Yesterday, Canadian CrossFit Games athlete Brent Fikowski announced that he’d be leaving his day job to begin training as an athlete full-time for the 2019 Reebok CrossFit Games season. After his 2013 college graduation, Fikowski has worked as an accountant for the past five years in British Columbia, Canada.
Often, Fikowski is referred to as “The Professor”, as he’s one of the most calculated and analytical competitors CrossFit has ever seen, and that makes sense when you consider his college major and career in accounting. For him, it’s a numbers game. In fact, you can see how analytical (and funny) he is in his in his “All In” documentary.
This news is huge because for the last three years Fikowski has been creeping closer and closer to the top of the podium with a fourth, second, and fourth place finish respectively since 2016. And remember, those top five finishes have all taken place while Fikowski has worked full-time, could we see a major shift in his placing for 2019 with his full focus being on training, recovery, and improving?
In his Instagram photo’s description Fikowski writes, “Last day at work! Can’t believe I’ll be hanging up the ol’ calculator at my accounting job. Crazy where life takes you, graduated University in 2013 – fast forward 5 years and I’m quitting to be a full-time athlete. Very excited for new opportunities! Thanks @strawhouse for everything, best job I’ve ever had. See you at the Halloween party.”
Although, let’s not ignore the elephant in the room. The major changes for the 2019 CrossFit Games have left a lot of open-ended questions, especially for the current top CrossFit Games athletes. It’s tough to say as of right now, but it may be harder to qualify for the 2019 CrossFit Games with the new format changes, so this new shift in focus may be one that truly gives Fikowski an edge over his competition.
In our interview with Fikowski, he discussed his thoughts on the longevity for top CrossFit athletes and himself. He mentioned that the mid-thirties tend to be the toughest years for men to get stronger and more powerful. At the age of 27 and with a ton of new CrossFit Games changes coming, Fikowski appears to be all in.
Feature image from @fikowski Instagram page.
