It was early January 2023. Colten Mertens was at his home gym on his farm in Hillsboro, Iowa, training for the Wodapalooza fitness competition. He was 10 days out when he began to notice some pain in his right eye and a constant headache.
“I thought, ‘OK, this should go away in a few days,’” Mertens said.
So Mertens went back to his competition prep. But as the days passed, the pain just got worse. Soon, his speech was slurred and his brain felt foggy. Next, the vision in his right eye started to go.
Knowing Wodapalooza was just a few days away, Mertens continued to shrug the symptoms off, returning to his farm gym each day to train.
“I was just being stubborn,” he said.
Eventually, Mertens' vision in both eyes started to go. That is when he called his brother to take him to an eye doctor in Iowa City. After some testing, he was immediately sent to the emergency room.
Mertens didn’t leave the hospital for the next five days.
Colten Mertens at the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games
The Diagnosis
After almost a week of tests, Mertens was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody disease.
MOG antibody disease is a neurological, immune-mediated disorder in which there is inflammation in the optic nerve, spinal cord, and/or brain.
“Basically, my immune system attacks tissues around (my) eyes, brain, and spine,” Mertens said.
When it’s flared up, it can cause damage to the nerves. But the flares are unpredictable, and since MOG is a relatively new autoimmune disease, doctors are still trialing long-term treatments.
So as Mertens was lying in his hospital bed, he and his doctors didn’t know if he would ever compete in CrossFit again.
Back to Basics
The day Mertens was discharged from the hospital, he was already back on his farm doing light cardio. The day after, he began easing back into Games training.
The 2023 CossFit Games season wasn’t out of reach yet.
Returning to CrossFit basics, Mertens slowly ramped his training back up while listening to his body.
“I bounced back quicker than I thought,” Mertens said. “I felt like my cardiovascular system rebounded very quickly.”
Mertens said he could only assume that CrossFit was the reason for his fast recovery. Just three weeks later, Mertens was back on the competition floor, competing in the CF Circus partner competition.
His team took first.
Although his cardiovascular capacity returned quickly, he said his strength took several more months to get back to pre-diagnosis levels.
The Best Season
By February 16, Mertens was signed up for the 2023 CrossFit Open and ready to start his season. He wouldn’t let the fears from his time in the hospital come true.
But this year’s goals were different. Mertens was less focused on his performance, but more on his fitness.
“Whatever the outcome was, it would be what it would be,” Mertens said. “I knew when it was time to compete, I would be at my best, or the best I could be, and that was enough for me.”
Colten Mertens during the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games | Photo by Wendy Nielsen
This took a lot of pressure off of him mentally. His expectations were set on only what he could control: his preparation.
So when Mertens received a third-place worldwide finish in the Open, he was surprised.
“Once that happened, I thought, ‘OK, I can still do this thing,’” Mertens said.
Although he was keeping up with his competitors, Mertens knew he had to be more in tune with his body after his diagnosis. In particular, he had to take care not to overtrain in order to prevent flare-ups.
“It’s like picking a scab and never letting it heal,” Mertens said.
It took a lot of mental strength to stop himself from overdoing it, but he was strict. Mertens also focused on proper sleep and nutrition, avoiding processed foods and seed oils.
Mertens continued to prosper throughout the next two stages of the season, taking 16th place in the Individual Quarterfinal and eighth at the North America West Semifinal. He was soon headed to his fourth CrossFit Games.
This weekend has been a true test in resilience for Mertens. For the first time in his career, he survived both rounds of cuts. Mertens also won his first Games test on Day 2, with a crowd-pumping performance in Test 5, Ski-Bag.
“In the hospital, we weren’t sure of what the long-term outlook would be; If I would ever do CrossFit again or not,” he said.
Now, he is having the best performance of his CrossFit Games career.
Colten Mertens during Ski-Bag | Photo by Adam Bow
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Photo by Adam Bow