James Sprague is once more the Fittest Man on Earth. At the 2026 CrossFit Games in San Jose, California, the American won the men's title for the second time in three years. It was a clear return to the top for a champion who had lost his place there.
Two crowns, two years apart
Sprague led the men's division from the opening day and never surrendered it. He carried a 29-point cushion into the final Sunday, then kept his form through the last individual and team workouts. Each event asked more of the field, and he answered.
He closed the week on 1214 points, the highest men's total of the Games. Dallin Pepper finished second on 1173, with Jay Crouch third and Justin Medeiros fourth. The final margin of 41 points was steady rather than tight.
The win placed Sprague among the sport's rare repeat men's champions. He first took the title in 2024 as a young contender, then saw it pass to another the following year. In San Jose he took it back.
A first in twenty years of the Games
No man had managed this before. In the event's 20-year history, Sprague became the first to win two non-consecutive men's titles. The record book had left that page blank until this Sunday.
The competition ran for nearly a week before the final Sunday narrowed the field. Three individual workouts and four team events stood between the leaders and the podium in San Jose. Sprague met each one cleanly and left no room for a late charge from Pepper.
His path has run from a hard teenage start to two world titles. The second medal closes a story he had left open the year before. For now, the men's division belongs to him again.
