Open. Quarters. Semis. Games.
Anyone who is interested in CrossFit probably knows that there’s been a lot of upheaval and change in the last year, both at CrossFit LLC (It’s no longer HQ), and in the Sport of Fitness. As someone who’s loved both the company and the sport, almost all of these changes are things that are both long in coming, and also very exciting. The new CEO, Eric Roza is a smart, smart businessman, but more importantly, he actually WANTS to run a multi-national, growing business, unlike the previous CEO who was more concerned with fighting a crusade than guiding a business.
But there’s plenty of information out there about the downfall of Glassman, the new leadership and the new direction of the company, at outlets ranging from The Morning Chalk Up to the New York Times, to CNN. I’m here to let you know a bit about the new CrossFit Games season, and how the sport has expanded the pool of competitors, while also making it more exciting, and more competitive.
The new format for The CrossFit Games season is exciting because it takes the best parts of the old system, the best parts of the even OLDER system, and combines them with a few new touches that makes the season more fun, potentially more lucrative for the athletes, and moves it further into a professional sports capacity.
The season can best be described as a funnel. We start out at the top with the largest pool of competitors possible. This year more than 245,000 people registered for The Open. From there, it gets pared down to the top 10% of competitors in each of 5 continent-based regions, who compete in the Quarterfinals, a second online competition for a spot in one of several regional competitions run by CrossFit partners. From there, for 5 competitors at each Semi-Final Regional, it's a straight shot to the Games and exercise racing glory and fame.
THE OPEN
The first CrossFit Open was held in 2011 because the sport had already grown too large to just allow entry to anyone like the first year, or even for open entry sectionals like the following years. They needed a way to funnel down the massive number of people interested in making it to the games.
But how to do that? The solution was simple and elegant, and as an added bonus, gave individual boxes a sort of rallying point for their athletes and their individual communities. Thus was The CrossFit Open born. You can read some more about it here (The Open has had some changes over the last few years, which I will include in an update to that post ASAP, but the general shape and purpose are still pretty much the same.).
This year the Open was 3 weeks long and included 4 workouts. Given that this is Covid times, the workouts were basically entirely doable at home and included Foundations (true beginner), Scaled (some experience, but lacking some movements), Equipment Free (self-explanatory), and RX.
Quarterfinals
As I’m writing this, the individual Quarterfinals have finished, and the team Quarterfinals are about to begin. Both individual and team events consisted of 5 tests, that included more advanced movements and required access to a gym with a 15' rope, and GHD machine.
The individual event pared down approximately 15,000 competitors from around the world to 300 people who will be competing at the 10 Semi-Final events. In Oceania, Africa, Asia, South America there will be one Semi-Final, two in Europe, and four in North America. These numbers are based on the number of CrossFit boxes in each region.
The team competition is still going on and will pair down the significantly smaller number of teams to a max of 200. This includes 80 teams from North America, 40 from Europe, and 20 from each of the other continental regions. The team competitions will take place at the same events as the individuals.
Semi Finals
The Semi-Finals will narrow the field again, with the top five athletes and teams from each competition in North America, Europe, Oceania, the top two from Asia and South America, and the top athlete from Africa. In addition to these 40 male and female competitors in the individual, the next two competitors after them from each Semi-Final will be entered in the Last Chance Qualifier. From these 20 athletes, the top two will earn the final spots at The CrossFit Games, for a maximum of 42 men, 42 women, and 40 teams.
The CrossFit Games is a chance to crown the fittest people on the planet. It’s a ton of fun to watch and follow along, and it’s a chance to get in on the ground floor of a new sport.
