Following Lazar Dukic’s Death, Here's How CrossFit Can Move Forward
The 2024 CrossFit Games were overshadowed by tragedy when Serbian athlete Lazar Dukic tragically passed away during the opening event. In response, 9-time CrossFit Games competitor Brent Fikowski has voiced his concerns, revealing that he had previously urged CrossFit to enhance safety standards and provide clear guidelines regarding health and safety. However, Fikowski feels that these concerns were largely disregarded or inadequately addressed.
In a recent podcast with Men’s Health, Brent Fikowski spoke at length about how he had formed the Professional Fitness Athletes Association (PFAA) to push for more stringent safety protocols, standards, and a "fairer playing field" for athletes. Now, in a statement posted to Instagram shortly after the conclusion of the 2024 CrossFit Games, Fikowski revealed how the PFAA lobbied for more information on the safety protocols for this year’s Games, citing concerns about the temperature and weather following the Games' move from California to Texas. He also mentioned that many veteran athletes offered their services to help consult on matters related to standards and safety.
Fikowski feels the organisers of the CrossFit Games were unhelpful in these matters, stating: 'While I know that CrossFit does not aim to hurt anybody, when they say, "safety is our number one priority," I simply have not believed this to be true for a long time. I believe their top priority has always been their subjective definition of 'the test' and the creative freedom they wish to exert when inventing these workouts. Athlete safety comes, at best, a paltry second, and this past weekend, that strategy went terribly wrong with the most tragic of consequences."
Fikowski detailed a timeline of communication with the CrossFit Games organisers, where the Professional Fitness Athletes’ Association (PFAA) sought clear information on how many events would be held outdoors. The aim was to ensure that athletes, particularly those less accustomed to the extreme Texas heat, had ample time to acclimate and prepare accordingly
Fikowski, shared: 'The risk of being unprepared for the heat and performing outdoors is frightening. Ideally, we would like a commitment on the number of events to be held outdoors, their duration, and the time of day they are to be performed.'
CrossFit's answer: 'We are not releasing event details at this time, but we assure you that athlete safety is our number one priority.'
Fikowski goes on to say that the PFAA provided CrossFit with a two-page document, sharing their concerns in more detail and 'providing simple language they could use to give athletes enough detail to know how to acclimatise safely without divulging secrets of the workouts.' He asks elsewhere in the statement, 'is the secrecy of your workouts more important than increasing the ability of an athlete to prepare for the heat safely?'
Safety Part of a Larger Problem
Fikowski believes that these safety failings are part of a larger institutional problem and attitude towards competition feedback. 'When we propose constructive feedback, the sentiment we're left with is, "Don't worry, we got this. Just trust us. We have a better understanding of this than you do." The problem is no one on their team has competed or coached in this sport at a high level. Also, they won't let athletes be involved in the process because everything they do has to be shrouded in mystery,' says Fikowski. 'It's not a secret that many competing athletes resent the organisation. Then, every so often, when things seem to get too bad, we're asked to "bury the hatchet" and come back to the table to collaborate.'
In a sad moment of reflection, Fikowski adds that his motivation for lobbying for these standards and changes had always been to avoid historical, repeated incidents: 'I was worried about avoiding many of the same safety issues we've tried to solve in the past: a knee injury caused by doing a max back squat on a wet wooden platform in the rain; an injury from landing on a coiled climbing rope.' He adds that the passing of his friend Dukic was a tragic and unexpected occurrence. 'I never thought it would be something as bad as one of our friends drowning in a lake,' he says, 'with the death of Lazar, the trust is gone.'
Moving forward, Fikowski believes there's a lot of work to do. "I plan to play a leadership role via the PFAA to keep pushing for change in a sport I know can be so much better in every way, even if my love of competing has dimmed,' he says. 'We need change, and I, with my colleagues at the PFAA, hope to lead the way on behalf of all athletes, past, present, and future, to prevent something like this from happening again in a sport we love.'
CrossFit's Response
In response to the passing of Dukic CrossFit released an official statement containing the following: 'We are devastated by the passing of Lazar Dukic. Our hearts are with Lazar's entire family, friends, and fellow athletes. Out of respect for the family and in cooperation with the Fort Worth Police Department, we will share updates when possible.' As part of various tribute to Dukic across platforms and during the games, CrossFit shared : 'Lazar was one of our sport's most talented competitors, but was much more than an athlete. He was a son, a brother, and a friend to practically everyone who knew him. Fiercely competitive, incurably joyful and uncommonly kind, Lazar was the sun of any room he was in. The loss of his light is inconceivable.'
The CrossFit Games were suspended following the incident last Thursday, before recommencing on Friday, after an official tribute to Dukic. CrossFit are yet to comment on Fikowski's statement.
The PFAA Demand Safety Changes and Resignation of Dave Castro
Following on from Fikowski's personal statements, the PFAA has published a statement and three demands for CrossFit, Inc. The group wants:
Transparency around the investigation of Đukić's death.
The formation of a new independent safety team.
The resignation of Dave Castro from his role on the Sport Team.
