Brent Fikowski Joins TYR Sport Team

Seven-time CrossFit Games athlete and two-time podium finisher Brent Fikowski is the latest athlete to join the TYR Sport team.

Remind me: TYR has been around since 1985, predominantly as an elite swimming brand, but in 2021 they started moving aggressively into the CrossFit space.

• This included developing a line of high-performance training apparel and training footwear for CrossFit athletes before quickly going after some of the top names in the sport, signing four-time podium finisher Pat Vellner, and 11-time Games competitor Annie Thorisdottir last season, among other Games athletes.
• TYR also became the title sponsor of the prestigious TYR Wodapalooza competition last season, a title they continue to hold today. 

What Fikowski is saying: Of course Fikowski, known as a meticulous, cerebral athlete, vetted all of TYR’s apparel and footwear before becoming a TYR ambassador, and they passed with flying colors.

• “There have been companies that have reached out to me for potential partnerships with a product that I don’t believe in, and I had said no, but the TYR products, I do believe in…I love the apparel. I love the shoes,” he said.

That being said, his ultimate decision to sign with TYR went way beyond the fact that they make nice clothes.

One of Fikowski’s hopes is to continue to professionalize the sport of CrossFit, which includes building the sport’s fan base and building more professional athletes. And he truly feels that TYR can help take the sport to the next level, he explained. 

• TYR is “actively working to make the sport better, to make it bigger, to be involved at a smaller level and on a massive level at the same time, and I wanted to be a part of that,” Fikowski said of why he chose to leave Reebok for TYR. 

And while TYR might still be relatively new to CrossFit, their track record in sports dates back nearly 40 years, and there’s something reassuring about that, explained Fikowski, who was a competitive swimmer as a kid and remembers the TYR brand from his swimming days. 

TYR sponsored swimmers he idolized as a child, which makes being a TYR athlete even more meaningful to him today.  Most of all, though, their longevity gives Fikowski the confidence that TYR is here to stay.

• “They’re not coming in making a splash and burning up and disappearing. They’re certainly in this for the long haul,” he said. 

The big picture: Fikowski will compete in his eighth Games in a week and a half and he admits he isn’t sure how many more years of competition he has left in him. Every year, he and his wife discuss it and every year Fikowski says, “one more year,” he said. But for now he’s focused on the here and now and he couldn’t be more confident in where he is heading into this year’s Games.

• “I have set new PRs in lifts, I have set PRs in gymnastics. I have set PRs in monostructural (workouts in the last two weeks). All my stuff is still getting better,” Fikowski said. “I’m excited to make a run at the top spot.”

And he’s confident in the shoes he will be wearing when he attempts to do so.
“I wouldn’t take the deal (with TYR) if I didn’t think I could win wearing them,” he said.