She is undoubtedly the greatest CrossFit athlete of all time, but Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr’s plan for the 2025 season remains uncertain.
- The biggest question of all: Will she retire or won’t she after this weekend’s Torian Pro in Brisbane, Australia?
Remind Me
After winning her seventh CrossFit Games title last summer, Toomey-Orr has become heavily involved in HYROX.
- She set a world record in the Pro Women’s Doubles division at the HYROX Houston race in March and is scheduled to compete in the HYROX World Championship in June.
Toomey-Orr has not been entirely clear about her CrossFit competition plans. She did not join the World Fitness Project (WFP) or participate in the In-Affiliate Semifinals. However, she did compete in the Open, finishing 144th in the world.
- This means she is eligible for this summer’s CrossFit Games in Albany, NY, provided she qualifies through the Torian Pro this weekend.
It is less clear whether she will compete at the Games if she qualifies.
- In April, Toomey-Orr said this in a YouTube video: “In May, I’m taking the floor at Torian Pro, but this time, it’s different. This time, it’s my moment to say goodbye to this chapter. This sport has given me everything, every challenge, every triumph, and, most importantly, the incredible community that surrounds it,” she said.
While this may sound like a retirement, we have been here before.
Remember the 2022 CrossFit Games?
- As Toomey-Orr was finishing the final event at the 2022 Games, broadcaster Sean Woodland announced: “Move over, Mat. Step aside, Rich. For the sixth time, and for the final time, Tia-Toomey is the Fittest Woman on Earth.”
In the post-event interview, Toomey-Orr played coy and said she was uncertain if she would retire, then, that off-season, she announced that she was pregnant with her daughter Willow.
She missed the 2023 season but returned to place second at that year’s Rogue Invitational just five months postpartum.
The following summer, she returned to the CrossFit Games and won it all once again.
So, we simply don’t know whether the Torian Pro will truly be her last CrossFit competition, or just her last Torian Pro ever.
Two Things to Consider
1. Going Out On Top
On one hand, any champion who has excelled in their sport wants to go out on top, which seems to be a strong possibility for Toomey-Orr at the Torian Pro.
- Two of Toomey-Orr’s strongest potential Australian competitors — Madeline Sturt and Grace Walton — have already qualified for the Games through the In-Affiliate Semifinals. They remain in the Torian field, but may play it safer and less aggressively than if they were still gunning for an invitation.
- While there are other talented athletes in Brisbane this weekend — Emily de Rooy, Hannah Black, Daisy McDonald, and Georgia Pryer, to name a few — they’re arguably no match for Toomey-Orr, even if her focus has been more on HYROX than traditional CrossFit training in recent months.
Further, what better way than winning for the final time in front of her home crowd?
2. Can She Still Win the Games at Less than Her Best?
On the other hand, if she qualifies and chooses to compete in this summer’s Games, will she be at her best?
- The reality is that HYROX training differs significantly from CrossFit training, and HYROX is her focus right now as she prepares for the World Championships in mid-June.
This leaves Toomey-Orr with just a month and a half to get back into tip-top CrossFit shape for the Games, which raises the question of whether she can still be good enough to win while operating at perhaps 80% to 90% of her normal CrossFit best.
Will Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr Retire? Here’s What We Think
Toomey-Orr announced that the Torian Pro will be her chance to “say goodbye to this chapter.”
If this truly is her final retirement, then her legacy will encompass seven CrossFit Games titles, four Semifinals titles, three Rogue Invitationals titles, and two TYR Wodapalooza titles, making her the most decorated athlete, male or female, in the sport’s history by far.
But we don’t think she’ll stop after this weekend.
Our prediction: The G.O.A.T. will dominate the Torian Pro this weekend and then head to Albany, NY, this August in search of a historic eighth CrossFit Games title.
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Featured image: Susana Rodriguez, @ideyafilms_ / Instagram
