A quiet yet tenacious competitor, Val Voboril has competed at the CrossFit Games six times as an individual and finished on the podium twice, in 2010 and 2013.
Voboril was a constant presence at the Games for years, and fans had grown to expect the fourth-grade teacher from California to always be on the roster and make an impact.
But Voboril failed to qualify for the 2015 CrossFit Games, just one year removed from a top-five finish in 2014. She then took 2016 off before returning to her sixth Games in 2017.
Though she expected to be among the top athletes as usual that year, no one could have predicted her eventual 32nd-place finish. It was a shock to fans and to Voboril herself, and it raised far more questions than answers regarding her future in the sport.
A Turning Point
Eight years later, Voboril looks back on that 2017 performance as a moment that shook her confidence.
- “My ego was a little hurt after the 2017 Games, to be completely honest,” Voboril admitted in an interview with the Morning Chalk Up. “I know everyone says age is just a number, but it made me feel old, and it made me feel not fit. It made me question myself.”
At the same time, she wasn’t yet ready to make the shift to compete in the Age Group Division.
- “I had an all-or-nothing mindset: I’m either an individual athlete or nothing at all,” she said of how she felt at the time.
The result? Voboril stepped away from the sport and did not compete in the Open in 2018 or 2019.
An Older and Wiser Perspective Today
In 2024, at age 45, after “working through” all her emotions about becoming a Masters athlete, Voboril decided she wanted to return to the CrossFit Games.
She didn’t skip a beat getting there.
Voboril won the Open in the Women’s 45-49 age division, went on to top the Age Group Quarterfinals, and finished third in the world at the CrossFit Games by Legends.
Best of all, her passion for competing was back.
- “I loved the sport again. There was a point where […] I didn’t love competing. It had become stressful and not fun,” she said.
Voboril credits her joyful return to competition mainly to participating in class workouts at 5 a.m., five days a week, with the community at Rising Wave Athletics in El Segundo, CA.
- “For the most part, during the school year, I just play with the amazing people at my gym and do classes, and I love it,” Voboril said.
As for the 2025 season, Voboril is off to a great start. She finished second in the 45-49 age group in the Open and plans to return to the Games once again. However, she stresses that she’s keeping her expectations modest.
- “I always feel the least amount of pressure if I don’t have a plan,” she said.
Instead, she will adopt the same approach as last year, which was to allow herself to fully enjoy the experience and the camaraderie.
- “It’s fun to be around a bunch of women who are all in the same boat. Almost everyone is a mom, and everyone is juggling their job and fitness,” she said. “That’s a neat leveling of the playing field that’s kind of fun, and there’s a lot of camaraderie.”
Accepting Where She Is
Voboril knows that many of her performance numbers aren’t where they were when she competed as an individual at the Games 10 years ago. However, she has come to terms with this and realizes she can still feel accomplished and have fun.
- “Maybe I’m not chasing the leaderboard, or maybe my numbers aren’t what they used to be, but there are still places I can grow or where I surprise myself,” Voboril said.
“The focus isn’t about out-lifting anybody anymore,” she said. “Well, sometimes it is because I’m always competitive, but the shift to focusing on the fun with the people in class has made the path so much easier.”
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Featured Image: @risingwaveathletics / Instagram
