KIDDERMINSTER'S Elliot Simmonds is set to represent the UK at the 2019 CrossFit Games.

The event is now being held in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, until Sunday, August 4 as competitors battle it out to be crowned the “fittest on Earth”.

Simmonds qualified as “the fittest man in the UK” in the CrossFit Games Open competition earlier this year. Over 180,000 men from across the world signed up to compete in the open category of this competition back in March as Elliot emerged on top in the UK and finishing 37th in the world.

The 25-year-old is now a co-head coach at Vogue Fitness, CrossFit YAS in Abu Dhabi, UAE, but got his first taste for CrossFit at the local CrossFit Wyre Forest in Bewdley when he was just 16 years of age.

He had a background of competing in a number of individual and team sports, including football, squash and rugby prior to trying CrossFit at Wyre Forest where his mum was a member.

At age 18, he left The Kings School in Worcester to study at Cardiff Metropolitan University where he played competitive rugby and soon joined a CrossFit Box in Cardiff where his CrossFit journey took off.

Following a competition held in London in the spring of 2014, Elliot was contacted and asked to become a member of the coaching team at a new CrossFit facility – Vogue Fitness CrossFit YAS - in Abu Dhabi.

Having completed his studies, Simmonds emigrated one day before his 21st birthday in the summer of 2014.

In July 2016, he was a member of the CrossFit YAS team that achieved third place at the Crossfit Games – the first non-USA team ever to podium.

He qualified for his first individual Games appearance in 2018, having just missed out on a place in 2017 and this year will be his second individual appearance.

Simmonds goes to the Games and will compete alongside his fiancée, Jamie Greene, who is making her third consecutive individual Games appearance in the women’s competition.

For more on the sport, visit crossfitwyreforest.com or call Phil Oliver on 07866 634898.