Newer fans of CrossFit might recognize James Hobart as either the guy in a lot of the exercise demo videos put out by HQ…
Or as a member of CrossFit’s media team, in which he performed various duties like providing color commentary at some of last year’s Regional events and appearing as a frequent guest on Road to the Fittest, CrossFit HQ’s YouTube show dedicated to commentary and coverage of the Games.
But Hobart is a fixture in the sport as an athlete, having competed in eight CrossFit Games. He’s a three-time Affiliate Cup Champion and a former member of the CrossFit Mayhem team.
He hasn’t competed as an individual in four years and he didn’t compete at all in last year’s Games, stating at the time,
I wanted to focus on other things going on in my life, and that’s been going very well. Thankfully competition in the past, and training, I’ve been blessed with it and it’s been very favorable toward me, so it’s OK to step back.
Some speculated he was retiring permanently, but in a post just published by the CrossFit Games’ Instagram account, it’s been announced that he’s coming back to individual competition.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhm-SgLFXN7/
@jameshobart , a five-time Games team competitor, member of three championship teams and three-time individual Games competitor, is going back to Individual competition at Regionals for the first time since 2014
[Read more: How to buy tickets to this year’s Reebok CrossFit Games.]
Hobart himself is yet to comment, but the 32-year-old came 137th worldwide in this year’s Open, with his highest placing as 42nd worldwide in 18.4. In his region — North East — he came 14th, and he is indeed currently listed as a competitor in the East Regional. (Last year, he said he’d only be interested in competing if he finished in the top 3 in his combined region.)
We’re looking forward to seeing how he performs.
Featured image via @crossfitgames on Instagram.