Fabian Beneito

The rise of CrossFit in Spain cannot be disputed. Fabian is one of the young promises of this sport that comes on strong and eager to alter the names of the CrossFit athletes that we are used to seeing at the top of the Open rankings in Spain.

For the first time we saw his name in the first results of the 2019 Open, and since then the Valencian has only gotten better.

Biography

Before focusing 100% on the sport, Fabian had competed in motocross from the age of 3 to 17.

2024

Knee surgery

Shortly after the Semifinals, Fabian underwent knee surgery.

Fabi has been dealing with a left knee injury for more than a year, which has worsened over the past seven months.

He has had to drain fluid from his knee every month and stop doing exercises that caused pain, swelling and fluid buildup, such as running, squats and box jumpamong others.

Despite the advice of doctors and everyone around him, Fabi decided to end the season when his body and the results told him to stop.

Fabi had a tear of both menisci, chondropathy (cartilage wear caused by torn menisci) and an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) strain.

European Semifinal French Throwdown

Fabi got off to a bad start in Lyon; however, that didn't mean anything because we are used to his great comebacks.

Seeing him with a bandaged knee and a 31st position in event 3 made us fear the worst and at that moment his chances of getting into the TOP10 were slipping away.

Beneito finished 15th with a good comeback, but it was not enough and he was 61 points short of entering Games.

Event 1: 28º
Event 2: 18º
Event 3: 31º
Event 4: 14º
Event 5: 12º
Event 6: 5º

On his instagram he shared this message:

Denying wanting and not trying to qualify for the goal of the year does not enter my head.
I get there trying to write something and I just delete it... because when you don't know how to say it and if you're ready to tell it, it's a little more difficult.

My year is over here, my suffering is over, I am not in good health.

It's been a nightmare these last few months and if I'm honest I'm not proud to have competed like this.

Thank you all because the messages and support is something that is infinite. Sometimes you think (I have to work on it) that you are a result. And there are people who remind me that it is not like that and that is the most important thing.

Quarterfinals

Your programming partner, Aniol Ekaioutperformed him at this stage.

World Cup: 15th

Open

World Cup: 6th
Europe: 3rd
Spain: 1st

iO GENIX Podcast

In a podcast owned by bodybuilders, Fabi talks about several topics among which we highlight:

• When he placed first in Europe in Quarterfinals 2023, he received a call that he would be doping tested the next day.
• The following is being considered move to the United States for training.
• He suffered a rupture of the aupraspinatus muscle. which prevents him from performing movements in rings or bottoms. Doctors have recommended surgery at the end of the season. Due to this injury he could not perform the Ring Muscle Up event in Picsil Pamplona.

He also talks about personal aspects and stories that are worth listening to.

Claim with CrossFit Spain

After the competition of Wodapalooza, Fabi shares a story on his Instagram account saying that CrossFit France has mentioned them after their performance at Wodapalooza while CrossFit Spain has not.

Afterwards he made a still post giving more details and complaining about the little support he received from the Spanish CrossFit division. The post reached over 6600 likes.

Wodapalooza 2024

He participates together with Aniol Ekai and the French Guillaume Briant in the team division of 3. They finished in 7th position.

2023

Dubai Fitness Championship 2023

Fabian Beneito, champion 🏆 in 2022, arrived with shoulder discomfort, he suffered a biceps🤕 tendon effusion that had affected his preparation. Asked how he looked for Dubai on the TC podcast, he replied:

"I don't know, I'm a little uncertain, I'm a little cagao."

In the second event, Fabi was able to lift 125kg in the snatch PR and 160 of clean & jerk. It was his best start in this competition with a 5th place overall after the first day.

The second day started well, with two 4th places in the first events, placing him 2nd on the leaderboard.

The last day didn't start so well, a 20th place finish meant he missed the podium. He was 5th and 6th in the last wods and managed to keep 4th place behind Khrennikov, Garard and Lazar Djukic.

The 4th place earned him a prize of 10,000$.

CrossFit Games 2023

Fabian finished in 23rd position after passing the first cut. The second cut reduced the field to 20 athletes and it was very close.

