Tiago Luzes has received a backfill invite to compete at the 2025 CrossFit Games. Luzes, who finished in second place at the Far East Throwdown, the In-Person Qualifying Event in Asia, was next in line after the winner, Morteza Sedaghat failed to receive a visa to travel to the United States.
Sedaghat, an Iranian athlete, won the Far East Throwdown and registered for the CrossFit Games. However, the biggest challenge for Sedaghat was to get a visa.
Sedaghat told The Barbell Spin earlier this month that he missed his original appointment for his visa application due to the Iran-Israel conflict. At that time he was in the process of emailing several embassies to reschedule.
Now, it appears that those avenues have closed and Sedaghat will be unable to travel to Albany, New York, for the 2025 CrossFit Games.
It is the second time the Iranian CrossFit athlete has qualified for the Games only to be denied a visa after the fact. In 2023, Sedaghat took 2nd place at the Asia Semifinal. Just like this year, his visa application was denied.
Luzes, who is from Portugal, has already accepted his invite and registered for the CrossFit Games. His name is now on the official leaderboard.
