Coming off her best finish at the CrossFit Games, Alexis Raptis had accepted her invite to compete at the Rogue Invitational. Raptis, 24, was looking forward to hitting the competition floor once again in Austin, Texas, a year after she took 8th place.
But last night, Raptis shared that she has declined her invite and will sit out this year due to Colitis, a chronic digestive disease that causes inflammation of the inner lining of the colon. She has been experiencing symptoms since 2018, but it is first time the CrossFit Games veteran had spoken publicly about her condition.
In her Instagram post, Raptis shared that her symptoms were really bad during this year’s North America East Semifinals (where she finished 5th overall), but that she and her doctors were able to get her healthy for the Games (where she took 6th place).
However, that would be short-lived as she recently had a flare-up that ended with a trip to the hospital. Since then, the Training Think Tank athlete has been unable to train and prepare properly so she made the difficult decision to withdraw and let Rogue invite another athlete to backfill her spot in the 20-athlete field.
Rogue has not yet announced if or who they will invite to backfill Raptis’ spot.
It is estimated that Colitis affects one million people in the United States, making it the most common form of inflammatory bowel disease, many of whom are diagnosed before the age of 35.
Raptis ended by saying that she is raising money for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and will walk a mile for every $25 donated. To donate, head over to Alexis’ post on Instagram and there is a link to donate. So far over $2,600 has been donated.
