CrossFit Games

Annie Thorisdottir Offers Praise for New Season Structure, Open One of “Favorite Things”

January 28, 2021 by
Credit: https://www.reebok.com.au/blog/331038
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The 2021 CrossFit Games season, which starts with The Open on March 11, is bringing with it a multitude of changes. Morning Chalk Up Editor-in-Chief Justin LoFranco talked about the season’s restyling with two-time CrossFit Games champion Annie Thorisdottir. 

Here are some of the key takeaways.

The Open should not have been a qualifier for the CrossFit Games: Thorisdottir says that “having just an online competition as a qualifier is not enough.” This season, with the addition of quarterfinals and semifinals, the Open is not the end-all-be-all for competitors. 

  • She goes on to say that the newly-added competition levels will bring back the feel of regionals and that “we need that in-person event where you’re competing against the athletes that are trying to qualify for the CrossFit Games.”

Quarterfinals as a stepping-stone: “It’s not just about us, the people that can be at the CrossFit Games, it’s also about the athletes that are taking the next steps in their competitive career,” Thorisdottir says. 

  • Having multiple levels gives these athletes a chance to move forward and progress to a stage where they’re one step above “just the normal person going to the gym that wants to participate in the Open.” 

The Open matters: Thorisdottir says she’s happy athletes are “forced” to participate in the Open again. 

  • “Yes, the Open has been long and it may affect your training and all of that,” she says, “But The Open is also one of my favorite things.”
  • “We’re all together,” she continues. “I’m competing with my mom and my dad and everyone in the gym are so invested… It’s the first step to competing at the Games and I get to share that with everyone at my box. They take the first steps of my journey with me.”

Three versus five: Thorisdottir hopes the shorter Open will encourage more people to sign up. “Five weeks is quite a long time, for also just normal people,” she says.

  • The people that say ‘OK, I’m not going to sign up but I’m going to do it all…’ as soon as you sign your name and you’re on the leaderboard, it will just feel a little different,” Thorisdottir says. 
  • You’re going to be a little bit better just by signing up,” she adds.

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