View From The Edge | CrossFit Games 2020: Mat Fraser could be toppled by cocky rookie Justin Medeiros, he just needs time to develop
- The CrossFit Games debutant has all the swagger and attitude needed to fell four-time ‘Fittest on Earth’ Mat Fraser and will surely one day be crowned king
Justin Medeiros’ peacocking at the CrossFit Games 2020 finals shows he has what it takes to become the “Fittest on Earth”, he just needs a few more years for his brawn to match his brain.
The 21-year-old is competing in his first Games and is sitting in second after an impressive opening day. The fact he has made the top five is impressive enough. But Medeiros has taken it all in his stride. Perhaps he is not experienced enough to know he is meant to be nervous. Ignorance is bliss.
With his flowing mullet, awesome retro sunglasses and weightlifting trousers, he looks like a 1980s movie hero and matches it with his swaggering attitude.
“To beat Mat Fraser you just got to be going really, really fast, and you have to be going really, really hard. People have been trying to figure that out now for the past four or five years,” Medeiros said before the finals on a YouTube video by Buttery Bros, the team in charge of the Games’ documentary.
And he was as good as his word. In the first event – 1,500m row, five rounds of 10 muscle-ups and seven 106kg shoulder-to-overheads – Medeiros went hard. He came second, just eight seconds behind Fraser. A late surge to narrow the gap showed Medeiros has a lot of fight about him.
