CrossFit Games athlete Lazar Dukic has died after disappearing under the water during an 800-meter swim in a Texas lake.
Individual event No. 1 at the 2024 CrossFit Games was livestreamed and footage went viral as a competitor appeared to go under the Marine Creek Lake water, and a body was later recovered. The body has since been identified as Dukic, 28, and CrossFit CEO Don Faul has said they were "deeply saddened" by the tragic event.
During a news conference, Faul confirmed that Dukic had died and they are now working with the authorities to carry out a full investigation. The official cause of death is yet to be specified, but the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office is looking into it.
CrossFit Games issued a statement on the tragedy and wrote on X: "We are devastated by the passing of Lazar Dukic. Our hearts are with Lazar’s entire family, friends, and fellow athletes."
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"Out of respect for the family and in cooperation with the Fort Worth Police Department, we will share updates when possible." The Fort Worth Fire Department was called around 8 a.m. local time and an official began assisting police on site.
The official confirmed that they were called and notified that "a participant in the water was down and hadn't been seen at some point in time." It took over an hour to find Dukic's body, as his disappearance wasn't instantly picked up and safety personnel wasn't on-site at the event.
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"We're doing everything in our power during this tragic time to support the family, to support our community," Faul added. Dukic was ranked 88th overall in the world and was the third-ranked athlete at the CrossFit Games.
On the livestream, Dukic was seen gasping for air around 100 meters from the finish line. It was only after all other athletes had crossed the finish line that organizers realized that Dukic wasn't with the remainder of the group and was declared as missing.
The 800-meter swim came after a 3.5-mile run, and out of respect for Dukic the remainder of Thursday's event was canceled. Cole Learn, a fellow CrossFit Games athlete posted a heartbreaking post to his Instagram page.
Learn was overwhelmed with emotion and detailed the events from his viewpoint, also highlighting the lack of attention around the incident. "For anyone asking for updates from the CrossFit Games, we watched Lazar go under and we screamed for some lifeguards," he said. "We were pretty far away so it was tough to do anything else.
"But we were yelling for lifeguards and unfortunately they couldn't hear us and he just never came back up. I am absolutely devastated. That was not something that I wanted to watch. So, just if you're messaging me, I'm not going to message anybody back."
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