Alexandra LaChance Makes Switch From CrossFit to Weightlifting

Alexandra LaChance made it to the CrossFit Games in 2014. Since that year, however, LaChance finished 17th at the South Regional in 2015 and she missed the 2016 CrossFit Games season with an injury.

Now that the dust has settled on the CrossFit Open leaderboard, you may notice LaChance’s name is not in the top 20 of the South Central region. Following 17.2, LaChance made the leap and has now chosen to pursue Olympic Weightlifting because it is where her “true passion is now.”

Hi friends, before I get any more questions about how the Open is going, I’d like to share some big news with you all. Last week I decided to make the switch entirely to Olympic Weightlifting, because that is where my true passion is now. I have honestly been burnt out from CrossFit for the last two years, and have been trying to convince myself that I still loved it, because so many people wanted me to make it back to the Games. I have been wanting to Olympic Lift since I hurt my back in 2015 after qualifying for Nationals in my second ever Weightlifting competition. I am so excited to finally be able to fully commit myself to the sport that I love and see how far I can go 🤗 I finally realized that life is too short to spend so many hours of your day doing something that doesn’t light your heart on fire. I still absolutely love coaching gymnastics, and will continue to travel around for my Gymnastics Seminars, and will continue my Online Gymnastics Programming because coaching is truly a joy to me. The only difference now is that I’ll be trading out burpees and becoming best friends with the barbell. Find what makes you happy and don’t let anything or anyone stop you from pursuing it ❤ #NoPantsLaChance 🚫👖 #FindYourHappy 😎 #ButtStuff 🍑 #ZeviaLife @fleoshorts @rpstrength @mbslingshot @zevia @kegandillon @jaredf94

A post shared by Alexandra Aurora LaChance (@nopantslachance) on Mar 10, 2017 at 3:57pm PST

LaChance started of 2017 with a 63rd and 68th place finish in the South Central region, but she posted one rep on the remaining three workouts. By doing so, she allowed her score on 17.1 to count towards her team’ (CrossFit Sprag) points. CrossFit Sprag finished 18th, three spots shy of qualifying to the South Regional.

By making a move to weightlifting, LaChance will compete as a 75kg lifter. This weekend LaChance competed in her first weightlifting meet since officially making the switch. LaChance went 6-for-6 hitting a 94kg snatch, 105kg clean & jerk and a 199kg total. Both lifts and the total were PRs for LaChance. The total qualifies her for the 2017 USA Weightlifting National Championships next month in Chicago, Illinois.

First meet in the books since @nopantslachance made the switch over to weightlifting and third meet ever. She qualified for Nationals and went 6/6 hitting a PR snatch of 94kg and a PR clean and jerk of 105kg to make a PR total of 199kg. Sorry for saying PR so many times but I’m very proud of her for the decisions she made that led to this point and all of her effort and hard work to make it happen on the platform today. Huge thanks to @jaredf94 and his old man for all the work they’ve put in to helping her. Thanks to @crossfitsprag for their support and awesome facility! Thank you to my faves @beastitlikebecca and Phil (couldn’t find your IG) for helping me stay sane today and always being there for Alex. And thank you to her sponsors @fleoshorts and @zevia for constantly supporting her with awesome products and positivity. On to Nationals! #beanelitehuman #75kg #shedidit #❤️

A post shared by Kegan Dillon (@kegandillon) on Apr 2, 2017 at 2:35pm PDT

The 199kg total would have been good for 9th at the 2016 USAW National Championships and 7th at the 2016 USAW American Open.