A baller. A CrossFit "Ironwoman."
That’s how CrossFit Games commentator Chase Ingraham described Becca Voigt, who at this year’s California Regional is attempting to qualify for the CrossFit Games an unprecedented 10th time.
Shortly after checking in on Thursday afternoon at the Del Mar Fairgrounds outside San Diego, 36-year-old Voigt appeared as she usually does: calm and composed.
“I feel good. I’m going in trying to feel positive,” she said while her husband, Eric Miller, stood next to her.
This year is no different than any other, Voigt continued.
“It feels the same. The nerves are still there,” she said with a smile. “It’s just another set of workouts for the weekend—just like any other year.”
Voigt started competing in CrossFit in 2008. That year, she competed at the Games at The Ranch in Aromas, California, and she has been unstoppable ever since.
“It speaks (volumes about) her as an athlete and person to be able to evolve with the sport,” said fellow Regional competitor and training partner Jamie Hagiya.
Should she qualify for her 10th consecutive Games, it would be a big deal, noted Bill Grundler, Ingraham’s fellow commentator who also is a former individual Regional competitor and a Masters Games athlete.
“If it was to happen, I think it would be one of the most amazing things in CrossFit,” he said.
Many competitive CrossFit athletes see three years of competition, on average, before retiring, Grundler said. Voigt’s longevity serves as testament to her athletic prowess, which is quintessentially CrossFit.
“She’s good at everything. Not the best, but good,” Grundler explained.
That’s ideal for this sport, noted Chris Spealler, who qualified for seven CrossFit Games before retiring from competition after the 2014 Games. He is at the Regional coaching a team from NorCal CrossFit Redwood City.
“You want consistency across the board,” Spealler said. “I think it’s good that she’s not a phenom.”
At last year’s Regional, Voigt notched a 1st-place finish, two 5th-place finishes, as well as a 6th, an 8th, a 9th and a 10th. She finished in second place overall, besting younger athletes Chyna Cho, Hagiya and Alessandra Pichelli to qualify for her ninth Games. In 2015, she recorded a 3rd, a 4th, a tie for 5th, an 11th, a 14th, a 19th, and a 21st to make the fifth and final qualifying spot in the first year of the super Regional that combined Northern and Southern California.
“She’s not flashy,” Grundler said. “She doesn’t go out and win every single event.”
But she doesn’t relinquish them either.
Voigt, who finished 3rd at the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games, already has qualified for the Games in the new Masters 35-39 age group, placing 17th out of the top 20 women. For the purposes of this weekend, however, that’s immaterial, she said.
“It’s very great and it’s really cool, but it’s not my focus,” Voigt stated assuredly.
In the week before last year’s Regional, she explained she had no intention of ending her competitive CrossFit career. Ever.
“This is my life. I’m going to be competing for the rest of my life,” she said at the time. “To stop completely doesn’t really make sense to my brain. … There’s no reason to stop unless I’m stopped by something else.”
On the eve of this year’s Regional she held steadfast to those statements.
“That’s what CrossFit is,” explained Voigt, the 2014 Spirit of the Games Award winner. “It’s fitness for life.”
She continued: “Being an individual forever is not realistic. It will slow down eventually but I don’t know when that will be.”
Like previous years, her goal remains unchanged: “To do my best, focus on what I can control and be on that podium.”
Grundler and Ingraham agreed this year could be Voigt’s best showing yet—because of the very fact she’s trying to do what no one’s done.
“In her mind, there’s no pressure because she’s not supposed to do it,” Grundler explained. “She can go out and have fun.”
Ingraham added: “If I was one of the other athletes, I’d be thinking, ‘Oh, fuck, Becca’s in my heat.’”
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CrossFit Invictus, too, will try to qualify a team for a ninth year—the most of any.
“We should be great,” affiliate owner CJ Martin said shortly before the first heat of teams took the competition floor. “Our goal is just to qualify. We’re talented enough to take the top of the podium or second.”
The key to the team’s success, he said, has been community.
“We take pride on building the entire gym,” Martin said. “When these guys show up to train, it’s not enough to make themselves better. They’re there to make everyone around them better.”
And, of course, having a good time is important, too, he noted.
“We’re able to have longevity with athletes because they’re having fun.”
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