After a while, one of the event participants was not seen in the water, so search and rescue teams were called in.
On Thursday, during a swimming competition at the CrossFit Games, an international competition in Fort Worth that attracts some of the fittest athletes worldwide, a man was discovered dead in the water.
According to the authorities, the man had been swimming in Marine Creek Lake. Thursday morning, after the athlete had been missing for some time, search and rescue teams were called in.
The man was identified as 28-year-old Lazar Dukic of Serbia by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. It was unclear what caused Mr. Dukic’s death or how it happened.
Hundreds of thousands of competitors compete in the competition, using CrossFit, a high-intensity fitness program that combines aerobic and strength training exercises. The fields were reduced to the quarterfinals in April and the semifinals in May after the competition began in February. This weekend in Fort Worth, the CrossFit Games final was supposed to come to an end.
“CrossFit is deeply saddened by the death of one of our athletes,” said Don Faul, CEO of CrossFit, the company that created the games, during a news conference on Thursday.
Online streaming was available for the finals, which were held from Thursday to Sunday. Social media users saw footage from Thursday’s event, and Mr. Dukic looked like he was having trouble swimming to the finish line.
According to the CrossFit Games, Mr. Dukic was ranked third among men in Serbia as a CrossFit athlete. Having competed in the CrossFit Games since 2021, Mr. Dukic’s ranking was 33rd for men in Europe and 88th overall.
An online CrossFit Games schedule showed that dozens of athletes were supposed to compete in a swimming event on Thursday morning. According to the CrossFit Games, athletes were timed for an 800-meter swim and a 3.5-mile run.
Luka Dukic, the brother of Mr. Dukic, was also taking part in the competition and had posted a video of the two of them warming up for the CrossFit Games on Instagram. A request for comment on Thursday was met with no immediate response from him.
The remaining CrossFit Games events on Thursday have been canceled, according to Mr. Faul.
At the press conference, Craig Trojacek, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth Fire Department, stated that at approximately eight in the morning, search and rescue teams received a call regarding a “participant in the water” who was submerged and “hadn’t been seen” for a while.
The body was discovered in the water approximately an hour after the first diver entered it, according to Mr. Trojacek, and the Fire Department located it using drones and dive teams.
The athlete was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a statement released later by the Police Department.
Emergency crews had not been on site on Thursday morning until the Fire Department was called, Mr. Trojacek said. The CrossFit Games had its own safety plan in place for the competition, which was being shared with the authorities, Mr. Faul said.
At the news conference, Mr. Faul said that he was “gutted,” adding that the CrossFit community is “like a family.”
“People care a lot of about each other,” he said, “and there’s a lot of people in the community that are hurting right now.”
“The well-being of competitors is our first priority and we are heartbroken by this tragic event,” the CrossFit Games stated in a social media post.
