Rich Froning On Mat Fraser & Returning to Individual Competition

On August 3rd a video titled “Inside the Leaderboard: Fraser’s Margin of Victory” was posted on games.crossfit.com. In it, Games analyst Tommy Marquez compares the newly crowned Fittest Man on Earth to the 4x champ Rich Froning. Since Fraser’s win a few weeks ago, many in the CrossFit community have done the same, while dreaming of a 2017 Games where Froning competes head to head with Fraser on the individual stage. Well, Froning heard the rumblings and decided to end the speculation quickly. Enter Rich Froning (from his Instagram post):

“*Soapbox alert*
We’re around 2 weeks out from the CrossFit Games and I’m already tired of the Fraser/Froning comparisons. To do that I think is incredibly disrespectful to what @mathewfras worked for this year, and in all honesty you’re comparing apples to oranges. Every year is its own unique test, and is hard to compare to the year before. What Mat did this year was nothing short of amazing and impressive to watch. For those calling for my return to individual I’m going to go ahead and tell you that won’t happen. Mat and many other athletes woke up everyday for a year with their sole purpose for that day to become the fittest man on earth, I know this because it was my sole purpose for 4 years and that’s what it takes to win the CrossFit Games. That is no longer my sole purpose for my day, I now have something better… To be the best father and husband I can be, which is a constant battle, that I am trying to get better at everyday. I feel that if I returned to individual I would not be able to have my full attention of training, which is what it takes to win, nor would I want to. On a team I am able to be a father and a husband first and still be a productive member for my team. For those still not satisfied, sorry that’s all I’ve got for you. *Step down from soapbox*”

Photo courtesy of Reebok