19-Year-Old Lydia Fish Made Waves at TYR Wodapalooza, Sets Stage for Big Season

Lydia Fish found CrossFit in a somewhat roundabout way. In her small hometown of Chippewa, WI, Fish got first place in a running race. Her prize was a three-month membership to her local CrossFit gym. 

Little did she know, that prize would lead her to find a sport that she’s not only passionate about but also quite good at. Earlier this month, Fish earned first place at the 2024 TYR Wodapalooza in the women’s Rx division and dominated the field with a first-place finish and seven top-five finishes. The results of the competition set the 19-year-old up for a promising 2024 season. 

Remind me: The CrossFit Open starts on February 29 and will take place over three weeks. The format for Games qualification will remain relatively the same as last season with some minor changes, according to the 2024 CrossFit Games rulebook. Read the full breakdown. 

Fish made use of her race prize and found herself in a CrossFit gym in 2019. She was instantly hooked but had to pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fish got back into it once her gym re-opened and she participated in her first Open in 2020. 

• Fish made Quarterfinals in the teen division in 2021 and then in the women’s division in 2022 and 2023. She qualified for Semifinals last year in the North America East region and placed 43rd in a very stout field of 59 women. 
• “In 2022, I decided that I wanted to go further with CrossFit and take it seriously so I reached out to Training Think Tank [TTT],” Fish said in an interview with the Morning Chalk Up. 
• She took a leap of faith, applied to be an athlete, and was accepted. TTT moved her to their location in Alpharetta, Georgia, where she trained for the 2023 season. 

Fish opted not to go to college right away and instead focus on her fitness. When she’s home, she’s hustling at one of her jobs in the food service industry or helping out with her siblings. Fish plans to go back to Georgia soon to begin training for the upcoming season. 

• “Sometimes I start feeling guilty that I should have gone to school or you don’t feel like you’re being productive with your life. But I just remember my body’s only young once. If I want to try to be competitive in this sport, I might as well give it a go now,” Fish said.

Going into the 2024 TYR Wodapalooza, Fish didn’t set placement goals, saying, “I more so just set goals for each workout and executing them and trying to control the things that I have the power to control instead of focusing on just solely placement.”

• “I’m going back to Georgia, so I’m just expecting myself to be super dialed in and taking a win out of each training session, knowing that not every day is going to be perfect, but I’m going to try to focus on strength.”

For the upcoming season, Fish is optimistic she will qualify for Semifinals again and inch closer to a chance for a spot at the 2024 CrossFit Games. Her major strengths are in gymnastic movements and conditioning. But she plans to make weightlifting a big focus for her training this season.

Fish said she finds joy in seeing others fall in love with the sport, such as her parents, and inspiring them to bring fitness into their lives. 

“I just really enjoy it now and I think if I ever do start to not enjoy it, I’m not going to force myself,” she said.