Patrick Vellner

Patrick Vellner is one of the longest-serving athletes in the sport. Every year the typical question arises: will he be back for another year?

A very good friend of Brent Fikowski. We got to know them both better as CrossFit athletes in 2106 when they both stood on the podium representing Canada.

Biography

Patrick worked as a chiropractor in Toronto, Canada before moving to Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, Canada. There he practices part-time as a doctor of chiropractic in an interdisciplinary clinic. He has recently moved to Victoria in the province of British Columbia.

2025

Does not participate in Open

The Canadian posted on Instagram his decision not to compete in the Games 2025 season. He explained that he was doing so as a form of vindication to call for a change to CrossFit following the passing of Lazar Djukic in the Games 2024.

However, he will be involved in the new World Fitness Project league.

TYR Wodapalooza 2025 (Miami)

In January 2025, Patrick Vellner began the year by competing in TYR Wodapalooza 2025 in Miami. He had an outstanding performance, obtaining the 2nd place with a total of 525 pointsHe was only 24 points behind champion James Sprague.

At 35 years old in 2025, Vellner entered the Master's age category (35-39); however, has maintained its focus on the elite individual category.demonstrating its relevance among younger athletes.

2024

Rogue Invitational 2024

In October 2024, Vellner once again competed in the prestigious Rogue Invitational 2024 in Texas, this time as the defending champion from the previous year. Although he arrived with high expectations, his performance was dampened as he was reported to have competed "under the weather"(physically ill or not at 100%) during the weekend.

Even so, he still managed to finish in 9th place in the men's standings, tied on points with Justin Medeiros (8th).

TYR Wodapalooza Wodapalooza SoCal Cup 2024 (Huntington Beach)

In September 2024, Vellner was invited to the first edition of the TYR Wodapalooza SoCal Cupan innovative team tournament that pitted the following teams against each other Team North America vs. Team World in Huntington Beach. Vellner was a member of Team North America, which won by a close score of 7-6 about Team World.

In addition to the collective triumph, Patrick Vellner was recognized individually by being awarded the MVP (Most Valuable Player) Award of the event, an award voted by the public, which earned him an additional prize of $10,000.

CrossFit Games 2024

In August, Vellner competed in the CrossFit Games 2024This was his ninth individual appearance. He had a solid performance throughout the events and finished in ninth place. 5th place of the general classification.

During the competition he accumulated 742 points. The title that year went to the young James Sprague.

North America West 2024 Semifinal

In the qualification phase for the CrossFit Games 2024, Patrick Vellner had an outstanding performance in this semifinal, finishing in fourth position with 486 points. Ahead of him were James Sprague, Brent Fikowski and the winner, Justin Medeiros.

During the competition, he achieved a fourth place in Event 1 and 6 and a second place in Event 2 and 4. CrossFit Games 2024.

TYR Wodapalooza 2024 (Miami)

In January 2024, Vellner participated in TYR Wodapalooza 2024 in Miami, one of the most important off-season CrossFit events.

Competing in the elite individual category, he achieved an 4th place with 384.5 pointsbehind Ricky Garard (champion), Brent Fikowski and Samuel Kwant.

2023

ROGUE Invitational

The Rogue Invitational 2023 was once again proclaimed champion of this prestigious tournament held in Austin, Texas.

Vellner was top 5 in 5 events and top 10 in 3 others. His worst position was 13th in the first event. Nth comeback of the Canadian.

In an exciting outcome, he managed to secure 1st place overall, beating even the defending CrossFit Games champion, Canadian Jeffrey Adlerwho came in second in Rogue.

CrossFit Games 2023

He started the competition with a 27th place finish in the first event. As usual, Pat went from strength to strength, winning the Intervals and 2nd in the Parallel-bar pull.

He finished in 2nd place, something he had achieved in 2021 and 2018.

North America West Semifinal

He is proclaimed winner of the North America West Semifinal and receives his invitation to the CrossFit Games.

Patrick Vellner has us used to great comebacks. He won 2 events (5 and 7) and top 10 in the rest except in the first one, where he was 15th.

Wodapalooza 2023

Patrick Vellner participated both in the individual category and in the team of three together with his compatriots. Brent Fikowski and Jeffrey Adler.

In individual he was unable to defend the title he won in 2023. He managed to finish 3rd behind Roman Khrennikovand the winner, Ricky Garard.

As a team, PB & J (Patrick Brent and Jeffrey) won the team competition. Vellner and Khrennikov achieved 2 podiums in the same weekend.

