Tia-Clair Toomey: “Every Year I Keep Evolving”

The 2020 season was one that CrossFit fans will never forget. Aside from the issues that impacted the majority of the world, the company and sport had to face controversy surrounding its founder, which led to a change in ownership.

Despite a tumultuous competition season — in which the Games were split into two separate stages — the conclusion at the end of the season was a familiar one: Tia-Clair Toomey and Mat Fraser win again. Fraser’s fifth title and Toomey’s fourth further cement their legacies in the history of the Sport of Fitness™ as the best to ever do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Just like that the season has finished for the year & I’M SO GRATEFUL THAT WE GOT THE OPPORTUNITY TO FINISH IT. The world got flipped upside down, Crossfit exploded and there was a few months where I didn’t know if we were ever going to be able to recover from all the heartache. However, after so much hard work from so many good people the Crossfit Games actually happened and I couldn’t be more thankful. All our hard work and everything we all went through this year wasn’t for nothing. SO, here is the biggest THANK-YOU from the bottom of my heart to EVERYONE that was involved. This games was so different to the past years but it was so incredible and will go down as one of my favorites for so many reasons. But it wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for everyone that volunteered their time into turning the impossible into the possible. Thank-you once again, you all know who you are. 😘😍🥰 #community 📸 @crossfit

A post shared by Tia-Clair Toomey (@tiaclair1) on Oct 28, 2020 at 8:38am PDT

Only a few days after her historic and dominating victory, Toomey took a few minutes to speak to BarBend. She shares her thoughts about her training for the Games, her personal performance, and how the Games unfolded this season.

BarBend: Thanks for taking a few minutes, Tia, and congratulations on your fourth title. With the changes and rescheduling taking place this season for the pandemic as well as the changing of ownership, how did that affect your training and preparation for this year’s contest? Was it tougher on your mentally or physically than in the past?

Toomey: It was definitely challenging to continue training when there was so much uncertainty, but I knew it was the only thing I could control, so I just did everything I could to focus on that and not get caught up in what I couldn’t control.

This may be considered your most dominating performance on the big stage yet. When you look back at your individual performance and season, what are your thoughts about how this year went for you?

Toomey: There was definitely a lot of take away from the competition but overall, I was very happy with how I executed the weekend. Every year I keep evolving and I love seeing the progress of all my hard work.

In your four years as champion, this is the third different format you had to compete with. Last year was with more athletes than ever before, and this year it was in two phases with the last being with only four other competitors. How did you feel about how the Games went this year? Is that a concept you’d like to see in the future or would you prefer the previous setting?

Toomey: This year was great, it was a lot more intimate and I found it wasn’t as stressful for everyone as past years. That said, there are pro’s and con’s to both as far as I’m concerned. As long as I can compete, I don’t really care what the structure is like. I just want to see the sport be more consistent overall in regards to the qualifying process.

You are winningest woman in the sport’s history and Mat (Fraser) is the winningest male athlete. What is it like being on this run yourself and training with someone who is also the number one athlete in his field?

Toomey: It’s an honor to be a part of it and to make history for younger athletes to strive for.

Any thoughts about 2021 yet or will you take time to enjoy this one first?

Toomey: I’ll take some time to enjoy so definitely time off.

Thanks to Tia for the time to do this interview. If you’d like to see or hear more about the four-time Fittest Woman on Earth, you can subscribe to her YouTube channel, “Tia-Clair Toomey and Shane Orr.”

Featured Image: Instagram/tiaclair1, image from @crossfit