Brooke Wells Leaves PRVN to Join Hard Work Pays Off Training Camp
Editor’s Note: As originally published, this article contained two inaccuracies related to the total number of CrossFit Games championships won by Mat Fraser and Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr. Those inaccuracies have been corrected.
Last night, eight-time CrossFit Games athlete Brooke Wells announced via Instagram that she would be moving to join the Hard Work Pays Off training camp.
One big thing: With this move, Wells joins nearly a dozen athletes who currently call the Hard Work Pays Off Training their home, including Katrin Davidsdottir, Mal O’Brien, and Samuel Kwant.
Remind me: The past few years for Wells have consisted of a rocky series of ups and downs.
- In 2021, Wells tore multiple ligaments in her elbow during the snatch event at the 2021 CrossFit Games.
- The absolutely devastating injury forced her out of the competition and put her on the road to recovery.
- Despite all that, Wells still managed to make a comeback during the 2022 season with a fifth-place finish that summer at the CrossFit Games. This comeback is the subject of her forthcoming book, Resilient.
- This past season, Wells experienced another stumble when she tore her plantar fascia during the run in Test 1 of the North America East Semifinals. While she didn’t withdraw from the competition, her fourteenth-place finish would not be enough to qualify her for the 2023 CrossFit Games.
- Throughout all this, Wells had been training at the PRVN training camp in Tennessee after leaving Ben Bergeron and the Comp Train camp in 2020.
While Wells did not disclose her reason for leaving the PRVN training camp, she wrote about her excitement for the move to Hard Work Pays Off in her Instagram post.
- “Grateful for all this journey has offered me and absolutely ready for the next chapter. Very excited for what’s to come this season with HWPO. Now let’s get to work.”
Why it matters: Over the past two years, Hard Work Pays Off Training, run by five-time Games champion Mat Fraser, has amassed a star-studded roster of some of the top athletes in the world.
- The current list of athletes includes Katrin Davidsdottir, Samuel Kwant, Amanda Barndhard, Mal O’Brien, Thuri Helgadottir, Christine Kolenbrander, Jayson Hopper, and now Brooke Wells.
HWPO CEO, Matt O’Keefe noted that Wells will not relocate to Vermont but will spend significant time throughout the season training there, and that all of the HWPO coaches will contribute to that training.
- O’Keefe: “We are proud to be a part of Brooke’s journey. Mat, Sammy and I have worked with, trained with and been friends with Brooke for over 10 years. To have an opportunity to work towards her goals with her is a privilege we are honored to have. We are all just ready to put our heads down and get to work.”
Despite Wells’ departure from six-time Games champion Tia-Clair Toomey and her husband Shane Orr’s training camp, PRVN still has a strong stable of some big names in the CrossFit space.
- Wells’ twin sister Sydney Wells stayed at PRVN to train after taking 28th at the Games this year.
- She remains there with the members of the second fittest team on earth, as well as Will Moorad, Jay Crouch, Olivia Kerstetter, and Nick Mathew.
The big picture: With the 2024 season looming on the horizon, the Crossfit community is likely to see more shifts in training camps as athletes continue to reflect and re-evaluate their performance and make moves for the upcoming season.
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