Chad Mackay – “The Fire is Definitely Still There”

Chad Mackay is one of the household names in the functional fitness world.

“The Unit” has competed at three CrossFit Games since 2010, finishing in the top 12 on all occasions, with his best result a 9th placing in 2012. In addition, Mackay has was also part of the victorious Team World at the 2013 CrossFit Invitational, and was the coach of Team Australia at the same event last year.

However, the 33 year-old now finds himself in an interesting position in 2015, where he is no longer one of the ‘bookies picks’ to qualify for the Games.

After a disappointing result at the 2014 Australia Regional, where he finished outside the top 10, Mackay now has a number of impressive young athletes to compete against for qualifying spots this year, including Khan Porter, Brandon Swan, Zeke Grove, Dean Linder-Leighton and Luke McMahon to name a few.

Watching the 2014 CrossFit Games from the sidelines, however, has given Mackay even more hunger to make it back to the StubHub Center as an individual competitor. 

We caught up with the veteran at the Rob Forte Invitational last month, where he told us he still has the hunger to compete at the top level:

“It’s definitley stil there and it [qualifying for the CrossFit Games] is definitley still a big focus for me. The fire is definiltey still there in the belly.”

During our chat Mackay also talked about how his body his holding up approaching the 2015 Pacific Regional, and who he thinks his main competitors will be this year.

He also spoke a bit about last year’s performance at the Australia Regional, and who he thinks the hottest CrossFit athlete in the world is.

Check out the full interview with Chad Mackay in the video above.