“Winning this competition has always been a dream. My good friend, Hector Estéves, summed it up when he said ‘the man with nightmares fulfilled his dreams.’ I am very nervous and I have a lot of nightmares, especially in important moments like big competitions,” said Fabian Beneito after winning the Dubai Fitness Championship.
Beneito could not have dreamt of a worse start to the Dubai Fitness Championship. After Event 1 ‘Burj Khalifa Challenge’, Fabi was deflated. He had finished 16th. “I fell apart. I thought I did a good event and the result didn’t show my effort,” commented Beneito. Being left with that mindset after an event isn’t ideal, having to wait an entire day before having a chance to rectify it, doesn’t help. Beneito added, “My people pushed me a lot during all of Friday so I could get up on Saturday fueled to do my thing.”
It would be easy to look at the leaderboard and the arduous task of climbing it that lay ahead but Beneito and his team focused on each step, avoiding becoming disheartened again or overawed by the challenge that faced him, “I talked to my girlfriend and my coach before each event about the strategy and the goal was the same, pushing hard, follow my body and see what happens.”
Saturday, Beneito hit the ground running with an event win and a PR lift on the Hang Clean Ladder as well as two respectable top 10 finishes in Events 3 and 4. He finished Saturday in 7th position 70 points off the top spot but the story was only half told. Sunday would have 4 Events and another 400 points up for grabs.
This wasn’t the first time Fabian qualified for Dubai. “The first year I qualified, something that I had always been thinking would be impossible, I started to believe that I could be competitive and I could be competing with the best athletes from around the world,” said Beneito.
One of the changes he made since he first qualified was that he joined Training Culture. “My friend Pablo, who lives in Basc Country, was always telling me that he wanted us to train together. Finally, I accepted and went to live there to train and make a change in my life. They helped me a lot in many ways but most importantly they give me their support and they are so good at their work,” said Beneito.
Training Culture, based in Spain, is run by Mikel Izquierdo and Alexander Anasagasti. Training Culture consider themselves as “the most complete strategy for athletes on their journeys,” And on the evidence of Fabi’s performance in the Middle East, along with strong performances from athletes in Madrid and the Games season, they’ve stepped up to the plate of competitive CrossFit in a big way this off season.
On Sunday morning Fabi found a new gear. Back to back 1st place finishes on Events 5 and 6, leaving him in second place overall. He followed that up with a second place finish on Event 7. Heading into the final event it appeared as if it was going to be difficult to pick a winner and so it proved.
But when Fikowski was no repped on his final lunge, it opened the door for Beneito and Fiebig. Fikowski dropped to 3rd place behind Moritz Fiebig and Beneito who were a dead lock on points. Fabian took the top spot by virtue of the number of event wins he had accrued over the weekend. Visibly emotional, Fabian crumpled to his knees on hearing his name announced and wept. His arm was held aloft by second place finisher Fiebig and the man with nightmares was living out his dreams.
Dubai marked the end of 2022 and with the 2023 season just around the corner it’s clear that Fabian Beneito is coming. Europe is coming.
