Jayson Hopper

Jayson Hopper was born on September 3, 1997, in Lexington, South Carolina.^[2][3] He was a student at Lexington High School. He played baseball, but quit baseball to focus football at Lexington High School.^[4] Despite offers to four other places including Appalachian State Mountaineers,^[5][6] he decided to join Clemson as a preferred walk-on.^[7][8] He had to take a year off to achieve the grades required to get into Clemson University, and to keep himself fit he started training in CrossFit in 2017. 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.^[9]

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.^[10] 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.^[11]

After the 2021 Games, Hopper joined HWPO to train under Mat Fraser.^[9] At the 2022 CrossFit Games, Hopper improved on his 2021 result and finished 7th.^[12]

At the 2023 CrossFit Games, Hopper performed poorly in some of the events and was cut early, finishing in 31st place.^[13] Convinced that it was his weight, he dropped his weight down to 210 lbs.^[14]

In the 2024 CrossFit Games, Hopper's performance improved and he finished just outside the podium in 4th place.^[15] At the 2024 Rogue Invitational, he finished 3rd.^[16] In late 2024, Hopper moved from HWPO to Brute.^[17]

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.^[18] Hopper took the lead after event 5, maintained the lead, and won the competition just 14 points ahead the Ricky Garard.^[19][20][21]

Hopper married Grace Anne in February 2020.^[22]