Patrick Vellner

Patrick Vellner is a Canadian CrossFit athlete who has seven individual appearances at the CrossFit Games, including three 2nd and two 3rd place finishes.

Patrick Vellner
Personal information
Birth namePatrick James Vellner
NationalityCanadian
CitizenshipCanadian
Born (1990-07-14) July 14, 1990[1]
Red Deer, Alberta
OccupationProfessional CrossFit Athlete, Chiropractor
Years active2015–present
Height1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight88.5 kg (195 lb)
Spouse(s)Michelle Workun-Hill
Sport
SportCrossFit
ClubCrossFit Nanaimo
Coached byMichele Letendre
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)
Medal record
Representing  Canada
CrossFit Games
Silver medal – second place2018Men
Silver medal – second place2021Men
Silver medal – second place2023Men
Bronze medal – third place2016Men
Bronze medal – third place2017Men

Early life

Vellner was born in Red Deer in Alberta, Canada to Marty and Tikki Vellner.[2][3][4] He has two brothers, Jonathan and Mitchell.[5][6] Vellner competed in gymnastics and lacrosse from the age of eight, and he also played rugby. After retiring from gymnastics in 2010, he continued to play lacrosse for a team in Vermont while he was studying in Montreal.[7] He studied kinesiology at McGill University in Montreal from 2012 to 2015, and was introduced to CrossFit by friends while a student there.[8] He graduated from McGill with an honors degree, and went on to study chiropractic at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto, graduating in 2019.[9]

Career

Vellner first competed in the CrossFit Open in 2013. In 2014, he finished well enough in the Open to qualify for the Canada East Regional, though he finished fifth and not enough to move on to the Games.[7] The next year, in 2015, he qualified for his first CrossFit Games as a member of CrossFit Plateau. The team took home 5th in the East and 20th in the world at the 2015 CrossFit Games.

2016–2018: Podium finishes

In 2016, Vellner earned his first CrossFit Games invite after finishing 8th in the World (1st in Canada) in the Worldwide Open and 3rd in the East Regional.[10] Though his highest event finish was 2nd overall, Vellner finished 3rd place, and was named Rookie of the Year.[11][12] After the Games, Vellner competed on Team Canada at the CrossFit Invitational, earning a 4th-place finish alongside Michele Letendre, Carol-Ann Reason-Thibault, and Brent Fikowski.[13][14]

In 2017, Vellner made his 2nd individual CrossFit Games appearance. He placed 11th in the Worldwide Open, earning a spot at the East Regional, where he finished 2nd place. Vellner finished third in the CrossFit Games with two individual event wins after officials disqualified Ricky Garard for failing drug tests (Testolone and Endurobol) at the 2017 CrossFit Games.[15][16]

In 2018, Patrick Vellner had his best Open finish, best Regionals finish, and best CrossFit Games finish, where he finished 5th, 1st, and 2nd respectively.[10][17] He captured his 3rd event win of his career in the 9th Event of the weekend, Chaos.

2019–2020

2019 introduced the Sanctionals Circuit to the 2019 CrossFit Games qualification season. Although Vellner narrowly missed qualifying for the Games at the Open, his 1st place finish at Wodapalooza earned him a spot in the competition.[18] He also competed at the Rogue Invitational later in the season where he finished 2nd.[19] With no event finishes inside the Top 10, Vellner was cut after a penalty for stepping on the line in the 6th event, and finished 16th.[20][21]

In the 2020 season, Vellner finished first Worldwide at the Open, which earned him a spot at the CrossFit Games.[22] However, a quirk in the scoring system meant that despite finishing 1st in the world, he was not crowned the Canadian National Champion. He then compete at the Dubai CrossFit Championship, earning 2nd,[23] repeat as the Wodapalooza Champion,[24] and take home 1st in the Rogue Invitational,[25] which moved online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[26] During the online Stage 1 of the 2020 CrossFit Games, Vellner finished 9th, failing to qualify for the in-person Stage 2 event.[27]

2021: Return to podium

The 2021 CrossFit Games season brought about additional changes to the qualifying process. Vellner finished 20th in the World and 13th in North America in the Worldwide Open, earning a spot in the Online Quarterfinal. During the quarterfinals, he finished 4th overall on the continent, earning a post in the semifinals. Travel restrictions between Canada and the United States, as well as in person event restrictions in Canada, meant that Vellner was forced to compete in the 2021 Atlas Games, which were conducted online.[28] He took home 1st place, and a spot in the Games.[29] Despite a disappointing finish in the 1st Event of the weekend, Vellner took home three event wins, bringing his career total to six, and earning 2nd place behind Justin Medeiros at the Games.[30][31]

He works as a chiropractor in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island in British Columbia.[9]

Personal life

Vellner announced his engagement to Michelle Workun-Hill, a doctor, in October 2019.[32][33] Their son Owen William was born on June 11, 2021.[34][35] They married in September 2021.[36]

CrossFit Games results
Year Games[37] Regional[37] Open (Worldwide)[37]
2013 — — 7284th
2014 — 5th (Canada East) 1200th
2015 20th Team
(CrossFit Plateau)		 5th Team (East)
CrossFit Plateau		 548th (World)
2016 3rd 3rd (East) 8th (World)
2017 3rd 2nd (East) 11th (World)
2018 2nd 1st (East) 5th (World)
Year Games Sanctional Open
2019 16th 1st (Wodapalooza)
2nd (Rogue Invitational)[38]		 30th (World)
2020 9th (Stage 1) 2nd (Dubai CrossFit Championship)
1st (Wodapalooza)[38]		 1st (World)

