While Mat Fraser was crowned the Fittest Man on Earth the past two years by CrossFit, Sports Illustrated has a different opinion. In this year’s “Sports Illustrated Fittest 50” article, Mat Fraser only ranks 4th among other male athletes.
Here is the criteria Sports Illustrated used to rank the 50 fittest men and women in 2017…
“With insight from the panel of trainers, strength and conditioning coaches and performance experts, we set out to do the near impossible: identify the top 50 fittest men and women across all sports right now. Athletes were considered based on performances in the last 12 months, demands and risks of their respective sports, training regimens, longevity and physical benchmarks, including: speed, strength, endurance, agility, flexibility and power.”
So if Fraser didn’t top the list, who did? That honor would go to Cristiano Ronaldo, professional soccer player. In 2nd was Lebron James and 3rd was Roger Federer.
The only other notable male athlete in the world of CrossFit or Weightlifting who ranked in the top 50 was US Olympian and Olympic Weightlifter Kendrick Farris (27th).
On the women’s side, 2017 CrossFit Games champion and 2016 Olympian Tia-Clair Toomey was ranked 5th. US Olympian and gymnast Simone Biles was #1. Allyson Felix (track & field), Katie Ledecky (swimming) and Maggie Stevens (water polo) were 2nd, 3rd and 4th, respectively.
Kara Webb was ranked 23rd while Mattie Rogers was ranked 39th.
What do you think? Did Sports Illustrated miss the mark?
