a better athlete?
JS: CrossFit is a mix of strength, gymnastics and monostructural [cardio] work, so you have to be well-versed in all fields. It's the complete Superman of athletes, being a CrossFit Games athlete. I hold my own on all the monostructural stuff, and I'm pretty good at gymnastics. When it comes to top-end strength, that's where I lack compared to the other guys. Most of my training is centered around that weakness. I've been very adamant about attacking my strength and making that a priority: heavy lifts, a lot of muscle accessory work, a lot of hypertrophy stuff just to get bigger, stronger muscles, and then I work a lot on my Olympic lifting. But in 2026, I knew the CrossFit Games were going to be a different beast having 20 tests. In years prior, we had anywhere between 10 to 12. This year being 20, I amped up my volume a lot. I made sure I was getting outside the box, doing weird things. Anything that could come up, I tried to do. I ran up hills. I did a lot more swimming. I went to the track more. I tried to get creative more than I ever have for this Games season.
MH: At this level, everybody is extraordinarily fit. What ultimately separated you from the field?
JS: Confidence. I truly believe no one can beat me. After proving myself for a few years, I know exactly how to maximize each test and how to get there. When I look at a workout, I roadmap it out in my head. What's the best possible time? How do I get there? Can I do that? The answer is yes. Then I just have to do it on the floor. I already did it in my head, so now I can do it on the floor. A lot of it is mental—being able to envision and cast that vision out, and then when you step onto the floor, being very locked in on what's at hand and not letting anything from the crowd or the hype get to your head. I would also say how much I enjoy it. Training has done so much for me. I would even say it saved my life when I was a kid. I was depressed and overweight, and when I started training with my dad, it gave me a sense of hope and purpose.
MH: Was there a moment during the Games when you thought, “I have this”?
SPRAGUE: After Saturday night's back-to-back events, events 16 and 17. I knew the Saturday night events I had to attack with all I had and basically close the door on the guy behind me. After doing that, I felt a lot of confidence going into Sunday that I just had to keep running my race. It's in my control now.
MH: You won your second title as the CrossFit Games celebrated 20 years. Where does CrossFit fit in the larger fitness world today?
JS: CrossFit is versatile. People like to be stuck in this one realm of bodybuilding, or want to train to get strong, or want to train to be fast. When we look at what life requires of us, we're going to need to be ready for random things. CrossFit prepares you for life's biggest challenges. CrossFit gets you ready for the unknown and unknowable in life, and that's why we train for the unknown and unknowable. To me, CrossFit has a place in everyone's training methodology and life because it gets you ready. It's fully scalable. You don't have to be doing all the same things I'm doing as a professional athlete. You, me, and an 85-year-old can come into the same class and get the same stimulus by scaling.
MH: You grew up with CrossFit already established. Does your generation have a different relationship with the sport than the athletes who built its first era?
JS: For sure. The sport's always improving, and the athletes are always getting better. I was 12 years old when I first started, and I watched all the numbers the teenagers were hitting at the CrossFit Games. I was inspired by what was possible as a teenager because I was nowhere near their level. After a year or two of watching it, I started getting closer and closer to what they were doing and realizing, “Oh, I can do that too”. Eventually, I just went all in on the dream and never turned back. My generation of CrossFit is more about carrying the torch. The flame's already been lit by Rich Froning and Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin and Jason Khalipas and Josh Bridges. They lit the match and lit the torch, and now we're just carrying it. How do we keep the sport exciting? We keep showing up and getting fitter and continue pushing what's possible from human performance.
MH: When you look at today's athletes compared with the competitors you watched growing up, what feels different?
JS: The level and the attention to detail. Athletes back then kind of just attacked a workout as hard as they possibly could. It was like, let the wheels fall off. There wasn't a lot of pacing or strategy. Nowadays, athletes are breaking down every single little piece and detail of our workouts. There's so much thinking that goes into our training programs and our approach to competition. That's why we're making these big leaps.
MH: Hyrox is exploding, run clubs are huge, and there are more ways than ever for everyday athletes to compete. Do you see that as competition for CrossFit or a bigger fitness culture CrossFit helped create?
