A competitor dies during a CrossFit Games swimming event at a Texas lake

DALLAS (AP) — A Serbian competitor at the CrossFit Games died while competing in a swimming event Thursday morning on a Texas lake, officials said.

CrossFit CEO Don Faul said during a press conference that they are “deeply saddened” and are working with authorities on the investigation into the death of one of their athletes at Marine Creek Lake in Fort Worth.

The Tarrant County Coroner’s Office identified the athlete as Lazar Dukic, 28, of Serbia. The coroner’s office has not yet listed his cause of death.

An official with the Fort Worth Fire Department said they were called around 8 a.m. to assist police because there was “a participant in the water who was down and was not seen at one point.”

Officers working the event were told a participant was missing after he was last seen in the water and then did not resurface, police said.

Fort Worth fire officials said they responded for search and rescue and were not on the scene when the initial call was made.

Faul said CrossFit had a safety plan and had safety personnel on site at the event. CrossFit did not respond Thursday to an inquiry from The Associated Press seeking more details about that safety plan.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Thursday’s event included a 3.5-mile (5.6-kilometer) run, followed by an 800-meter (0.5-mile) swim. The newspaper said about 10,000 people were in the area for the games, which began on Thursday and were due to run through Sunday.

Kaitlin Pritchard told the newspaper that she was standing near the finish line when she saw Dukic approaching. She said he was among the swimmers she noticed changed their swimming patterns, which she thought might have been because they were tired from running.

Pritchard saw people she assumed were lifeguards on paddleboards on the lake, but didn’t notice any of them jump in to try to save anyone, she said.

“Judging by where the people on the paddleboards were and everything, it’s just that it should have been accessible,” Pritchard told the paper.

Dukic played water polo and was an athlete ambassador for FITAID, a sports drink brand, said Gijs Spaans, managing director of FITAID in Europe. Spaans, who has known Dukic for three years, described him as a driven athlete and a “guy who walks into a room and lights up the room.”

“He had an incredible work ethic in his athletic career, but, you know, he always took the time to talk to people and make time for them,” Spaans said. “Just a really, really good guy.”

Spaans was watching a live stream of the swim miles away at the main event venue. He was looking for Dukic among the swimmers coming out of the water before he realized he was missing.

“I thought he had it. And then all of a sudden I thought, ‘Why isn’t his name in the finishes?'” Spaans said. “The whole race, he was in the top five of the race. And suddenly I see all these people coming. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?'”

“He was in it to win,” added Spaans. “He was a great swimmer.”

The mission of the CrossFit Games, first held in 2007, is to “find the fittest athletes in the world,” according to the CrossFit website. The games are said to change every year and often the details are not announced until just before the event.

The CrossFit community is like a family, Faul said.

“We are doing everything in our power during this tragic time to support the family, to support our community,” Faul said.

Dukic’s biography on the CrossFit website says that he was the third CrossFit athlete in Serbia and 88th in the world. Dukic finished ninth in his debut at the 2021 games, then eighth the following season and ninth in 2023.

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Stengle reported from Dallas and Kelety from Phoenix. AP Sports Writer Pete Iacobelli contributed from Columbia, South Carolina.

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