Jayson Hopper


Jayson Hopper is an American CrossFit athlete. He is the winner of the 2025 CrossFit Games.

Early life

Jayson Hopper was born on September 3, 1997 in Lexington, South Carolina and grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. He was a student at Lexington High School. He played baseball, but quit baseball to focus football at Lexington High School. Despite offers to four other places including Appalachian State Mountaineers, he decided to join Clemson as a preferred walk-on. He started training in CrossFit in 2017 to keep himself fit after having to take a year off to achieve the grades required to get into Clemson University. He played as a wide receiver for Clemson. However, he left in 2018 with the intention of training to be a pastor and focus on CrossFit.

Career

Hopper first took part in the CrossFit Open in 2017, but came to the attention of the public in 2021 when he reached the semifinal at Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge held in Knoxville, Tennessee and won the men's division. He made his debut at the 2021 CrossFit Games, and finished 19th. Hopper also qualified for the Rogue Invitational in 2021, finishing in seventh place in this and two subsequent competitions.
After the 2021 Games, Hopper joined HWPO to train under Mat Fraser. At the 2022 CrossFit Games, Hopper improved on his 2021 result and finished 7th.
At the 2023 CrossFit Games, Hopper performed poorly in some of the events and was cut early, finishing in 31st place. Convinced that it was his weight, he dropped his weight down to 210 lbs.
In the 2024 CrossFit Games, Hopper's performance improved and he finished just outside the podium in 4th place. At the 2024 Rogue Invitational, he finished 3rd. In late 2024, Hopper moved from HWPO to Brute.
At the 2025 CrossFit Games, the competition was closely contested by a number of athletes, with the lead changing a few times in the early events. Hopper took the lead after event 5, maintained the lead, and won the competition just 14 points ahead the Ricky Garard.

Personal life

Hopper married Grace Anne in February 2020.

CrossFit Games results

YearGamesSemifinalQuarterfinalOpen
201715,007th
20187,413th
2019451st
2020171st
202119th1st 52nd
35th 		19th
12th
20227th2nd 33rd
19th 		16th
13th
202331st2nd 22nd
10th 		35th
17th
20244th4th 11th
4th 		49th
15th
20254th 6th
5th