Troyer grabs gold at the Crossfit French Throw Down
Donning the Red, White and Blue for her country, Alysha Troyer celebrates her gold medal performance at the 2019 Crossfit French Throw Down.
Zoar native Alysha Troyer felt her ankle give as she glanced up the trail at her competition in the Intermediate Women’s Division of the Crossfit French Throw Down, an international competition that features the finest crossfit athletes in the world.
The three-day championship took place in Paris, France, an event in which the top-20 athletes in each division qualify to compete. Troyer had qualified for her dream competition in seventh place, but she put everyone on high alert that she meant business, winning the first event.
Then came the outdoor run that was supposed to be 5 miles but was cut down to just more than 1 mile due to a temperature of 105 F. The finish of that race was crucial because it doubled up, the times over the final 100 meters being a second race within a race.
Thus when Troyer took an ill-advised step on the trail and badly twisted her ankle, it didn’t look good.
As she watched every single competitor roar by her, she struggled to her feet and hobbled off to the side of the trail as an official tended to her. She didn’t know if the ankle was broken or sprained. She only knew it hurt. The official asked if she wanted to call it a day.
“The track official asked me if I was calling it,” Troyer said. “I looked ahead and knew I had a mile to go. Right then I made the choice that I wasn’t giving up. I had worked too hard to stop.”
She gathered herself, got back on track and stormed back to finish 12th overall and 12th in the 100-meter portion of the race at the end.
That set in motion a series of events that would see her overcome her injury and win the international competition’s gold medal on the day’s final event.
It was as improbable as it was inspirational.
Looking back to that moment on the trail, that gold medal seemed light-years away to her. However, her training, desire and heart said otherwise.
“My mantra became ‘How bad to do you want it?’” Troyer said. “I couldn’t change anything that happened, only what was ahead of me. I was ready to unleash it.”
The next day she placed fourth in the gymnastics portion, and then she mustered her strength to win the competition on the Concept 2 rower bicycle combined with a double kettlebell swings, where competitors had to swing a pair of 35-pound kettlebells 10 times with five-rep series.
The next day she won again, this time in the snatch. Psychologically she wore long pants so others couldn’t see her mangled and taped ankle. She worked her way through the pistol squats and handstand push-ups event and managed to get through to the finals, where only the top-five competitors qualify.
She now was second to France’s Sandra Caron heading into the finals, and the final event was not announced to the athletes until it was time to perform.
It turned out to be her nemesis, running 400 meters on an assault runner self-propelled treadmill, followed by 30 toes-to-bar and finally a series of dumbbell snatches of 50 pounds, her specialty.
“My plan was simple: get to the dumbbells first because if I did that they weren’t going to catch me,” Troyer said. “I felt like a gladiator walking into the arena because everyone was above us chanting, cheering and pounding on the bleachers.”
She shot on to the assault runner and went into hyper-drive, running far too fast. She somehow managed to remain upright and was in such a high gear that when she exited the treadmill she tripped.
“I could hear the air go out of the place when that happened, and everyone gasped,” Troyer said.
She had a lead going into the toe bar and decided not to go unbroken, meaning she took a break on her way to 30.
The gold medal was now hers to win. She was at home with the dumbbells. Somehow, as she completed her final reps, the French judge continued to yell “no good.” She couldn’t figure out what she was doing wrong. She did another set and heard the words again. It turned out he was screaming “you’re done,” which she finally figured out.
“I was so in the zone. I just wasn’t hearing him right,” Troyer said. “That could have cost me, but I finally crossed the finish line in first place, and it was the best feeling ever. I was trying not to bawl as I fell into my husband Lincoln’s arms. I could hear everyone cheering and going crazy. I had a great hug with [Caron] because we had pushed each other in the battle of a lifetime. She was an amazing athlete.”
Having her training partner Brittany Moore from New Philadelphia, who placed 20th, there to compete helped her remain focused.
“Brittany has a heart of gold and is an amazing athlete too,” Troyer said. “We’re both chasing our passion, and her support meant so much.”
Once the competition was over, Troyer and her entourage toured Paris and went to all of the art galleries and sites the city is famous for.
And now for the Paul Harvey “rest of the story” moment: Troyer found out after the competition she had fractured her ankle. She had pushed aside the pain and competed in a grueling competition on the international level on a fractured ankle and won.
“I have never been happier to make a decision to keep competing after going down,” Troyer said.
Troyer said she was initially drawn to crossfit because she wanted the challenge of the competition that it brings with the training.
Having grown up in the tae kwon do world, Troyer worked under Gary McFeeders, a former U.S. Olympian who honed her skills in that sport. She traveled all over the nation competing in tae kwon do and retired at the age of 21.
Needing something to challenge her, she was introduced to crossfit. She went to one large event as a spectator and immediately fell in love with the sport.
“I absolutely loved it, right off the bat,” Troyer said. “I instantly wanted to do this at the highest level. I didn’t care what it took. I wanted it.”
She trains at Bar Bells Gym and Sea Monkey Crossfit in Uhrichsville as well as in Cleveland. Troyer has worked with renowned teacher and Crossfit Games competitor Dakota Rager, whose family owns Sea Monkeys. She is now in training to qualify for the Crossfit Games.