Romain Fellonneau – The Firefighting Weightlifter

Trying Everything, Choosing Lifting

Romain Fellonneau first stepped into competitive sport long before CrossFit entered the picture. Growing up in France, he built his athletic foundation through tennis, handball, swimming, and gymnastics. Developing strong coordination and body awareness early on. His commitment to sport was matched by his commitment to service: at just 12 years old, he joined the Jeunes Sapeurs-Pompiers. Thus beginning a parallel path that would ultimately shape both his personal and athletic identity. He discovered CrossFit around 2013–2014. What began as curiosity evolved into passion, and by 2016, he moved from casual training into formal competition. As he immersed himself deeper in the sport, he quickly built a reputation as an athlete with powerful Olympic lifting capabilities, sharp movement mechanics, and the kind of grit that stands out in qualifiers and live competition floors.

Over the following years, Romain transformed himself from a regional newcomer into a consistent presence in French and European events. He delivered standout performances in multiple CrossFit Opens. This included 273 reps on 23.1 and 180 reps with a 117 kg thruster on 23.2, showcasing his mix of strength and engine. His results culminated in qualification for the European Semifinals in 2023, where he placed 36th in Europe and 4th in France. Marking him as one of the country’s top athletes and a legitimate contender on the broader European stage. Along the way, he continued to sharpen his Olympic lifts, posting benchmarks such as a 170 kg back squat and a 140 kg clean & jerk. Alongside gaining valuable experience at major competitions like the French Throwdown and other international qualifiers. What makes his history compelling is how he rose through the ranks without the luxury of being a full-time athlete—earning respect as someone who built elite capacity through persistence and adaptability.

Work, Eat, Lift, Repeat

One of the defining elements of Romain Fellonneau’s journey is that he is not a full-time athlete, but a full-time sapeur-pompier de Paris. He pursues elite CrossFit alongside the physical and emotional demands of emergency service work. His job brings long shifts, unpredictable nights, high-adrenaline interventions, and limited recovery windows. In conditions that could derail many athletes. Yet Romain has built a system around these constraints instead of fighting them. On lighter workdays, he trains twice per day, splitting sessions between strength or Olympic lifting and conditioning or gymnastics. On heavier shifts, he adapts with a single session, mobility, or accessory work to maintain progress without burning out. Guided by his 2L2N programming team. He follows periodized cycles that let him push when life allows and consolidate when duty demands. Because firefighting is physically taxing, he also prioritizes recovery. His dialed-in nutrition, hydration, naps when possible, sleep hygiene, and tools like compression, soft-tissue work, or short recovery workouts to stay healthy long-term.

Romain treats balance not as a luxury, but as a skill. He protects time for family, relationships, and hobbies like fishing. Knowing emotional longevity matters as much as physical preparation in a sport where burnout is common. His discipline is largely mental: he relies on routine, accountability, and controlling what he can. Especially when fatigue or late-night alarms could become excuses. This mindset helps him train with intent instead of forcing intensity when his body isn’t ready. By stacking consistent efforts week after week, he proves that elite performance is possible without sacrificing a full life outside the gym. His story stands out not just for what he lifts, but for how he lives—showing that sport, service, and purpose can coexist.

What Does The Future Hold?

Looking ahead, Romain has both promise and challenges. On the plus side:

• His recent performance trajectory is upward: qualifying for European semifinals, improving Open standings, showing strong workouts.
• He has experience now in high pressure competitions (French Throwdown, CrossFit Games qualifiers etc.), which helps with the mental side.
• Because he maintains a full-time job outside of sport, his successes suggest good durability, discipline, and the ability to adapt. This can often correlate with longer careers.

On the challenge side:

• The dual demand of being a firefighter plus a top-level athlete can impose limits. Recovery, managing fatigue, avoiding overuse or injury, getting enough rest, etc.
• Competition in CrossFit is getting fiercer, both in France and internationally. To keep climbing, he will likely need to optimize marginal gains. Better recovery, refined nutrition, possibly more travel & exposure to different competition styles.
• As he gets older, sustaining peak performance becomes more difficult, especially in high-intensity sports with heavy metabolic load + strength + Olympic lifts etc.

So, future prospects likely include:

• Continuing to push for higher placements in European semifinals and perhaps make the full CrossFit Games field (if not yet attained).
• Possibly focusing on specialties (improving weak WOD‐types, improving strength lifts, etc.) to reduce variance.
• Given his background, he may also increasingly be a role model: inspiring firefighters or people balancing “real jobs” with high-level sport.

If he continues the current upward trend, with careful management, there’s reason to believe he can remain among the top CrossFit athletes in France, and gradually improve in Europe.