Since she was a little girl watching sports on TV, Siria Meha has dreamed of becoming a professional athlete.
Now, that dream seems to be coming true for the 26-year-old: Meha currently holds first place in the CrossFit In-Affiliate Semifinals, potentially securing her spot at the 2025 CrossFit Games.
- Worth noting: The leaderboard remains unofficial and can change until CrossFit concludes its video review. The 2025 CrossFit Games rulebook (Rule 2.13) states that the review deadline is May 19.
If her position holds, Meha would become the first Albanian athlete to qualify for the Games.
- “Making the Games is the absolute best thing that could happen to me as a CrossFit athlete,” Meha tells the Morning Chalk Up. “But at the same time, being a CrossFit athlete has brought a lot of joy to me.”
Pursuing the Dream
Meha was born and raised in Italy until she was 15, and began training in a regular gym when she turned 18. She didn’t step foot into her first CrossFit class until five years ago, but she quickly found her calling.
While other newcomers struggled, Meha easily mastered difficult movements like handstand push-ups and rope climbs. She was a natural, and everyone around her recognized it, too.
- “[I mistakenly thought] I had to be fit before I started CrossFit,” she says. “I went to the gym and tried to get fitter there, but eventually I got the courage to enter the CrossFit gym. And I realized very soon, I even had people around me telling me, ‘Siria, you’re actually good.’”
During her first year of CrossFit training, Meha squeezed in workouts before and after her full-time job as an engineer. Her schedule became more flexible when she began pursuing a master’s degree in engineering in 2023, allowing her to take her training more seriously.
- “I was very good at my degree. I found I really love numbers and math, so I didn’t need to study as many hours as my classmates had to,” Meha says. “For them, it was full-time studying. For me, it was two hours at the end of the day, so I could train a lot more, and that really prepared my development.”
Going All In
Meha graduated in September 2024 and planned to work part-time on a doctorate while simultaneously training as an elite CrossFitter. However, she couldn’t fully commit to both, so, for now, she went all in on CrossFit.
- “The past few months since graduating, I’ve only been doing CrossFit full-time, and that has helped so much for recovery and mental energy,” Meha says.
She trains and receives coaching under ATPLab, a Greek training program.
After ranking in the top 1% in the CrossFit Open, Meha set her sights on the French Throwdown, an In-Person Qualifying Event (IPQE) and the In-Affiliate Semifinal.
However, due to some logistical challenges during a qualifying workout for the French Throwdown, Meha focused solely on the In-Affiliate event.
- The leaderboard for the In-Affiliate Semifinals has not been finalized yet. However, Meha is currently ranked number one after several other elite women and veterans of the sport received massive penalties on their videos. Meha says she received no penalties.
But for Meha, it’s all about qualifying for the Games and pursuing her passion.
- “People are saying, ‘Oh, you’re going to do so well,’ I don’t mind just being there. I can lose and I’ll be happy,” she adds.
An introvert, Meha is very focused on her CrossFit career and enjoys routine. She likes to eat the same five things and focus on her recovery so she can do it all again the next day.
- “You can get very good at one thing if your life is only one thing. So for now, this one thing is CrossFit,” says Meha.
One last thing: If the standings hold, Meha will head to the Games in August. There are still six IPQEs to go, and the Games roster will continue to grow and evolve through early June.
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Featured image: Dilara Yavuz, @dilarayavuzmedia / Instagram
