Darko Tasevski finished 1st among athletes in Macedonia during this year’s CrossFit Open. Tasevski was crowned the National Champion of Macedonia and earned a spot to compete at the 2019 CrossFit Games. But with just a little over a week from the start of the Games, Tasevski has announced that he will not be able to compete.

Tasevski’s visa application to travel to the United States has been denied twice. According to Tasevski, his rejection letter stated, “we understand your wish to compete but this year you are denied.”

In conversations with Tasevski, he told us that the letter also indicated that the immigration office did not feel he had enough “connection” with the United States, implying that there was concern he would not return to Macedonia following the competition. This did not make sense to Tasevski as he has a job with the police, has a wedding planned for August 30 and enough money in his bank account to not be a flight risk.

While he is disappointed in the outcome, Tasevski said this will not deter him from training and working to qualify for the CrossFit Games once again.

Tasevski is the second confirmed athlete to encounter visa issues. Last month, Roman Khrennikov shared that he had been denied his visa request this year. For Khrennikov, it is the second consecutive year in which he will have to sit out the CrossFit Games due to visa complications.

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