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Lucy Campbell: From Down But Not Out, to TYR WZA Champion

January 25, 20256 min read

Written by Maysa Hannawi

In 2022, Lucy Campbell burst onto the CrossFit Games scene. The national junior-level swimmer turned CrossFitter qualified for her first Games by taking 5th place at the Lowlands Throwdown. As a rookie, Campbell placed 16th and took two event wins, including the final, putting her name on the map.

In 2023, Campbell announced that she was out for the season due to a wrist injury. She reported that she had sustained the injury during the previous season, but pushed through in order to qualify and compete at the Games, only making it worse. Throughout 2023 she documented her seemingly tumultuous journey through diagnoses and treatments. In August 2023, she posted about having a surgery that gave her a 70% chance at a functioning and stable wrist. Shortly after she shared the details of her surgery, which included shortening one bone in her forearm in the hopes that it would help grow a new bone in her wrist.

As a Doctor of Physical Therapy, I was not only curious, but mesmerized. This seemingly experimental surgery on an elite athlete who was actively documenting her recovery on social media, was not only nerve wracking to see, but potentially redefining resilience.

In the months leading up to WZA Miami qualifiers, Campbell started reintroducing movements into her training. From an anatomical perspective, as well as her personal accounts, the hardest movements to get back were movements that involved wrist extension – think cleans, anything front rack, handstand walking and high velocity ring movements. Two days ago Campbell posted a video of her doing full cleans (she had previously been catching her cleans in a zombie position to work on them while her wrist healed, which is impressive) stating that she couldn’t even do them a month ago.

While Campbell’s return to competition was exciting, she had such limited time training many higher skill movements due to the timeline of her return to sport, there was no way to predict her performance. In fact, we had her at 21st in our Elite Women’s division posted predictions, right in the middle suggesting we really weren’t sure what to expect.

Campbell came out hot in event one, taking second place. The event had next to zero upper body requirements and we know Campbell has an engine. While her placement was impressive, it wasn’t necessarily surprising. However, when she turned around and took second in event 2, you could hear murmurs in the crowd about that “Lucy Campbell girl”, a name they hadn’t heard about in two years.

When Campbell went on to take a top-10 finish in event three, arguably an event that should have been damage control for her, we knew our predictions were off. The event included multiple movements with wrist extension, and she moved through them seemingly effortlessly. Campbell wasn’t just here to return to competition, she was here to compete with some of the best in the sprot.

Campbell took another second place in Cuban Press, solidifying her place in the final heat. Her only finish outside the top 10 was in the max clean + hang clean, where she took 36th. She completed the complex with 210lbs, a lift she had only introduced in the last month, and one that was noticeably special for her despite the low placement. 

Campbell went into the final event with the fire lit. She knew she had the potential to win the competition, but she would have to put on a show. Laura Horvath led the heat for most of the workout until the final 5 ring muscle ups. Campbell and Horvath got to the rings at the same time, and the roars from the stands were palpable. Horvath jumped up first, Campbell a rep behind, and it seemed like Horvath had the heat win, and potentially the competition win, in the bag. When Horvath broke at rep 3 and Campbell held on, there was an audible gasp. Campbell jumped down, raced to the finish, and the crowd went wild.

In a teary post event interview with Bella Martin, Campbell discussed how her performance continued to surprise her and how proud she was of her body. You could hear both the shock and returned confidence in her words.

This wasn’t her comeback.

This was THE comeback. 

The one people would be talking about for days, weeks, maybe even months.

If you weren’t a Lucy Campbell fan before this weekend, I guarantee you are one now.

Stay tuned, she is just getting started.

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Brian Friend

Brian stumbled upon CrossFit in the Fall of 2013. He has been a writer, data analyst, coach, content creator, and served many different roles in the media. He worked with many of the biggest names, companies, and competitions in the CrossFit and fitness world, before launching BFriendly Fitness in May of 2023. Since then he’s been spending most of his time on the road providing livestreams and commentary for competitive fitness events across the US, Europe, and the Middle East- with the goal of expanding into even more countries in the near future. He hopes that through the storytelling he and his team are doing more people are motivated to try hard things, take control of their lives, and become healthier humans.

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