Ricky Garard Withdraws From Dubai Fitness Championship, Swaps with Nikita Yundov
The third Fittest Man on Earth Ricky Garard has withdrawn from the upcoming Dubai Fitness Championship, the Morning Chalk Up confirmed with the event organizers. Garard recently competed at the 2022 Rogue Invitational in Austin, TX, a competition that many athletes said was physically demanding in terms of events and travel.
“Ricky competing at Rogue, Down Under Championship, Dubai, and WZA all in a 3 month period is simply too much,” Garard’s coach, Justin Cotler, wrote on Instagram.
- “He wanted to do it,” Cotler added, “but in the end, we decided we want to set him up for a successful season and not run him into the ground.”
To replace Garard, DFC has backfilled from the online qualifier and invited one-time CrossFit Games athlete Nikita Yundov from Belarus. Yundov competed at the 2019 CrossFit Games where he finished 101st. He qualified as Belarus’ National Champion during the brief Sanctional season structure.
- He finished 14th last year at the 2022 Lowlands Throwdown Semifinal, improving from 17th in 2021.
- Yundov has accepted his invitation to compete.
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