It was an accomplishment a decade in the making for Debi Bernardes.
The 67-year-old King George County resident recently competed at the 2025 Masters CrossFit Games, held Aug. 21-24 in Columbus, Ohio.
A lifelong athlete and the founder of the Great Train Race and the Blue and Gray Half Marathon, Bernardes started doing CrossFit in 2014. For 10 years, she tried to qualify for the CrossFit Games, which brings the world’s top CrossFit athletes together to compete against the best in their respective age groups.
Bernardes came excruciatingly close to making the cut last year, finishing one spot shy of qualifying for the games during the semifinal round.
This year was a different story, albeit a lengthy one.
“CrossFit Central has very strict guidelines for qualifying,” Bernardes explained. “First, you have to complete multiple workouts, they have to be videotaped, and you have to have two judges present when you do them so that they can verify that you are doing the movements and that everything is correct. From there, you’re ranked according to how fast you were or how many reps you completed, depending on the workout.”
After she navigated that gauntlet, Bernardes had four different workouts to complete over the course of four days during April’s semifinals.
“After the semifinals, it takes them a few weeks to notify you if you qualified for the games,” she said. “Finally, in late April, I got an email saying I’d made it.”
Bernardes described her reaction to the news as restrained excitement.
“When I finally qualified, I was excited. But I also knew I had work to do before I went, because I still had some weaknesses that I needed to address,” she recalled. “So while I was happy, I was kind of like, ‘I need to keep things on the down low and focus.’”
Bernardes trained hard for four months, although a bout of pneumonia earlier this summer cost her a few weeks of training. She believes that the illness played a significant role in her finishing 14th in her 65-69 age group.
“I went in with the mindset to do the best I could, and my goal was to finish in the top 10,” she said. “I was probably 75-80% recovered from the pneumonia. I did really well in a couple workouts … It’s just really hard emotionally when you know you can do so much better, but your body won’t let you.”
The disappointment in her performance couldn’t overshadow her experience at the games, however.
“Just being able to go there and be among the top 20 women in the world in your age group is incredible,” she said. “Getting a chance to meet some of the women I’ve seen on the leaderboard over the years was exciting. The energy at the games and the camaraderie between the athletes is probably like nothing else I’ve ever experienced.”
Bernardes is hoping to make a return to the games in the future, but acknowledged that time is an enemy.
“I just turned 67 and that means I’m not at the top of my age group anymore, so we have to worry about the younger women coming in,” she said. “So, there’s no guarantee I’ll qualify again unless I really up my game, which I hope I do, but it’s a matter of luck, to be honest. You don’t know who’s competing from year to year, plus injuries and health issues can accumulate on you. So, while I’m certainly going to try, I’m very grateful for this experience.”