Their results were: 13th, 38th, 31st, 29th, 17th, 19th, 19th, 13th and 6th.

His 6th position in the Olympic Total event stands out.

His final result places him as the best result of a Spanish athlete in the CrossFit Games.

Semifinals in Berlin

Fabian earned his first CrossFit Games ticket after finishing in 11th place in the Semifinal of CrossFit held in Berlin.

The Valencian did not have the best start of the competition. He was 30th in the first event with the sled pull. In the next one he was 11th and finished the first day in 16th position.

The second day started with a bad result in an event where I could close the gap. Several no-reps on the bench press, deadlift and cleansing of the wod Linda, he lost a lot of time and finished in 32nd position.

It was time for a comeback, event 4 was a wod to recover positions. However, Aniol Ekai was the athlete who lifted the most weight, 290 lbs compared to Beneito's 275. Despite this, an 8th position and a 13th in the continuing wod were 2 good results.

He faced the last day in 17th position. In event 7 he managed to win his heat overtaking Uldis Upenieks at the last moment. He achieved a 5th place that, added to bad results of his direct competitors, placed him within the TOP11 before the last event.

Finally a 12th place in the last event helped him to keep the 11th position and become the first Spanish male athlete to participate in a CrossFit Games competition with the OPEN - QUARTERFINALS - SEMIFINALS qualification method.

Quarterfinals

After three events, Beneito achieves the first place in Quarterfinals in Europe and 7th in the world.

Wodapalooza 2023

He becomes the only Spaniard to make it into the final.

His final result was 12th. The best result of a Spaniard in the elite individual category of this competition.

2022

2022 Dubai Fitness Championship winner

Wins the 2022 Dubai Fitness Championship not having the best start. He was 16th after the first day.

Won the Hang event Clean Ladder after tying with Englishman Reggie Fasa.

On the final day, he won the first two events and was 2nd in the next. This catapulted him into a tie for first place with Brent Fikowski.

It all came down to the last moment of the last event, when Brent Fikowski received a norep just as he was crossing the finish line, which Fabi took advantage of to overtake him.

Dubai and Wodapalooza Qualifiers

Fabián Beneito is first, video review still pending, in the online qualifiers of Dubai CrossFit Championship 2022 and Wodapalooza 2023.

Madrid CrossFit Championship 2022

We have a new Training Culture team, although Mikel Izquierdo has informed us that it will only be for this competition. The members are Chloe Gauvin-David, Metty Greneron, Fabian Beneito and Pablo Cazalis.

Fabian Beneito is feeling very well and regaining his energy. He has done a good qualifying for the ROGUE, but the revisions have made him drop from 9th to 12th. He and TC, decided to do the Madrid as a team to take it easier and enjoy something he wanted to do for a long time, compete with his friend Pablo Cazalis.

They finished in 3rd position overall.

ROGUE Invitational 2022

Fabian Beneito has dropped to 36th place after the result of WOD 3 was invalidated for not having weighed one of the bars in the video.

Lowlands Throwdown 2022

Fabi Beneito came last in event 1 and his coach, Mikel Izquierdo, confirmed that it was muscle fatigue and not from having ripped his hands.

On the 9th rope climb, he was called no rep and Beneito wanted to try again without taking enough rest, causing him to fail again.

In total, Fabi made two repetitions that were invalid and took him to the bottom of the ranking.

Wodapalooza 2022

He finished 19th in his first participation as an individual in the highest category of this competition.

Fabi finished the first 2 days in 31st and 30th position, and the last day he got an 11th place in the first wod that almost allowed him to pass the cut to the final of that event. In the final wod he finished 14th and climbed up to the TOP20.

In a podcast, he acknowledges that at the time he was on the verge of quitting CrossFit due to mental health issues.

In the 4 days of competition he could only sleep 3 - 4 hours in total.

2021

Fabián Beneito repeats in Dubai 2021

He received an invitation to the Dubai CrossFit Championship 2021 becoming the only Spaniard competing.

