Jayson Hopper withdrew from the Mayhem Classic due to a groin injury. With Mayhem out of the picture, the reigning Fittest Man on Earth had his eyes set on Syndicate Crown as a path to return to the CrossFit Games. However, last night on the Boys Interrupted show, Hopper shared that he had accepted an invite to compete at the French Throwdown.
Hopper told his co-hosts Dallin Pepper and Justin Medeiros that he saw the workouts, loved the workouts and there does not appear to be a high demand on his groin.
Khrennikov Out
With Hopper getting the nod to compete, he is likely taking Roman Khrennikov’s spot after he qualified for the CrossFit Games last month at the Mayhem Classic.
If you remember, Khrennikov received a special invite from the French Throwdown earlier this year despite telling athletes no special invites would be awarded. The French Throwdown rulebook indicated that the field would be filled via the FTD online qualifier (worldwide) and the CrossFit Quarterfinals (Europe only).
Now it appears that the French Throwdown is a clause in Section 2.1 that states, “The French Throwdown reserves the exclusive right to approve or deny the participation of any
athlete.” However, this clause is within the online qualifier section.
Regardless of the rulebook, Jayson Hopper will be competing at the French Throwdown and is already on the leaderboard on Competition Corner.
Competitors
Hopper will need to finish in the top 3 to earn an invite to the 2026 CrossFit Games. Athletes like Moritz Fiebig, Harry Lightfoot, Calum Clements, Enrico Zenoni, Toby Buckland, Sven Geens and others will also be fighting for one of those spots.
And if Hopper for some reason does not qualify, there will always be Syndicate Crown.
The 2026 French Throwdown is May 15-17 at the Arena Grand Paris in Tremblay-en-France, France.
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