BREAKING: CrossFit Announces New Season Structure with Major Changes, Dropping Three Semifinals in the Process
CrossFit has announced a new structure for the 2023 CrossFit Games season with some major changes to a number of portions of the overall competition.
The biggest change is regarding the Semifinals, as CrossFit will now be programming all the events for the individuals and teams, and they will operate all Semifinals in North America (two) and Europe (one), while partnering with organizers in Africa, Asia, Australia and South America. This means instead of 10 Semifinals, there will now be seven, and there will be no Last Chance Qualifier.
The CrossFit Games will also be a six-day competition (August 1-6) however CrossFit’s General Manager of Sport, Justin Bergh said specific details as to the individual breakdowns for specific divisions will come at a later day.
One big thing: Bergh said in an exclusive interview with Morning Chalk Up before the announcement that the goal was to get these changes out “as early as possible so that athletes could prepare for their entire year in advance, we have a tonne of people who love this sport and commit their lives to it.”
- “The general idea is we are announcing this first wave of information and then we will add detail to this as we go,” said Bergh, who noted these changes will ultimately be the “bedrock” for a more consistent season structure moving forward and into the future for the sport.
The details: The biggest changes are in the North American and European regions. While the previous two years of Semifinals have seen four events in North America and two in Europe, now there will be two and one. The fields will be stronger, but the total number of Games spots allocated to these regions will remain the same.
- That means, in these events the field will include 60 individuals and 38 teams.
- In addition, CrossFit is taking over the programming for all seven Semifinals. Similar to the Regionals years, all athletes will complete the same exact tests.
- The Last Chance Qualifier is gone. Instead, the final Games-qualifying spots “will be allocated from the Semifinals according to a ranking system based on the strength of the field.”
Major Changes (by season phase)
The CrossFit Open: February 16 – March 6, 2023
- Athletes must either perform their workout at an affiliate or submit a video. Athletes can no longer use a registered CrossFit judge as the sole way of validating their score.
- Adaptive athletes will be able to mark CrossFit Open workouts as scaled and make modifications based on their ability.
- The six-person roster for teams (four completing, two alternates) will be selected immediately after the Open. Only these athletes will be eligible to compete from Quarterfinals through the Games.
Quarterfinals: Dates TBD
- Teams Quarterfinals and the Age Group Quarterfinals will happen during the same week. Each competition will have two, 24-hour score submission windows instead of three. Teams will compete Wednesday through Friday and Age-Group athletes will compete Friday through Sunday.
- Individual Quarterfinals will consist of three days of competition, similar to the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
- Athletes can compete in any Quarterfinals competition and as many competitions they have qualified for. This has the potential to greatly affect any teen or masters athletes looking to keep their options open for both individuals and teams. CrossFit does say it will allow athletes to compete in any division he or she qualifies for, however.
Semifinals: Dates TBD
- There will be seven semifinal events instead of 10.
- North America will have two Semifinals (East and West) and Europe will have one.
- All North American and European Semfinals will be operated by CrossFit.
- CrossFit will now program all Semifinal events.
- CrossFit will partner with four semifinal event organizers to put on events in Africa, Asia, Australia and South America.
- Athlete seeding for North America and Europe is going away. Athletes will qualify to their respective Semifinal based on their region. Athletes will know their region after registering for the Open.
- The top 60 individual men and women, and the top 38 teams will advance to North American East and West, and European Semifinals each.
- The top 30 individual men and women, and the top 20 teams will compete at the Africa, Asia, Australia and South America Semifinals.
- The Last Chance qualifier is going away. Instead, the final Games spots will be awarded to athletes further down the Semifinal leaderboard in accordance with “a ranking system based on the strength of the field.
The CrossFit Games: Tuesday, August 1 – Sunday, August 6, 2023
- They’re introducing a new six-day format but there aren’t any additional details available at this time.
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