Tia-Clair Toomey Reveals She Almost Pulled out of CrossFit Games Due to Back Injury
Though it might have seemed to the greater CrossFit community that Tia-Clair Toomey just had a slow start at the recent 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games, finding herself without the leader’s jersey after Day 1, what we didn’t know was that Toomey was lucky just to be there at all.
The details: Two weeks prior to the Games, she and her husband and coach Shane Orr, weren’t sure whether Toomey would compete in Madison, WI due to a back injury, Toomey revealed on YouTube on Wednesday.
- “Leading into the Games I actually had a really bad back injury, and so it has really been just about about managing that, and not to go into too much depth about it, but it was giving me quite a lot of feedback and it was affecting my training in the lead up to the Games,” Toomey said.
- “It was a huge relief to be able to actually compete and get through the Games,” she added.
- Since winning her sixth Games last month, Toomey said she took an entire month off training and is only now getting back into the gym, albeit slowly. She won’t be picking up a barbell for a while still, she explained, and will ensure her back is “in full form” before she does. Instead, right now Toomey said she is focusing on low impact movements and just “getting the body moving” again.
Worth Noting: To our knowledge, this is the first injury the six-time Fittest Woman on Earth has ever revealed publicly since the start of her Games career in 2015.
The Big Picture: While it still isn’t clear whether or not Toomey will compete again as an individual this year, or whether she’ll retire, Toomey is hoping to rehabilitate her back in time to compete at the Down Under Championship this November in Wollongong, Australia in the team division with Brooke Wells and fellow Australian Ellie Turner, which she said will be a “great competition to get the body back on the competition floor.”
So, at least for now, Toomey will continue to keep the world guessing as to whether she will return next season to defend her title for the seventh time, although she did say on Wednesday that she’s looking forward to getting her body ready for “possibly next season.”
Get the Newsletter
For a daily digest of all things CrossFit. Community, Competitions, Athletes, Tips, Recipes, Deals and more.
"*" indicates required fields
