An athlete died Thursday while swimming in a lake on the first day of competition at the CrossFit Games in Fort Worth, Texas, organizers of the international event said.
The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office identified a body recovered from Marine Creek Lake as Lazar Dukic, 28, of Serbia. No cause of death was given.
“CrossFit is deeply saddened by the death of a CrossFit Games competitor during the swimming portion of Individual Event 1 at the 2024 CrossFit Games,” the organization said in a statement. “We are fully cooperating with authorities and doing everything we can to support the family at this time. The remainder of today’s events have been suspended. The well-being of competitors is our first priority and we are heartbroken by this tragic event.”
A Fort Worth Fire Department official said during a news conference that the department was asked to assist police at around 8 a.m. because there was “a participant in the water that was down and hadn’t been seen in some point in time.” The official said it took the department’s dive team about an hour to find the body.
CrossFit CEO Don Faul and Fort Worth Police Department Sgt. Leah Wagner also spoke at the news conference. Wagner stated the name of the victim was being withheld at that time out of respect for the family.
“CrossFit is, as you know, in some ways like a family,” said Faul, whose organization first held the CrossFit Games in 2007. “People care a lot about each other. There’s a lot of people in the community that are hurting right now, that are really sad, that knew the athlete well, that loved, respected this person.”
Dukic’s Instagram bio states that he was a “4x CrossFit Games Athlete.”
According to his bio on the 2024 CrossFit Games website, he ranked as Serbia’s No. 1 CrossFit athlete every year from 2017-2021 and ranked at No. 3 in the country this year — one notch below his brother, Luka Dukic, 25, who is also listed as a 2024 CrossFit Games competitor.
Another 2024 CrossFit Games competitor Cole Learn told WFAA-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth that he had only met Dukic once, but that meeting left a lasting impression.
“The only thing I remember about him was just how nice he was,” Learn said. “He didn’t know who I was, but he took the time to talk to me, talked about the competition and how it was going for him. … I’ve always cheered for him just because of that moment.”