Winning the 2024 CrossFit Games didn’t go as James Sprague had imagined.
He certainly didn’t celebrate the way he ordinarily would have in the aftermath of competitor Lazar Đukić’s death during the first event of the competition in Fort Worth, TX.
- In an interview with the Morning Chalk Up, the 22-year-old Sprague talked about the “whirlwinds of ups and downs” he experienced before, during, and immediately after the Games.
These ups and downs included his uncle dying shortly before the Games, Đukić’s tragic death during the competition, and then becoming the Fittest Man on Earth before turning around and getting married, buying a house, and spending his honeymoon in Hawaii.
- “I didn’t know how to process the highs and I didn’t know how to process the lows,” Sprague said, admitting that he felt almost numb for a time. “And all of a sudden, I’m on my honeymoon, and I finally got to slow down and take a breath and it has hit me, everything that has happened.”
And finally, he’s able to celebrate. Quietly.
- “But definitely after the Games, it was like, ‘Ah, this doesn’t feel right.’ I do feel like I earned it, but it was hard…I had my moments where I was super proud and crying and hugging my family…but it was hard to celebrate the full extent of victory given the circumstances,” he said.
The 2024 Difference
After placing 25th during his rookie year as an individual in 2023, Sprague moved from Naples, FL, back home to Washington, where he had been working with coach Matt Torres at Brute Strength Training.
This season, he continued to work with Torres, his coach of six years, in a new environment outside of Spokane. Sprague said the shift from Florida to Washington made all the difference.
- “I had a really awesome professional environment at Brute that helped me learn the ins and outs of how to be a professional athlete, but I’m a guy who thrives under fun. When I have fun, I’m dangerous,” he said.
Sprague said he had the most fun while training this past year, generally working out with two of his best friends, as well as veteran Games athlete Cole Sager. Before her back injury, Katrin Davidsdottir was also part of the group.
Ultimately, the environment is “a lot more sustainable for the kind of athlete I am,” Sprague explained. He said that going from training in-person with Torres to remotely didn’t hurt him at all, as this is how the two began working together for the first three years.
- “I’m very used to it. It works really well for me,” Sprague said about remote coaching.
Though the environment might have been the biggest change for Sprague from 2023 to 2024, he also said that improving his gymnastics capacity and his power output, especially during short workouts, helped him jump from 25th to first in the world.
Sprague pointed to the final event of this year’s Games, a two-part sprint workout with thrusters, chest-to-bar pull-ups, bar muscle-ups, and a yolk-carry, as an example of how far he has come.
In the past, he said this type of workout would have “crushed me.” This time, he finished fifth and fourth, respectively.
- “The under-five-minute workouts, those under-three-minute workouts. I can just trust myself [now] to hold a ballistic pace and not fall off…I have never been able to do that [before]. I have always just fallen apart at the end of those kinds of [workouts],” he said.
James Sprague’s Secret Weapon?
Sprague wore AIRWAAV’s PX1 performance mouthpiece during every event at the 2024 Games except Event 1. This tool is designed for athletes to maximize performance by optimally positioning their jaw and tongue to improve airflow and muscle activation.
Sprague says the mouthpiece helps him get less fatigued during conditioning workouts because it feels like he’s getting 25 percent more oxygen. And when he lifts, the mouthpiece helps him brace harder and get more out of the movements.
- “Squatting, deadlifts, bench, cleans, snatches, you name it. Any lift that I’m doing and I’m trying to get the most out of that lift, I feel like I brace much better when I have the AIRWAAV in,” he said.
He added: “I need it. It’s actually the one gym tool I swear by.”
From Teen to Individual
While Sprague has only competed at the Games twice as an individual, he is not new to the sport. He finished fourth and fifth as a teenager in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
After that, like most male teenage competitors, it took Sprague a few years to hone his fitness enough to get back to the Games as an individual. This time period was crucial for his growth.
- “I needed to find balance in my life and not put my identity in training, and that is what those three years taught me. ‘Hey, CrossFit isn’t’ your everything,’” he said.
To other up-and-coming teenage athletes who find themselves in the position he was, Sprague suggests finding an elite individual athlete who is of a similar build and “molds to your skillset” to learn from and emulate.
For him, this athlete was Brent Fikowski. Both Fikowski and Sprague are 6-foot-2, although Sprague says his legs are longer, while Fikowski has a longer torso.
As Sprague was making the transition from teen to individual, he studied Fikowski and reached out to him whenever he had the chance.
For Sprague, making the jump to the individual division is about so much more than just gaining fitness or improving your strength.
- “Most people think, ‘Oh, I just need to be stronger and then I’ll make the Games.’ It’s not that at all,” Sprague said.
Instead, he says it’s about floor awareness, strategy, and learning how to compose yourself as a competitor. Sprague said that he is so thankful that Fikowski was willing to help him navigate the transition to the big leagues.
- “He has been super cool about just responding and pouring into the up-and-coming generation,” Sprague said. “Same with [Pat] Vellner, same with Cole Sager, coming to train with me all the time. All these guys that are vets want to see the younger guys succeed, so they give us as much as they can. It’s super cool.”
Looking Ahead
Since becoming the Fittest Man on Earth, Sprague has employed a “do what you want” philosophy at the gym for a month rather than following an intentional training program like he does the rest of the season.
- “It’s a long season, so you can’t wear yourself out every day, and you can’t just get too amped for everything,” he said.
This respite won’t last long, though — Sprague is heading to Aberdeen, Scotland, to compete at the Rogue Invitational in November. And he’s already got his eyes on some pretty lofty long-term goals.
- “I have no plans of slowing down. I’m so eager to get back to it and start game planning what the next steps look like,” Sprague said.
He added: “I want to be up there for my entire career. And up there doesn’t necessarily mean winning every year, but I believe I can be in that top 10 the rest of my career, no matter what circumstances come my way or what the workouts are.”
All images courtesy of AIRWAAV
