Tom Miazga’s titles include paralympic swimmer, coach, and now eight-time Fittest Seated Man on Earth.
The 2024 Adaptive CrossFit Games by WheelWOD was held in San Antonio, TX, this past weekend, and Miazga returned for an eighth time to defend his title in the “Seated with Hip Function” Adaptive division.
This was the first time WheelWOD hosted the CrossFit Games. In previous years, the WheelWOD Games served as the end-of-season championship for Adaptive divisions not hosted by CrossFit.
This year, WheelWOD expanded the overall field from eight divisions to 15.
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Some Background
Miazga, who lives in Cedarburg, WI, didn’t come into CrossFit thinking he’d be a competitive athlete but was pleasantly surprised to find that he was quite good at the sport.
- “I never even intended to join CrossFit for a competitive reason in the first place. I had retired from my professional swimming career and was just looking to keep my body moving and enjoy a community atmosphere,” Miazga told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview. “And I just found myself completely engrossed in CrossFit because I was just learning so much more about myself than I ever expected.”
Miazga has competed in the CrossFit Open since 2017 and has taken first place in his division every year, including 2024.
He’s also competed in the WheelWOD Games (separate from the CrossFit Games competition) and has won his division every year since 2018.
- “The WheelWOD organization has always done a fantastic job making the Games feel elite, making them feel like this is the season-ending moment,” Miazga said.
The WheelWOD Games has served as the major competition for adaptive athletes whose season typically ends after the CrossFit Open.
In previous years, the Games only allowed the top five athletes of three adaptive divisions to compete in person. WheelWOD’s takeover as competition host has widened the athlete field and divisions tenfold.
- “We get to do everything under the watchful eye of the organization that’s been doing this for years, and then we have the group that’s got the resources and the opportunities and the viewership to say, ‘hey, we can really put on a grand show.’ And I think we’re really excited,” Miazga said.
New Opportunities
Aside from being an athlete, Miazga has also had the opportunity to be a part of the broadcast team at past Games competitions, including working with ESPN in 2023. It’s a position he said he never thought he’d be in but found it “very humbling, to say the least.”
- “I have loved the broadcast gigs. I’m excited by it, because I have such a passion for CrossFit, and I have such an excitement behind what I do, and I thoroughly enjoy coaching every day and just being in the CrossFit sphere,” he said.
Miazga also interviewed able-bodied athletes at last year’s Games, including event winners and overall leaders for the ESPN broadcast.
- “I’m just proud of myself to say that I’ve earned enough cred in the broadcast world to move away from just the adaptive side and actually be a face of CrossFit that people may recognize in the future,” Miazga said.
Before CrossFit, Miazga competed as a swimmer at the 2008 Paralympic Games and won six medals at the 2007 Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- While his swim career didn’t continue as expected, his pivot to CrossFit has opened more doors than he ever thought possible.
Coaching and Finding Balance
Aside from his own training as a Training Think Tank athlete, Miazga coaches at his local affiliate Adapt and Conquer CrossFit.
- He is also an instructor for the Adaptive Training Academy, which is a nonprofit organization aimed at providing training education and sharing accessible and inclusive fitness training practices.
If that wasn’t enough, Miazga runs a local swim club with over 300 swimmers called Ozaukee Aquatics.
He says that one of the most difficult parts of his personality is that he has incredibly high expectations of himself, which is reflected in the many hats he wears on a daily basis.
- “I think growing up with a disability, one of the things that I had a lot of issues with was always kind of trying to prove that my disability wasn’t the thing that people saw in me. And I think because of that, I probably care a little bit more about the opinions of others than I should,” Miazga said.
If he isn’t in the water coaching a swimmer, he’s at the gym coaching a CrossFit member and always questioning whether he’s done enough for someone else.
He credits his success to the feeling of never being satisfied.
- “I enjoy it. I love my life. I’m really proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish and what I get to do on a daily basis,” Miazga said. “But it’s not without continually trying to refine that. And that’s a tiring process. And it asks for a lot of mental willpower that sometimes I don’t always have every day and I’ll be the first one to say that it stresses me out.”
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Featured image: @tommiazga / Instagram