2nd (Canada)[10]

Year Games Semifinal Quarterfinal Open
2021 2nd 1st (Atlas Games) 4th (North America) 20th (World)
13th (North America)[39]
2022 6th 2nd (Atlas Games) 10th (Worldwide)
7th (North America)		 69th (Worldwide)
43rd (North America)
2023 2nd 1st (North America West) 2nd (Worldwide)
2nd (North America West)		 195th (Worldwide)
47th (North America West)
"—" denotes competitions Vellner did not participate in

References
  1. "Granite Games Event 3: Pat Vellner, Anikha Greer, Townsend, Hiller, Friend, Self, Howell" (Podcast). 4 June 2022. Event occurs at 43:00–43:08.
  2. "Vellner takes third at CrossFit Game". Red Deer Advocate. August 3, 2016.
  3. "A huge congratulations to Marty's son, Patrick Vellner". Facebook. May 25, 2018.
  4. "Red Deer's Marty Vellner sails the Atlantic". Red Deer Advocate. December 20, 2013.
  5. Pyfferoen, Brian (May 3, 2017). "Patrick Vellner's Brother, Jonathan, Has Some Mad Skills". The Barbell Spin.
  6. "Meet the remarkable Vellner brothers from Red Deer". CTV. December 13, 2017.
  7. Cooper, Chris (April 15, 2020). "Bored in Isolation? Here's Patrick Vellner". Two Brain Business.
  8. Hudson, Robbie Wild (November 20, 2017). "Pat Vellner Interview: Strengths, Weaknesses and Mindset With The 3rd Fittest Man on Earth". BoxRox.
  9. "Patrick Vellner". Island Optimal.
  10. LLC, CrossFit. "CrossFit Games | The Fittest on Earth". games.crossfit.com. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  11. "CrossFit Games 2016 Updates | BOXROX". www.boxrox.com. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  12. "Where Are They Now? The Last 6 Crossfit Games Rookies of The Year". Heatonminded. December 2, 2019.
  13. Dominguez, Damect (2016-11-18). "The 2016 CrossFit Invitational: Everything You Need to Know". BoxLife Magazine. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  14. "Team Europe Wins The 2016 Reebok CrossFit Invitational - FloElite". www.floelite.com. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  15. "CrossFit Games Athletes React to Ricky Garard Taking PEDs". Morning Chalk Up. 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  16. Dominguez, Damect (2017-10-04). "Ricky Garard Disqualified for Doping + CrossFit HQ, Garard, & Patrick Vellner Respond". BoxLife Magazine. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  17. "2018 CrossFit Games: Mat Fraser takes home third straight championship, Tia-Clair Toomey defends her title". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  18. "The Wodapalooza 2019 CrossFit competition is here. Check out leaderboard, schedule, live stream info and more here". Newsweek. 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  19. "Rogue Invitational winners – Elite Fitness News". Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  20. LLC, CrossFit. "Sprint". games.crossfit.com. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  21. Balf, Celia (August 4, 2019). "Individual Cuts From Day 3 Of The 2019 Reebok CrossFit Games". BarBend.
  22. Blennerhassett, Patrick (September 25, 2020). "CrossFit Games 2020: what do Canadians Patrick Vellner and Brent Fikowski do now?". South China Morning Post.
  23. "Sara Sigmundsdottir and Brent Fikowski Win 2019 Dubai CrossFit Championship". BarBend. 2019-12-14. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  24. Shiffer, Emily (2020-02-24). "Here's Who the Big Winners Were at CrossFit's Wodapalooza". Men's Health. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  25. Clark, Patrick (June 14, 2020). "Toomey and Vellner Win Rogue Invitational in Dominating Fashion". Morning Chalk Up. Retrieved 2021-08-20.
  26. "CanWest Postpones, Rogue Invitational Moves to Online Competition, Nixes Invite". Morning Chalk Up. 2020-03-25. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  27. "CrossFit Games Stage 1 is Complete - Find Out Who Won and Who will Advance to The Ranch | BOXROX". www.boxrox.com. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  28. "Atlas Games Preview: A Virtual Reality". Morning Chalk Up. 2021-06-17. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  29. "2021 CrossFit Atlas Games Recap and Results — Who is Games-Bound?". BarBend. 2021-06-21. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  30. "2021 CrossFit Games Results and Prize Money For All Divisions". Fitness Volt. 2021-08-01. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  31. Kyllmann, Caro (August 9, 2021). "Patrick Vellner's Exceptional Reflections on Every CrossFit Games Event".
  32. Carson, Audrey (October 29, 2019). "Patrick Vellner is Engaged". The Barbell Spin.
  33. "Dr. Michelle Workun-Hill, R2" (PDF). Division of Family Practice.
  34. Hudson, Robbie Wild (June 21, 2021). "Pat Vellner Wins Atlas Games and Celebrates First Father's Day as a Father". BoxRox.
  35. Beers, Emily (August 9, 2021). "How Vellner Returned to the Podium After a Two-Year Drought". Morning Chalk Up.
  36. "Kimberley Kufaas Photography". Facebook.
  37. "Patrick Vellner". CrossFit Games.
  38. "Patrick Vellner". Morning Chalk Up. 2019-01-11. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  39. LLC, CrossFit. "2021 Leaderboard | CrossFit Games". games.crossfit.com. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
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