If there’s one thing CrossFit Games athletes have proven to struggle with, it’s retirement.

• Every year, there seems to be one athlete who announces their retirement, only to compete in the Open the following year and, oops, accidentally qualify for Semifinals or even the CrossFit Games again. 

Some claim to be retired, only to re-emerge in the WFP or Wodapalooza, while others retire from individual competition but continue competing as a master’s athlete for years after their individual careers end. 

Maybe it’s because their passion for the sport runs too deep to stop competing, or maybe it’s because CrossFit is a particularly challenging sport to retire from. Unlike most other traditional sports, CrossFit is a pursuit of lifelong fitness. 

Ten-time CrossFit Games veteran Pat Vellner, though, insists his retirement plans are final: The 2026 CrossFit Games were his final Games, and the last time we’ll see him on the competition floor will be at the World Fitness Project (WFP) Finals in December. 

• “For one thing, I think my wife would kick my ass if I was like, ‘Hey, just kidding,’” he told The Morning Chalk Up, adding that this is not going to be a “five-year soft launch to retirement.”

He added: “I think I have done enough.”

More than that, though, it just feels like the right time to move on, Vellner explained. 

• “The last two years for sure, the energy and time it takes to stay at the level I want to stay at is getting higher and higher, and I also have more and more things pulling me away because life changes. I have spent a lot of time doing this, and I think I’m just ready to pursue other interests and do other things,” said the 36-year-old father of two young boys.

Vellner added: “And [competing] means less to me now than I think it does for some of the young guys who are really, really scratching and clawing. And I think when you start to think that way, it feels like it’s OK to leave competition behind. I have had my share, there is no doubt, I have had my fill.”

A Look Back at Vellner’s Career

Vellner’s first CrossFit Games appearance dates back to 2015, when he competed on a team that finished 20th.

The young Canadian, however, had his sights set on the individual division.

The following year, in 2016, Vellner earned his invitation to his first Games after finishing third at the East Regional.

Unknown at the time, Vellner had no pressure or expectations heading into his rookie Games appearance.

• “You don’t get to compete with no expectations much…That was a fun year. I was loose and free,” he remembered of his rookie year. 

At the same time, Vellner found himself encouraged by how fit he was compared with the other top athletes.

• “I surprised myself by how close I was on a lot of different workouts. I thought I would be able to hang around on the more bodyweight stuff, but once the big weights came out I didn’t think I would be relevant. But I was able to hang around on almost every workout, which was surprising,” he said. 

The result: Vellner finished third in the world as a rookie. 

Was it a fluke? Would he be a one-hit wonder? 

The community still didn’t know. 

Vellner, though, went home with newfound confidence in his abilities, believing he could do it again.

• “It’s validating once you [podium] the expectation is that you can do it again. And to some degree, you have to believe that,” he explained.

One year later, Vellner returned to the Games, this time with more pressure and expectations than his first year.  

He delivered, finishing on the podium in third place, for a second straight year. 

A won-hit wonder, he was not.

In the next nine years, Vellner went on to compete at eight more Games, earning three more podium finishes along the way — second in 2018, second in 2021 and second in 2023 — as well as three top 10 finishes.

Though each podium finish was memorable, Vellner said his two favorite Games were 2018 and especially 2021. (He finished second both years).

• “2018, I feel for a lot of people, was a high watermark year. I feel like the Games were just really good that year, but 2021 to me stands out a lot because it was post-COVID,” he said.

What made 2021 extra special for Vellner, however, was that he was coming off two disappointing years. 

In 2019, Vellner was cut after “a bad start,” and finished 16th. The following year brought another setback. The first stage of the Games was moved online due to the pandemic, and after battling an injury in the lead-up to the competition, Vellner failed to qualify for the in-person, five-man-only Finals in California.

• “It was like two back-to-back years of not good finishes, and it was like, ‘Man, am I downhill from here?’” Vellner admitted to his doubts after 2020.

Coming back to finish second in 2021 was the confirmation he needed that he was, in fact, not on the decline. And to make it even more satisfying, after the pandemic Games, the energy was back.

• “People needed it. It was nice to be out doing it again, and everybody felt like they appreciated it a lot more. Athletes, fans, staff, after COVID and not being able to get out and engage with their communities the way they wanted to, there was this gratitude that year that was awesome,” he said.

Worth noting: CrossFit Games podium finishes aside, the single best competition Vellner said he ever had during his career in terms of executing to the absolute best of his abilities was the 2019 Wodapalooza (with 2018 Regionals as a close second).

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Retiring from a competitive sport is never easy, but Vellner said he will miss the camaraderie with his competitors most.

• “The athletes who compete at the Games, I think there is a level of understanding amongst us. I know what I did to get there, and I can only imagine that what everybody else did has to be something similar,” Vellner said. 

Ultimately, the Games environment, especially the time spent connecting with others between events, provided a bonding experience with like-minded people that can’t be replicated anywhere else. 

• “Whether you have known the person for one year or 10 years, they kind of understand you, and know you, in a way even some of your close friends at home just don’t, and can’t. So I think that just being with those people regularly is the stuff that I’ll miss the most,” he said. 

But as much as he’ll miss these moments — and miss the connections with people he can relate to on a level he can’t find anywhere else – it’s time to move on.

For Vellner, this means returning to his career as a chiropractor after a year and a half away, while also ramping up his work with the training app Ardor, where he serves as a partner. He also plans to stay heavily involved in the CrossFit community and is excited to “try on some other hats” in the space, he explained, maybe even the broadcasting side of things. 

More than anything, though, Vellner is ready to get back to family activities, like camping and cottage trips, which he has often skipped in recent years for the sake of his training. 

Making those decisions was never easy, Vellner explained. They always carried a certain amount of weight and guilt, but they were necessary when he was training to be the fittest man he could be.

Now, Vellner can finally take a step back and focus on family. 

• “There are a lot of parts of my kids’ childhoods that I’m looking forward to being more a part of,” he admitted.

But as Vellner looks forward to this next chapter with his family, he also took the time to express how he hopes to be remembered in the sport, and it has nothing to do with the podium finishes or his fitness level at all.

• “I’m not very bothered by how my performances are remembered, but more with what I made people feel, and the impressions I was able to leave in people close to me,” Vellner said. 

He added: “I think I’d like to be remembered as someone who was candid and genuine, gracious in both victory and defeat, didn’t take himself too seriously and did his best to help support others.”

For any die-hard CrossFit fan, it’s almost impossible not to remember Vellner for the incredible athlete he was. But his legacy in the sport runs much deeper than that.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Patrick Vellner (@pvellner)

A Final Salute

What made Vellner so easy to root for, and what arguably turned him into one of the sport’s most beloved fan favorites, was his humble and authentic personality, both in competition and outside of it. 

He simply felt like a real person, relatable, real, and just plain old likable.  

And perhaps there was no better illustration of that legacy than the way his last CrossFit Games came to an end.

After the final event at the SAP Center in San Jose at the 2026 CrossFit Games, the crowd rose to its feet to bid Vellner goodbye. 

• For a man who had spent a decade competing on the sport’s biggest stage, it was a moment that could have called for a grand farewell. But in classic Vellner fashion, he didn’t make a big fuss. He simply turned to the stands, offered one final salute, and quietly walked off the platform as cheers and more than a few tears filled the arena.

There was no elaborate goodbye. No attempt to make the moment about himself. Just Vellner, acknowledging the fans who had cheered for him for a decade before turning the page.

As he walked away from the CrossFit Games competition floor for the final time, one thing was unmistakably clear: Pat Vellner may be done competing at the CrossFit Games, but the memories he gave his fans will not soon be forgotten.