Ben Smith (CrossFit)

Ben Smith was born to Chuck and Kim Smith on May 16, 1990. He has two younger brothers, Alec and Dane. His father was in the navy and the family moved around frequently when he was younger, but they eventually settled in Chesapeake where he started his 9th grade in high school.[6][7] Smith learned gymnastics when he was three, lifted weights in his early teens, and played American football and baseball throughout his childhood. He had intended to pursue a career in baseball, and was a baseball player for the Great Bridge High School Wildcats from 2004 to 2008.[8] When he was sixteen, his father introduced him to CrossFit, an exercise program popular in the military and law enforcement communities, to help improve his performance in baseball.[4][7] He played collegiate level baseball at Lafayette College,[4] but transferred after a semester to Old Dominion University to be closer to home. However, he was unable to try out for the baseball team at Old Dominion after his transfer, and so decided to take part in the Regional, a qualification event for the CrossFit Games, which was held near his home in 2009, and managed to qualify for the Games that year.[9] He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 2012.[10]

In 2009, Smith entered his first CrossFit Games Regionals event at age 18, finishing in first place at the Mid Atlantic Qualifier held at Virginia Beach, Virginia. He earned a spot in the 2009 CrossFit Games where he finished in 64th place out of 74 competitors.[11] Smith went on to qualify for the Games in 10 subsequent years.

Smith made the podium for the first time at the 2011 Games by finishing third behind Rich Froning and Josh Bridges.[12] In 2013, he was again placed third behind Froning and Jason Khalipa.[13]

At the 2015 Games, following the move to team competition by the four-time Games champion Rich Froning, Mathew Fraser was widely expected to be the winner and he led by a large margin after two days of competition. However, Smith won in two events: Heavy DT at the end of Day 2 and Soccer Chipper in Day 3, with the Soccer Chipper win particularly significant as Fraser faltered in the event and failed to finish, allowing Smith to take over the lead after the event. The contest was tightly fought between Smith and Fraser in subsequent events, and Smith's consistent performance allowed him to fight off Fraser's challenge and prevail at the end to win the title of "Fittest on Earth".[14]

The following year at the 2016 Games, Smith won his final podium spot with a second-place finish after a strong display by the eventual winner Mat Fraser, who went on to dominate the Games for the next four years.[15]

In 2018, Smith became the first CrossFit Games competitor to qualify as an individual for the Games in ten consecutive years, and tied for total individual qualifications.[2] In 2019, Smith failed to qualify through the Open and Sanctionals as he was recovering from a knee surgery he had in January 2019.[16] However, the record for the most consecutive attendances at the Games was extended to 11 when he received a wildcard invite to the Games.[17]

Ben met his wife, Noelle, in their junior year of high school[4] and were married in October 2014.[8] By 2017, Smith had made $487,086 in prize money making him the fifth highest paid CrossFit athlete at the time.[29]

Smith's brothers Alec and Dane also competed in CrossFit, with Alec qualifying for the CrossFit Games in 2017 and 2018.[30] Smith founded his own gym, CrossFit Krypton, in 2013 in Chesapeake. where he is also the lead programmer, co-owner, and coach.[5][31]

• Ben Smith at CrossFit Games