Even though Mat Fraser was relatively new to CrossFit when he started competing in 2013, games and sports run in his blood. The son of Canadian Olympic figure skaters, Fraser grew up testing his physical boundaries: waterskiing at 18 months, graduating to slalom water skiing at age six, and learning aerial skiing as a teenager. In high school, he channeled his competitive energies into weightlifting, and became an Olympic hopeful.

But when the funding for his Olympic training program took a hit, Fraser decided to take a break from weightlifting. After a summer working in oil fields in Alberta, he returned to UVM in 2012, where he’s double majoring in mechanical engineering and engineering management, with minors in math and business. At the same time, he started to look for a new sport that would offer him a break from facts and figures, he says.

CrossFit captured his attention. A relatively new athletic endeavor – it was started in 2000, when Fraser himself was still in elementary school – CrossFit bills itself as a combination of a fitness regime and competitive sport, training athletes in high-intensity workouts such as burpees and overhead squats. Underneath the hard work is a philosophical underpinning: athletes should be prepared “not only for the unknown, but for the unknowable as well,” as the CrossFit Journal puts it.

For Fraser, entering his first CrossFit competition in 2013 was a big unknown. As he told CrossFit in an interview last year, “I didn’t really have any idea of what regionals were.” Fraser finished in fifth place, and vowed to return in 2014 and win. After finishing near the top in events ranging from a handstand walk to grueling combinations of squats, pushups, and other activities, Fraser achieved his goal of taking home the top prize.

Later in 2014, he surprised many in the CrossFit world by coming in second place in the sport’s CrossFit Games, its biggest competition. It was his first time competing in the championship.

Aside from keeping himself physically fit, CrossFit has provided Fraser with a way to support himself financially through college, thanks to winnings from competitions and a job teaching locally at Champlain Valley CrossFit in Williston. He’s also just signed a sponsorship deal with Nike.

“CrossFit has the potential to be lucrative if you do well at competitions and place in the top at the world championships,” he notes. First-place male and female finishers at the CrossFit Games win $275,000 each.

Until he graduates this fall, Fraser will be focusing his energy on maintaining that balance between his academics and his CrossFit career. Even though giving each their due can be tricky, the two areas complement each other, he adds. “They both require a lot of time management,” he notes. “One requires you to sit and study for hours on end, the other requires you to expend every ounce of energy, so they go well together.”

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2015 SUMMIT.