JS: We were the original fitness racing. The CrossFit Games was one of the most original forms of going head-to-head with someone else to test who's fitter. All these evolutions are super niche in their own ways. Hyrox, it's one thing you have to get better at: eight movements and running. American Ninja Warrior, you have to be super agile and fast through an obstacle course. Then there are all these hybrid competitions. It's really cool to see the birth of all these new things. Yet we can't forget our roots. It all came from CrossFit.
MH: Is there anything CrossFit can learn from Hyrox's accessibility without losing what makes CrossFit unique?
JS: What CrossFit needs to continue improving upon is what I voiced earlier: It is for everyone and fully scalable and able to be done by anyone, anywhere. What HYROX and these other races or platforms are doing is showing, Hey, your 85-year-old grandma is doing the race and completing it and is stoked about it and has something to chase now. CrossFit does a great job highlighting elites. I think CrossFit needs to continue doing a better job highlighting the everyday person and what they're doing and what it helps them do in their life outside of the gym. That's what's going to impact the masses because most people aren't looking to compete. Most people are just looking to have better beach muscles and a summer body and be able to get off the toilet easier, quite frankly.
MH: Make the case for CrossFit. What does someone get from walking into a CrossFit box that they can't get elsewhere?
JS: CrossFit has the tightest-knit community. When you're in a gym with people, people are cheering you on, wanting what's best for you and encouraging you. I don't see that in any other gym. You're going to get a family and a community. Two, you're going to get tons of benchmarks to improve upon: your lifts, gymnastics benchmarks, monostructural benchmarks. You're going to have a ton of data points—more than any other sport—to objectively know what you can improve at. And three, if you're in a good gym, you're going to have coaches that help design programs and class workouts to help you achieve those things and improve.
MH: CrossFit has been through different eras, stars, and leadership over these 20 years. What does the sport need to get right over the next five years?
JS: The sport needs to continue putting together really great experiences for affiliates. Affiliates are the heart of CrossFit. If our affiliate growth is good, our sport's thriving. That means more people are coming into boxes, and there's more opportunity for people to come into a gym. CrossFit is expensive, too. Running, training, and buying running shoes is an expensive option. I think accessibility is hard for some people who don't have the funds to pay $150, $200 a month and then buy all the equipment. Making it more accessible, growing affiliates and being able to get more members in the door with their marketing—those three things are going to continue the growth.
MH: If we're sitting down again for the 40th anniversary of the CrossFit Games, what do you hope has completely changed, and what do you hope is exactly the same?
JS: There's not a lot I would change. I'm a big believer that what we're doing is one of the best things possible right now for our sport. The thing I would like to see change is the season structure for how to get to the CrossFit Games. It's changing every year. There's a new way, there's a new format. Quarterfinals, semifinals, they're here, they're gone. It'd be nice to have one uniform thing that doesn't change and is always predictable for an athlete. Otherwise, I want to see everything stay the same. I love our community. I love what it does for people. I love the success stories and testimonies of people's lives after they step into a gym. My life's one of them.
MH: You're 24 years old and already a two-time champion. What are you chasing now?
JS: Keep doing what I do best and just being consistent. Now that I know I can win, that's the standard. Not winning wouldn't mean I couldn't still be very happy going out there and giving my 100 percent best. But I want to keep pushing the needle and bettering what I did this year. I think I can keep winning because if I beat my last-year self, I can win again. I need to analyze everything I did in this last year that worked, everything that didn't work, and take it back to the drawing board. The 2027 vision is to let this year be a shell of who I'm going to be next year.
This interview was edited for clarity and content.
Danielle Bitts, NASM CWC and CPT, is a journalist with over a decade of experience within health and fitness. She’s the former VP of Brand and Editor-In-Chief of Bodybuilding.com, was a founding creative producer for the Spartan Race media team, and is now the Founder of Perfect Days Collective, an experiential wellness brand focused on human evolution.
Danielle’s completed three 70.3 Ironmans, 1 marathon and over 14 half marathons. She’s a former Division 1 athlete and has competed in Taekwondo, Olympic weightlifting, CrossFit, long distance swimming and has summited Mt. Whitney as well as completed the Salcantay trail in Peru.
