Will Moorad, the World Fitness Project Director of Sport, traveled to Cookeville, Tennessee, last week to sit down with Rich Froning, Angelo DiCicco and Austin Mallelo for The Rich Froning Podcast. Get the key takeaways and topics from the 70-minute conversation…
WFP, How it started?
At 8:18, Froning asks Moorad about how the WFP started. Moorad and team have said throughout that the WFP was in the works well before Lazar Đukić died at the 2024 CrossFit Games. However, many questioned this and felt that it was spun up because of what happened.
Moorad says that the original plan was to open a gym in Nashville as part of the Goodlyfe non-profit organization run by Jackson and Isabella Terry and her parents, the Gillettes. As part of that they were going to host a competition to raise money for Goodlyfe.
“And that just kind of evolved when all the unrest from the Games and athletes didn’t know if the Games were going to be going on,” shared Moorad.
He added, “The team came together and was just kind of like, well, maybe we can shift the business plan from being a brick and mortar sports performance facility with a couple lower level events, maybe like semifinal level, into a full season and try to serve the athletes and community in a way that we didn’t know was going to exist or not.”
Froning confirmed by saying it wasn’t originally going to be what it is now, and Moorad agreed.
Sport is the “North Star” of WFP
Froning asked what the North Star is for the WFP, to which Moorad answered, “I think it’s sport.” He continued, “I’ve said it a few times like how do we become the F1 of fitness, you know, like events and sport. That’s the goal. I’m Director of Sport. Me and Jason [Ansley] kind of run the show over there and that’s the North Star.”
Watch the entire episode here:
No More Fitness Project Affiliates
When asked if the WFP is still affiliating gyms, Moorad answered with, “Not really.”
He continued by saying they still have that small group. He’s talking about the first 50 affiliates they were pushing for when they started the Fitness Project Affiliate program almost a year ago.
Moorad said that his focus is sport and that he “doesn’t really even sit on that side of the company at all.”
Because the sport side is the fun side, according to Moorad.
Lessons Learned from 2025 Season
Communication within the team. Moorad said that while it looked good from the outside looking in, but that internally they could improve efficiencies around athlete check-in, athlete brief, etc, by communicating better.
He added that he thought communication with athletes, coaches and even agents could always be a bit better.
Hatfield’s GHD & Garard’s BikeErg
Froning asked what happened with Hatfield’s nuts. If you aren’t familiar, Hatfield’s GHD came apart during Tour Stop 2 last year in Mesa, Arizona. The athlete before Hatfield adjusted the GHD and pulled foot hold above the pin and got lucky it did not happen at that time.
The equipment team did not check the GHD between heats and it finally came undone while Hatfield was on the GHD. Moorad accepted the blame and said it was on the WFP team for not ensuring the equipment was safe.
But when Garard’s Concept2 BikeErg locked up in the same event, Moorad said that was on Concept2. “One of the permanent bolts that never comes undone. It came undone,” Moorad explained. He added later that “the Concept2 thing was just equipment failure. Like what are you going to do?”
2026 Contracts
We know that athletes like Dallin Pepper, Justin Medeiros, Ricky Garard and Jeff Adler declined their contract for the 2026 season. It appears that the rest of the men who finished in the top 20 accepted theirs.
However, Moorad states that around 70% of the athletes accepted their contracts for the 2026 season. With 40 total contracts (20 men and 20 women), that means about 12 athletes declined their contract.
It appears that only four men declined which means that the women’s field is decimated. Lucy Campbell shared on the Talking Elite Fitness podcast that she declined. Outside of Brooke Wells, who is retiring, no one else has formally shared they will not compete this season. But it looks like quite a few backfills will be incoming on the women’s side.
Moorad said that those who are not competing cite that they were banged up from the 2025 season.
Double Points for the Swim
Moorad shared that athletes did not like that the swim at the WFP Finals was two events for 200 points total.
WFP Tour Stop 1 Qualifier Sneak Peak
Moorad did share that the online qualifier for Tour Stop 1, beginning February 18, will be four events with one two-parter.
