Sweat and sacrifice culminated in 17-year-old Brogan Borrill’s success and rise through the ranks. He has made his country proud after hoisting its flag.

The CrossFit champ recently finished second in Africa in the CrossFit Games semi-finals for the 16 to 17 age group.

After having done CrossFit for just over three years, Borrill was invited to participate in the Pit Teen Throwdown that runs alongside the CrossFit Games finals in Southwest Michigan, USA.

The youngster claimed first place, outclassing his international opponents in the competition.

“A month ago, I was thinking about how this would all be possible, and I’ve just stood on the podium. All I could think of was how grateful I was for everything coming together, all the love and support I received, and how faithful God is when He promises something,” Borrill said.

Ins and outs

He said there were five events in total, “And going into the third event to achieve as many rounds as possible in a set time, I knew I’d need to pace myself correctly on the movements.

“I knew the other guys were strong on the gymnastics, so I couldn’t go too slowly, but give it horns on the movements I was stronger at, like the weights. The last two events were events I knew I could confidently win, so I took off the governor and hit the gas,” he explained.

Receiving the invite a month prior didn’t leave the weightlifter much time to prepare.

“I knew I had the best coaches behind me, Cameron Mitchell (box owner, level three coach with more than 10 years’ experience in the sport and Conrad Winnertz, second place in CrossFit Men’s African semi-final 2023), so I just had to trust the process,” said Borrill.

Being an international competition, he said the achievement was much greater than any local competition he had competed in.

“However, the bigger wins for me were to be able to glorify God in the process, be exposed to new experiences, make new friendships, and the improvements I made in my mental game. Time will have to tell whether or not this would be something I’d be able to juggle with all the new responsibilities I have, but while I’m still young, I’d definitely like to give it my best shot and make it to the men’s platform one day,” he said.

Unwavering support

Borrill thanked his family, friends and coaches for standing by his side from start to finish.

“The amount of sacrifice made by each party was massive, and this wouldn’t have been possible without them.

The odds seemed against us from the start, but they all did their level best to ensure this would happen. From organising visas, family members flying halfway across the world to accompany me, video call pep talks, coaching and encouragements,” he said.

He reiterated that he was grateful to share this victory with them, “Special thank you to Mom, Dad, Tate, uncles Steve and Cam. I love you guys tons.”