Bethany Flores Reflects on Past 7 Years: “It’s Been a Journey and a Half”
Having just qualified for the 2024 CrossFit Games, Bethany Flores is filled with gratitude and contentment.
- “It’s been such a journey since 2021, with COVID and then with my [back injury], I’m still not 100 percent. I was just able to train for three weeks in a row,” she laughed as she told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview. “But looking back at the past seven years, this one has been the most rewarding.”
Remind me: Bethany Flores (Bethany Shadburne at the time) won the 2021 West Coast Classic, held in Las Vegas, NV, qualifying for the CrossFit Games.
Fellow Underdogs athletes Kari Pierce and Danielle Brandon also finished on the podium and qualified.
- As COVID-19 regulations continued to limit social gatherings, public events, and professional sports, Flores fell ill, tested positive for COVID-19 days before the Games, and was thus unable to compete.
[Related: Best Whey Protein Powders]
Once Flores recovered from her illness, she suffered multiple setbacks while training for 2022’s TYR Wodapalooza, including a high ankle sprain, nerve pain, and chronic back issues.
She pulled out of the 2022 season during Quarterfinals when her back flared up again.
Flores’ comeback: After finding a new doctor who she trusted, Flores embarked on new training protocols with a new mindset. She built herself back up mentally and physically, competing at the North American West Semifinals last season and taking fifth place.
After that weekend in Pasadena, she celebrated what seemed to be a new chapter and a new sense of contentment.
- “I found joy in the gym again. That was redemption in itself. I found a way to have joy in training. And I didn’t have that last year. And that was a huge win. I wanted to be able to celebrate myself at the end of the weekend and just control the controllable,” Flores told Morning Chalk Up at the time.
While still facing limitations, the “Comeback Kid” took 15th at the 2023 CrossFit Games and 16th at the Rogue Invitational, all with her eyes on the big picture: long-term health and avoiding burnout by finding deeper meaning in her training and day-to-day life.
A new perspective: With a fresh outlook and a tight support network of close friends and family behind her every step of the way, Flores ended her weekend at the 2024 North America West Semifinal by easily taking a qualifying spot and a top-five event finish along the way.
- “There are definitely a lot of feelings, but this one [Games qualification] feels the most rewarding,” Flores told the Morning Chalk Up.
The bottom line: With a seventh-place finish last month in Carson, Flores, a native Texan, heads to Fort Worth this August, looking forward to returning to her roots for the competition.
Once all was said and done at the West Coast Classic, Flores found herself emotional as her name was announced on the loudspeaker.
- “I’ve never shed a tear over this, but I was crying. It’s been a journey and a half. But honestly, I don’t feel like it’s over; there’s so much more for me to give,” she said.
Featured image: @tamanephotography / Instagram