5 Potential Candidates to Replace Dave Castro as Programmer for the NOBULL CrossFit Games

With the shocking firing of Dave Castro by CrossFit it left the community with many questions, most notably who would program the 2022 CrossFit Games. Castro announced he finalized the Open workouts programming prior to his release on Tuesday night, leaving much speculation that the ensuing programming for all divisions in each stage including the Games had yet to be completed. We compiled a short list of potential candidates to take over those duties and fill the void.

Rich Froning: If you recall back in June of 2020, Castro tweeted that the 2020 Games season would be the final one that he would program (well that obviously didn’t happen). During that same tweet he famously said “2021 season potentially programmed by @richfroning”.

Thanks for hopping on a short notice zoom call today @CrossFitGames 2020 athletes. Good discussion to include working together more in the future and this will be the last games I program. 2021 season potentially programmed by @richfroning #crossfit #crossfitgames #richfroning

— Dave Castro (@thedavecastro) June 12, 2020

To that tweet, Froning responded through Armen Hammer, “I consider Dave a friend, and actually a good friend. The statement about me programming made on the CrossFit Games athlete call was the first time I had heard anything about it. While it is a dream job and honestly one of the highest honors I could hold or ever be awarded in the sport, I think there is a way bigger issue that needs to be handled right now and that’s the community and the affiliates.”

The issue Froning was referring to was the upheaval caused by Glassman during the summer of 2020. Since then, Froning has gone on to win his 9th CrossFit Championship and is training currently to win his 10th, which would make him ineligible for the 2022 Games, but he has indicated this may be his final season.

Besides his competitive accomplishments, Froning has the knowledge and experience to program a true test of fitness. He’s programmed for numerous events including the 2021 Rogue Invitational, 2019 Mayhem Classic and the teams division at the 2019 Dubai CrossFit Championship. He also has a wealth of resources in Cookeville, Tennessee at his Mayhem affiliate for testing an experimenting.

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