Competition

Toomey Takes on Bobsledding, Plans to Train with Australian Team

December 10, 2020 by
Courtesy of Tia-Clair Toomey
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In case four-time CrossFit Games champion Tia-Clair Toomey doesn’t already boast a sparkling athletic resume, the Fittest Woman on Earth recently announced on the Big Idea Big Moves podcast that she intends to train with the Australian bobsled team in hopes of qualifying for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. 

  • “The goal is to obviously try and qualify for the Winter Olympics,” she said on the podcast, adding that this has been in the works for the last year-and-a-half. 
  • At the time the podcast was recorded, Toomey was still waiting for her VISA, but said her plan is to spend a couple of months in South Korea training with the Australian bobsled team before returning to CrossFit for the 2021 Open and CrossFit Games season. 
  • Toomey added: “I have no idea what to expect. I really don’t know what I’m getting myself into, but, you know, obviously this was an opportunity that I thought was going to be very, very cool.”

One big thing: It’s been illustrated again and again that CrossFit training and CrossFit methodology has the ability to transfer to all sorts of other athletic pursuits and this is another, albeit high-profile, example.

  • “It just goes to show how doing CrossFit…has definitely broadened my skill and my ability to just be able to do different sports, as well. I think that a lot of kids should understand that…CrossFit can really compliment their chosen sport,” she said. 

Worth noting Toomey is already an Olympian having competed at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in weightlifting, where she placed 14th in the women’s 58 kg division. She also claimed the gold medal in weightlifting at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Should she qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics, she will become the first CrossFit Games athlete to compete at both the summer and winter Games.

A Growing Trend: Toomey isn’t the only CrossFit Games athlete with her mindset on bobsledding at the Olympics.

  • In September, we announced that CrossFit Games athletes Colleen Fostch and Kelsey Kiel both had moved to the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY in an attempt to qualify for the USA Bobsled Team. In November, Fotsch, who competed as an individual at the 2019 CrossFit Games, was officially selected to the USA national team. 
  • Toomey’s countryman, fellow Australian and four-time CrossFit Games athlete James Newbury also shifted his attention to bobsled and has been touring with the Australian team gaining bobsled experience. Most recently, he competed at the European Cup in Winterberg, Germany. 
  • Finally, Emma Baumert is another CrossFit athlete who is pursuing bobsled and skeleton with Team USA. A coach at CrossFit AMRAP in Lake in the Hills, IL, Baumert is a CrossFit Level 1 trainer and USA Weightlifting L2 coach and has been doing CrossFit since 2017.
Courtesy of James Newbury

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