CrossFit Games 2019: Spartan warrior Lefteris Theofanidis ‘will go even if I have to swim all the way’

The 29-year-old placed fourth at this year’s 2019 CrossFit Open, beating his 2018 result by 160 places

Hellenic Air Force member has become an instant contender to challenge for Mat Fraser’s throne

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Lefteris Theofanidis has become an instant contender for the 2019 CrossFit Games.

Published: 9:00am, 14 May 2019Updated: 1:29pm, 18 May 2019

When the scores for the 2019 CrossFit Open started rolling in for the men’s competition earlier this year, the usual suspects appeared: three-time defending champion Mat Fraser, four-time winner Rich Froning and Patrick Vellner, who came second at the 2018 CrossFit Games.

Right up close to the top through all five workouts was an unknown name who sent the CrossFit community scrambling to Google: Greece’s Lefteris Theofanidis.

The 29-year-old was at one point challenging Fraser for the Open title, a spot the American has held for the past two years. Theofanidis ended up finishing fourth after CrossFit headquarters knocked him down from second for two penalties (one for missing a wall-ball target and the other for hand placement during a handstand push-up).

Regardless, the Greek conjures images of a Spartan warrior – he is a member of the Hellenic Air Force – and has the leg tattoos to back it up. He is a former track athlete who said everything changed for him after he finished the 2018 CrossFit Open. Theofanidis finished 164th in the world and third in Greece that year (down from first in the country the previous three years), and decided his results were not up to scratch.

Lefteris Theofanidis came fourth at the 2019 CrossFit Open, besting his place from last year by 160 points. Photo: Athens Throwdown

“The very next day actually, I thought I had to do to some serious changes,” said Theofanidis, who weighs in at 81kg and stands at 171cm according to CrossFit’s website. “My goal was to win 2019 Regionals (he came 26th in Europe in 2018) before CrossFit even announced the changes for the upcoming years.

“I wanted to be first in my region and of course to be the ‘Fittest in Greece’. In order to accomplish that I changed the box I was training, changed my coach and the programming I was working on up to that day. I have decided to keep only a few people by my side and started from the beginning.”