Breaking Down CrossFit’s Worldwide Ranking System as First Top 100 is Released
On January 31, CrossFit HQ released an article titled “The Worldwide Ranking System: How it Works,” diving into the specifics regarding the new worldwide athlete ranking system that was announced back in November. Today we’ve broken down the article for you to get a quick understanding of how the system works and what it’s going to look like for the 2023 season. CrossFit has also released its first edition of the rankings, the top 100 men and women, with of course, Tia-Clair Toomey and Justin Medeiros on top.
How it works: Points are assigned based on the previous two years of competitive results for the four stages of the CrossFit Games season (the Open, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Games).
2023 Initial Rankings: The first set of worldwide rankings will be calculated with performance data from the previous two years.
- 2021: Open, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Games
- 2022: Open, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Games
Sliding Window: After the close of the 2023 Quarterfinals, scores will be recalculated, sliding the two year window forward to include the new 2023 Open and Quarterfinals scores. The scores from the 2021 Open and Quarterfinals will no longer be considered when calculating rankings.
- 2021: Semifinals and Games
- 2022: Open, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Games
- 2023: Open and Quarterfinals
The two year sliding window operates as a living overview of an athlete’s current fitness and assigns the rank accordingly. The rankings will be updated three times in 2023, following the finalization of scores at each major stage of the season (Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Games).
Open
- 1,000 points are awarded to the male and female winners.
- Remaining athletes will receive points for their finishing percentile x 10 (990 for 99th percentile, 980 for 98th percentile, and so on).
Quarterfinals
- 2,000 points are awarded to the male and female winners.
- Remaining athletes will receive points for their finishing percentile x 20 (1,980 points for the 99th percentile, 1,960 for the 98th percentile, and so on).
Live Events: Once the season moves from online (Open and Quarterfinals) to in-person competition (Semifinals and the Games), points will be earned based on rank-order finish.
Semifinals
- 4,000 points are awarded to the male and female winners of each Semifinal.
- The remainder of Semifinalists will have different point-earning opportunities based on the Semifinal that they are competing at.
- Each Semifinal will have a different points table, being dictated by the final number of Games-qualifying positions and the size of the field at that specific Semifinal.
- Qualifying for the CrossFit Games creates the largest points-earning opportunity for an athlete during the season.
Games
- 10,000 points are awarded to the male and female winners of the CrossFit Games.
- Remaining athletes will receive points based on their placement/finish.
The bottom line: The new worldwide ranking system is a step towards a more consistent and stable foundation for the sport of fitness. This creates an objective, performance-based way to rank athletes based on current data. CrossFit will be releasing more information on how the worldwide ranking system will be used to determine strength of field soon, which will reward the strongest regions with additional CrossFit Games-qualifying spots.
Top 100 Women Prior to 2023 CrossFit Open
Top 100 Men Prior to 2023 CrossFit Open
Worldwide Rankings of All 2022 Quarterfinal Competitors Prior to 2023 CrossFit Open
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