Achieves a 17th place finish, same as in 2019, with a bad taste in his mouth after failing a clean lift and jerk that would have meant a very good result.

Beneito shared a message with us at the end of the competition.

Personally, it has been the toughest competition I have ever faced, especially mentally.

I have had a "failure" that I paid quite dearly, in event 2 I decided to take a risk, because if it went well it would go very well, but in this case something happened to me that I am not used to, to fail, and it penalized me a lot.

I am lucky to have Sara with me because it took me several hours to recover from the feeling of sadness for having failed, for having failed me and all those who are on my side.

I understood too late that it can happen and in event 3 I went out very bad, very sad and not very mentally prepared, I gave absolutely everything, but the event was very hard.

Sara gave me a couple of slaps and told me it was my turn to be me, I tried, I did it, and I was close to the top 5 in event 4.

Saturday didn't go badly at all counting that I gave it all I could with a 10th in event 5 and a 12th in event 6a/b. The pace and level was lacking, why?

I will figure it out and fix it. I'm not going to beat myself up and allow myself not to fail once, I'm human.

In the final I gave it my all and I'm happy for that.

It has been a very hard and suffered weekend. But this time I beat my mind more than ever.

5th in the Madrid CrossFit Championship 2021

At this point, the on-site competitions begin to be resumed little by little. In this competition with the participation of international athletes, Fabian ended up in a 5th position.

Winner of the 2021 Open in Spain

In 2021, he wins the Open in the Spanish leaderboard. He also achieves an incredible first position worldwide in the 21.3.

Unfortunately, this result was reviewed and penalized for not extending the elbow sufficiently on the thrusters. However, despite this incident, the Valencian 8th position overall in Europe and the 31st in the overall leaderboard.

Later, he would finish in 6th position in the semifinalsjust one place away from a direct entry to CrossFit Games 2021. He had one last chance in the Last Chance Qualifier in which he participated, but failed to win.

2020

In 2020 he travels to Miami but finally couldn't participate in Wodapalooza 2020 due to a back injury.

He suffered a stress fracture of the L2. The doctors recommended him to wear a brace but finally the physios ruled it out because of his good musculature.

CrossFit Open 2020 Winner

After 5 weeks of Open, Fabian managed to place first and was going to be the representative of Spain in the CrossFit Games 2020.

For reasons beyond anyone's control, the world came to a standstill and despite having managed to qualify, National Champions were unable to compete at the Games 2020 which were held with only a top 5.

Fabian Beneito Open 20.2

During the CrossFit Open 2020, we went to CrossFit Alzira to record his first attempt of the 20.2.

In the video you can learn a little more about Beneito who we interviewed.

2019

First Spaniard in Dubai

In 2019 he participates in the Dubai CrossFit Championship becoming the first Spaniard to qualify in the top category.

Highlight in event 3 in which Fabian does a clean and jerk PR with 161 Kg.

Second in the 2019 Open and the most international athlete.

He is one of the youngest athletes in the top of the Spanish CrossFit. After a second place in the Open 2019, the athlete had a season full of international competitions.

One of the moments he remembers with great fondness is the great snatch PR he achieved at the Reikjavik CrossFit Championship 2019. Here you can watch the interview about that moment.

Personal stats

Beneito Programming

Training Culture

In February 2022, Fabian announces that he is leaving the training platform that has seen him grow from amateur to professional athlete. Mikel Izquierdo, offers a job to Sara Valera, Fabi's partner, and invites them to spend a year with them.

Fabian moves to live in Zarautz, the Basque Country, where he will train at CrossFit Zarautz, owned by CrossFit athlete Pablo Cazalis.

His first choice was C23 CrossFit with John Singleton and The Progrm team. However, his friendship with Pablo Cazalis made him decide to go to Training Culture.

Smart Program

In his early years, Fabian trained under the supervision of Javier Peris, coach and owner of Smart Program.

At that time he trained with other athletes of this same program with whom he used to team up depending on the competitions: CrossFit 4 friends made up of Elena CarrataláDamián Martínez and his sentimental partner, Sara Valera.