2022

CrossFit Games 2022

6th in CrossFit Games 2022.

He considers himself satisfied for having finished the competition and having given his all.

However, he was disappointed to have finished 6th, although he understands that many athletes with whom he shared the track would change for him. He admits to having had some mistakes and plans to work on them to get back to the position he desires.

Atlas Games

Finishes in second place to qualify for the CrossFit Games 2022

Open

10th open in which he participates and debuts in the 22.1 live launch against Noah Ohlsen.

Wodapalooza 2022

Repeats as winner of the Wodapalooza. He shared the podium with his compatriots Samuel Cournoyer and Alexandre Caron.

2021

ROGUE Invitational

Finished 2nd, 80 points behind Justin Medeiros.

CrossFit Games 2021

After a start with a 35th place that was reminiscent of 2018, Patrick Vellner again gets a second place finish in the CrossFit Games 2021.

Won the Atlas Games online semifinal, which earned him a ticket to the NOBULL CrossFit Games 2021.

Withdrawal of Fraser

He dedicated an emotional Instagram post to. Mat Fraser for his withdrawal from competitions. It read as follows:

Dear Mat Fraser, thank you.

Thank you for being a good friend.
Thank you for being a fierce competitor.
Thank you for pushing me and making me improve.
Thank you for welcoming me to the sport in 2016.
I always enjoyed every second of our time on the ground together and am saddened that it has come to an end. Now I will have to treasure the memories.
Selfishly, seeing you leave the sport makes me sad, but I couldn't be happier for you.
Congratulations on manifesting your destiny. Maybe someday we will have another dominant male champion, but there will not be another like you.
Now go get fat and enjoy everything you've worked so hard for.
I love you man, I miss those sweaty hugs already.

2020

He fails to pass the first online phase of the Games and therefore does not participate in the face-to-face phase at the Ranch.

In that year he managed to be the Open champion worldwide and won the Wodapalooza.

2019

CrossFit Games 2019

He missed the final Games cut-off that reduced the field to just 10 athletes. His final position was 16th.

He was expected to be the only one capable of standing up to Fraser after the Canadian won the Wodapalooza again and 2 second places at the ROGUE invitational and Dubai Fitness Championship.

2018

Patrick Vellner falls at Battle Ground

One of the most memorable moments from the CrossFit Games 2018, was the fall suffered by both Mat Fracer and Patrick Vellner on one of the event, the Battle Ground. Fortunately, despite the seriousness of the fall, the Canadian received medical assistance without any further inconvenience to continue competing in the week's challenge.

Vellner brands

CrossFit sports achievements

Vellner has always been very involved in the world of sports and his background is gymnastics. For him, CrossFit has always been his way of escape during his studies and the way to feed his great competitiveness.

He started training in the sport in 2013. His first year at the Games was as a team in 2015 with Team CrossFit Plateau 2.

From here, he participated as an individual in 2016 and 2017, placing third.

In 2017, he placed 4th, but after obtaining the anti-doping results of the athletes, they withdrew the medal of third to Ricky Garard.

Vellner was unable to enjoy his moment of glory on the podium on the day the 2017 Gamess closed, but Dave Castro personally presented him with his well-deserved medal at the Invitationals of the same year.

After two years in third place, the athlete has shown that he has not reached the podium by chance. At the regionals of this 2018 season, he has made it clear that he comes with all the desire to crown himself the Fittest On Earth, after winning the CrossFit Open.

Michele Letendre is Vellner's coach

Veteran ex-athlete Michele Letendre Patrick was part of the group of athletes trained by Letendre, which has included well-known names such as the Hungarian Laura Horvath and the French national champion Willy Georges.

However, Letendre joined Mat Fraser's platform, HWPO, and Vellner became part of it.

About Vellner

Vellner's philosophy of life is very different from what we are accustomed to from other athletes such as Mat Fraser or Rich Froning.

With well-known slogans such as Fraser's "hard work pays off" emphasizing all the dedication he puts into the sport. His whole day revolves around his training hours, his nutrition to perform well, his breaks that allow him to train again.

Froning famously said "what is Rich doing?", referring to the fact that the athlete is training most of the day.

Vellner seems to make the opposite case and argues that a different approach works for each person because each person is different.

The fact of having to focus on the his chiropractic studies has made him have this other perception: train at high intensity for as long as you can dedicate to it, and when you are out of the box, disconnect and enjoy something else.

Time efficiency over volume.