Ben Smith is a professional CrossFit athlete from Virginia, United States. He has competed at the CrossFit Games every year since 2009, finishing on the podium four times: first place in 2015, second in 2016, and third in 2011 and 2013. He is the first competitor to make ten consecutive appearances in the Individual Division at the CrossFit Games. He was able to extend the streak to 11 years following the adjusted qualification rules for the 2019 CrossFit Games that gave him wildcard invitation following a knee surgery. Smith was a baseball player throughout childhood and was introduced to CrossFit during his senior year of high school in 2008 and qualified for the CrossFit Games the next year. He has placed first in CrossFit Games regional qualifying events six times. He is the lead programmer and a co-owner, founder, and coach at CrossFit Krypton in Chesapeake, Virginia.
CrossFit career
His military father introduced him to CrossFit, an exercise program that had popularity in the military and law enforcement communities, when he was sixteen. Smith followed the fitness regimen and its internet community for the program, gaining some notoriety for his garage workout videos posted to the forums. He mostly trained in his garage or outside in his backyard. In 2009, Smith entered his first CrossFit Games Regionals event at age 18, finishing in first place at the Mid Atlantic Qualifier. He earned a spot in the 2009 CrossFit Games where he finished in 64th place out of 74 competitors. Smith went on to qualify for the Games in every subsequent year, finishing in the third place podium position in 2011 and 2013 before taking the title of "Fittest on Earth" in the 2015 CrossFit Games following four-time Games champion Rich Froning Jr. moving to the team competition. The next year, he won another podium spot with a second-place finish to eventual multiple Games champion Mathew Fraser. He became the first CrossFit Games competitor to qualify as an individual for the Games in ten consecutive years, and tied for total individual qualifications, in 2018.
Diet
As a competitor, Smith maintains a high carbohydrate and protein diet by eating mostly whole foods, although he has not utilized the paleo diet that had been popular in the CrossFit community. The majority of his calories comes from milk, eggs, sweet potatoes, and bacon. He supplements his diet with protein powders. He occasionally breaks the diet on weekends with pizza, ice cream, and burritos.
Personal life
Ben Smith was raised in Chesapeake, Virginia, with his two brothers, Alec and Dane. He was a baseball player for the Great Bridge High School Wildcats from 2004 to 2008 and played collegiate level baseball at Lafayette College. He transferred closer to home at Old Dominion University and earned a mechanical engineering degree. His father introduced Smith and his brothers to CrossFit and all have competed at Regionals events, with Alec qualifying for the CrossFit Games in 2017 and 2018. Smith is a co-owner of his own gym, CrossFit Krypton, in Chesapeake. Ben met his wife, Noelle, in their junior year of high school and were married in October 2014. By 2017, Smith had made $487,086 in prize money making him the fifth highest paid CrossFit athlete at the time.
