Tori edges closer to USA Games
FITNESS: Toowoomba teenager Tori Gallegos is one step closer to a dream appearance at the CrossFit Games in the USA.
The 15-year-old Glennie School student has made a perfect start in her bid for a start at the Games in July which features the world’s top 200-ranked CrossFit members.
Gallegos’s possible road to the US began at CrossFit Toowoomba last month with the start of the 2018 CrossFit Open.
The competition involves five weekly ratified workouts where participants look to push themselves into the top regional and world rankings.
Gallegos excelled to finish first of 174 girls aged 14 and 15 years in Australasia.
Her lofty finish also placed her 17th world-wide.
That result compared with her 2017 finish as a 14-year-old of seventh in Australasia and 62nd in the world.
Gallegos’s next test will come in nine days time when she competes in an online qualifier where she’ll be out to retain her top-20 ranking for a CrossFit Games starting spot.
“I’m happy with how things are going, but there is a long way to go,” Gallegos said yesterday.
Gallegos is attributing her 2018 achievements to lifestyle adjustments including diet and sleep.
“Anything can happen now, but even if I don’t qualify for the Games I plan to be there as a spectator at least,” Gallegos said.
“My mental approach is definitely my biggest challenge now.”
Gallegos’s coach Kent Strout said her qualifying success included a clean lift of 92.5kg in her clean-and-jerk weight lift challenge.
“That’s a weight not even adult females here have achieved,” Strout said.
“Tori trains up to three times a day and a lot of her success is really built on tenacity and resolve.”