After Jeffrey Adler's victory at the CrossFit ® Games 2023, there were two sides: those who congratulate Jeffrey Adler and those who belittle his title, reminding him that he would only have been in second place if Roman Khrennikov had not been injured during the race.
A month before the Games, Roman Khrennikov added fuel to the fire with a rather unexpected message…Although Khrennikov has remained discreet until now, he recently published a post on Instagram, taking care to mention Jeffrey Adler and his coach and wife Caroline Lambray:
“Unsportsmanlike conduct. Play dirty
CrossFit ® is a community of individuals where leaders are held to a high standard. My professional career began in 2018. I have heard the head judges read the rules many times, especially the general rules, section C, paragraph of the rules that requires “all athletes to compete in a sportsmanlike manner”.
“The fittest man in the world” wins because he is the most physically prepared. If you think you can get into my head with a “strategy” that you and your coach think works, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Next time, I hope you will pay more attention to the rules and try to be more fit rather than playing dirty games! @adlerjeff @lambrayliving”.
Khrennikov has accused the Canadian and his wife of a lack of fair play during the competition and of focusing on strategizing to beat him rather than give himself the means to be the best physically. Tempers flared in the comments and everyone asked Roman for further explanations.
Jeffrey Adler has been some criticized by users for being too strategic. In fact, at the Games, Adler declared that he had made an agreement with Patrick Vellner to help him overtake Roman Khrennikov in the general classification.
When asked to clarify, he simply said: “I need help, Roman is too fit.”
To clarify, Sevan in his podcast asked for the intervention of Andrew Hiller and Roman, to try to get to the bottom of it.
In summary, the Russian athlete says that during the 5k trail, Adler had a lot of contact with him, running alongside him and even touching him as they ran.
He even said to a certain one in Russian “go faster, lead the race”, which would mean that he has specially prepared himself, studying the language to be able to make himself understood.
Index
Adler's response
In a recent interview, Adler clarifies that at no time did he attempt to play mind games or dishonest physical contact with Khrennikov during the competition.
You can watch the full interview and listen to Adler's side of the story here:
What do you think?
In light of this news, we want to know what you think. Are these strategies part of the competitive nature of the sport or are they a violation of the spirit of fair play that should prevail in CrossFit ®?