The sport of CrossFit wasn’t always on the mind of 15-year-old Jeremie Jourdan. In fact, the first sport he took up was gymnastics. It wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that he was forced to pause his gymnastics career and turn to the growing sport, and he has fallen in love with it ever since.

Not only has he grown to love CrossFit, but Jourdan has become one of the most successful competitors in the sport in the entire world. In just three years of training and competing, “The Jerm,” as many call him, has risen to a #2 world ranking and is preparing to compete in the Super Bowl equivalent of the sport in Madison, Wisconsin in August – the 2023 CrossFit Games.

CrossFit is a fairly new sport, as it was founded in 2000 by Greg and Lauren Jenai in Santa Cruz. It involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. As the sport’s popularity has grown, so have the number of gyms. In 2010, CrossFit Turlock opened its doors, and it has been where Jourdan has trained since he was 12 following his departure from gymnastics competition.

“We were driving three hours a day to go to gymnastics training, and it was a lot. And when everything shut down in 2020, it gave me a chance to slow down and be a normal kid. At the same time, I needed to keep active, so I just decided to try CrossFit,” Jourdan said.

Jourdan settled on CrossFit because of the similarities in movements needed to perform certain exercises like pull ups, lunges, muscle ups, snatches and box jumps, as well as cardiovascular exercises like rowing, shuttle running and jump roping.

“I knew pretty early on he was a great athlete and had potential to go far in this sport,” said CrossFit Turlock owner and trainer Isaiah Figueroa.

Jourdan quickly learned the ins and outs of the sport, and about a year ago, participated in his first competition at the 2022 Northern California Classic, where he earned first place.

“I didn't really know you could do this competitively or anything,” he said. “We tried it out and I enjoyed it… I just like being competitive. I like to win things.”

With a couple extra months of training under his belt, Figueroa entered Jourdan into CrossFit Games qualifying. Qualifying takes place in three stages – the CrossFit Open, quarterfinals and semifinals. Only 10 individuals from each gender and age group move on to the CrossFit Games. Jourdan competes in the 14-15 age group, which had over 1,500 contestants enter and compete in the Open.

And the qualifying isn’t like typical qualifying in other sports. Considering the fact that it is a worldwide competition, the first three rounds before the CrossFit games are done remotely. The organization sends a random workout to contestants that they must complete on camera and submit. Not only must athletes prepare for any scenario in terms of the random workouts, but they must film themselves at certain angles and distances to ensure that there is no cheating.

Figueroa joked that they have sometimes spent more time working on camera angles prior to the workouts than the workouts themselves. It’s incredibly important to get the camera work right as there is little room for error with the possibility of disqualification always lurking.

The pressure is only increased by the fact that contestants have no clue how other athletes have done due to the remote qualifying.

“We do our workout, we send it in, and all we can do from there is pray because we have no idea who else is submitting videos and how they’ve done,” explained Figueroa.

Jourdan will finally meet his counterparts in Wisconsin.

With just over a month to prepare for the prestigious competition, the training has ramped up. Jourdan heads to the gym twice a day six times a week, each session serving a different purpose. While one day will be high intensity training, other days will be light workouts.

“You can't stay comfortable,” Figueroa said. “If you're staying comfortable, you're not doing enough. At the end of the day, going through training, you don't know what enough is. And so I think that's the hardest part, not knowing what we’re going to be doing once we’re over there.”

It’ll be a long and expensive trip for Jourdan, Figueroa and family members. Though the CrossFit Games will supply Jourdan with all the necessary clothing, his family must pay for transportation for him and Figueroa, hotel rooms, meal prepping, entry fees and physical therapy amongst other things. His mother, Stephanie, has set up a GoFundMe while Figueroa and CrossFit Turlock have joined forces with Turlock-based digital printing company Impact Prints to sell t-shirts. A tri-tip dinner is also planned for July 22.

Donations can be made to the Go Fund Me at https://gofund.me/b57f80c0, t-shirts can be ordered through the link on the CrossFit Turlock Instagram page at @CrossfitTurlock and tickets for the tri-tip dinner can be also purchased through the gym’s page. The tri-tip dinner will have both pickup and sit-down options available. The drive through pick will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. while the sit-down dinner will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Prices are $30 for an individual dinner and $60 for a family dinner, which includes a whole tri-tip, beans, salad and a roll.

“I’m very excited,” Jourdan said. “I want the experience, which is competing against kids around the world. And I want to win.”