Patrick Vellner is a Canadian

CrossFit CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen that involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. The method was developed by Greg Glassman, who founded CrossFit with Lauren Jenai in 2000, with CrossFit its registered trad ...

athlete who has seven individual appearances at the

CrossFit Games The CrossFit Games is an annual athletic competition owned and operated by CrossFit, LLC. Athletes compete in a series of events at the Games, which may be various standard CrossFit workouts consisting of metabolic conditioning exercises, weightl ...

, including three 2nd and two 3rd place finishes.

Early life

Vellner was born in

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada to Marty and Tikki Vellner. He has two brothers, Jonathan and Mitchell. Vellner competed in

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

from the age of eight, and he also played

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

. After retiring from gymnastics in 2010, he continued to play lacrosse for a team in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

while he was studying in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. He studied

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human healt ...

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

in Montreal from 2012 to 2015, and was introduced to CrossFit by friends while a student there. He graduated from McGill with an honors degree, and went on to study

chiropractic Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudosci ...

at the

Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) is a Canadian private chiropractic school located in the North York district of Toronto, founded in 1945. CMCC is a registered charitable not-for-profit corporation and receives no direct government ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, graduating in 2019.

Career

Vellner first competed in the CrossFit Open in 2013. In 2014, he finished well enough in the Open to qualify for the Canada East Regional, though he finished fifth and not enough to move on to the Games. The next year, in 2015, he qualified for his first CrossFit Games as a member of CrossFit Plateau. The team took home 5th in the East and 20th in the world at the

2015 CrossFit Games The 2015 CrossFit Games were the ninth CrossFit Games, which were held on July 21–26, 2015 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Ben Smith was the men's winner, and Katrin Davidsdottir was the women's winner. The Affiliate Cup was won by ...

2016–2018: Podium finishes

In 2016, Vellner earned his first

invite after finishing 8th in the World (1st in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

) in the Worldwide Open and 3rd in the East Regional. Though his highest event finish was 2nd overall, Vellner finished 3rd place, and was named Rookie of the Year. After the Games, Vellner competed on Team Canada at the CrossFit Invitational, earning a 4th-place finish alongside Michele Letendre, Carol-Ann Reason-Thibault, and Brent Fikowski. In 2017, Vellner made his 2nd individual CrossFit Games appearance. He placed 11th in the Worldwide Open, earning a spot at the East Regional, where he finished 2nd place. Vellner finished third in the CrossFit Games with two individual event wins after officials disqualified Ricky Garard for failing drug tests ( Testolone and Endurobol) at the 2017 CrossFit Games. In 2018, Patrick Vellner had his best Open finish, best Regionals finish, and best

finish, where he finished 5th, 1st, and 2nd respectively. He captured his 3rd event win of his career in the 9th Event of the weekend, Chaos.

2019–2020

2019 introduced the Sanctionals Circuit to the

2019 CrossFit Games The 2019 CrossFit Games was the 13th iteration of the annual competition in the sport CrossFit held from August 1–4, 2019, at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. The men's competition was won by Mat Fraser, the women ...

qualification season. Although Vellner narrowly missed qualifying for the Games at the Open, his 1st place finish at

Wodapalooza Wodapalooza Fitness Festival (WZA) is an annual four-day functional fitness festival held in Miami centered on a CrossFit competition. The event was first established in 2012 and has since developed into one of the largest fitness festival in the ...

earned him a spot in the competition. He also competed at the

Rogue Invitational The Rogue Invitational is an annual sporting event that includes a CrossFit competition and a strongman competition. The event, organized by Rogue, started in 2019 as a CrossFit sanctioned competition, but has since become a major competition for ...

later in the season where he finished 2nd. With no event finishes inside the Top 10, Vellner was cut after a penalty for stepping on the line in the 6th event, and finished 16th. In the 2020 season, Vellner finished first Worldwide at the Open, which earned him a spot at the CrossFit Games. However, a quirk in the scoring system meant that despite finishing 1st in the world, he was not crowned the Canadian National Champion. He then compete at the Dubai CrossFit Championship, earning 2nd, repeat as the Wodapalooza Champion, and take home 1st in the Rogue Invitational, which moved online in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. During the online Stage 1 of the 2020 CrossFit Games, Vellner finished 9th, failing to qualify for the in-person Stage 2 event.

2021: Return to podium

The

2021 CrossFit Games The 2021 CrossFit Games was the 15th edition of the CrossFit Games held from July 27 to August 1, 2021. Justin Medeiros won the men's competition, Tia-Clair Toomey the women's, and CrossFit Mayhem the team's. The qualification process for the ...

season brought about additional changes to the qualifying process. Vellner finished 20th in the World and 13th in North America in the Worldwide Open, earning a spot in the Online Quarterfinal. During the quarterfinals, he finished 4th overall on the continent, earning a post in the semifinals. Travel restrictions between Canada and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, as well as in person event restrictions in Canada, meant that Vellner was forced to compete in the 2021 Atlas Games, which were conducted online. He took home 1st place, and a spot in the Games. Despite a disappointing finish in the 1st Event of the weekend, Vellner took home three event wins, bringing his career total to six, and earning 2nd place behind Justin Medeiros at the Games. He works as a chiropractor in Nanaimo,

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Personal life

Vellner announced his engagement to Michelle Workun-Hill, a doctor, in October 2019. Their son Owen William was born on June 11, 2021. They married in September 2021.

CrossFit Games results

References

External links

Patrick Vellner
at CrossFit Games {{DEFAULTSORT:Vellner, Patrick CrossFit athletes Living people 1990 births Sportspeople from Red Deer, Alberta Canadian sportsmen McGill University alumni