Fikowski spoke to Men's Health at length to share just what he and the PFAA are seeking to change, and how they believe CrossFit can move forward by protecting its athletes. Here are his words, edited and condensed for clarity:
'The nature foundation of our sport, and what makes our sport unique, is that we don't know what we're going to do. You sign up for a competition at every level, and there's a level of mystery when it comes to what events you're going to compete in. Sometimes you know about those a week or two in advance. Sometimes you know about them an hour in advance. And there's an assumption that if something went wrong, we would be saved. We were wrong.
'So that's the fundamental breaking of trust. If you look back at my Instagram post from a week ago, it's clear to see that the trust in a lot of other areas was thin. We've spoken with athletes that have competed at different CrossFit competitions over the years, and many have stories that mirror the interactions that I've had with the staff at CrossFit, Inc. Unfortunately, it's a tale as old as time in many sports, where those that hold the power and organise the events treat athletes as disposable. "Oh, if you don't like it, someone else will take your place. You're lucky to be here." It's a very common attitude, and that's why athlete associations or athlete unions are formed to look out for the best interests of the athletes.
'[CrossFit Inc.'s] response over the past four years has been mixed at best, but often dismissive. "We know better." It's just a general sentiment and a common tone, and then it's a pattern of behaviour of not listening to concerns. No one on that team has competed at a high level or coached at a high level in this sport, and many of them haven't competed in any sport at a high level. So there's a desire for us to have our experiences and our understandings of this sport that is very new – and that has changed a lot in 10 to 15 years as to the caliber of the athletes and how we train – and trying to get that voice into the room where decisions are being made.
'What we're doing now with these demands, this is the worst possible scenario. We've always sought to engage with [CrossFit] in a very professional manner. Create clear lines of communication, keep things private, create systems together, work collaboratively. Having to bring this out into the public is the end result of years of this systematic behaviour and an unwillingness to engage.
'This statement and these three demands – this is the beginning. We say more must be done to change the cultural, strategic direction of the sport, and that is very important. We emphasised that as we prepared this statement and spoke with multiple athletes, and that was something they wanted to drive home. It cannot just be, "Hey, these are the three demands," and they abide by them, and both sides go back to operating as we did in years past. That is not our expectation. This is going to be part of a continued effort to force for some very large change in the coming weeks and months.
'Discussions [about athletes leaving CrossFit] are taking place. When most of the athletes that we help represent are asked, "What do you do?" They'll say, "I'm a CrossFit athlete." So that word, that name association, that brand, still has value to us, and we're not here to try to destroy that brand. That's not our intent of these demands. We want to save the brand. However, we believe that there are individuals that work at CrossFit and there is a culture there that needs a very large shift. That is our perception, and it's a perception held by not just athletes, but many others that are involved in this industry. So we're looking for options where there's a future that can involve the brand and involve the word CrossFit, but we're also looking at options that do not if that's what it comes to.
'If CrossFit, Inc. feels that [Director of the CrossFit Games Dave Castro] has a role in affiliates and training, they're welcome to keep him in that role. When it comes to the Sport Team, this breach of trust regarding the death of Lazar—even during the weekend [of the Games] there was more than one incident that represented a consistent pattern of behavior in which we felt that he's communicated to us one message, and then subsequently presented to the public a different message. Along with that the willingness to cooperate, the willingness to communicate with athletes on an individual basis, on a collective basis, and a collective basis with the PFAA—it hasn't been there. Looking ahead, so many large changes need to happen. We don't feel like those can happen with Dave Castro as part of the Sport Team.
'We want a sport where there's an expectation that they want you to push hard. We want you to go as fast as possible, and we're going to create a safe environment for you to do that. And if you maybe get overheated, or if you're struggling in the water, we're going to be there for you. If you tear your hands, we're going to have someone there to help patch you up. That's the expectation, and that feels like the lowest expectation that we could ask for from this competition. We're not asking for free snacks, right? The next level to that is, we want to figure out who the best is. You don't need to hurt us or put us through more than is necessary to sort us from first to last. We don't need to do 10,000 reps when 1,000 reps would be appropriate.
'Lazar had a great sense of humour. That's what always stuck out for me. Big smile, always talking trash – in the best way. We needed a European representative [for the PFAA], so I sort of roped him into it. He was happy to do it. I think it stemmed from Lazar and his brother [Luka], they wanted competing in this sport to be their primary source of income. They would compete as frequently or more frequently than most other men at their level. They'd travel around Europe and do competitions—and the longer you compete, the more you see. A lot of times, the culture of how competitive organisers treat athletes is mirrored by how CrossFit even portrays it in their media. It's this, "Hey, if you don't like it, leave," attitude.
'But Lazar was a friend, and a very good athlete. He was one of the few athletes that would come up to my coach and genuinely have a conversation with him. It wasn't just "hi, bye,"—it was genuine. I always wanted to spend more time with him. It's hard when you're competing. I always thought that I'd get to spend more time with him when I was done competing. It's hard that he's gone.'
Men's Health reached out to CrossFit, Inc. for comment on the demands and but as of publishing have received no comment.
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