CrossFit Open Gets Longer Submission Window, Games Field Grows for 2027
The 2027 CrossFit Games season will follow a format similar to last year’s, with a few minor changes across the competition stages.
CrossFit LLC announced the season structure this week and shared updates for individuals, teams, and age-group divisions. The CrossFit Games date and location remain undetermined.
The biggest change affecting the entire community is an extended submission window for the CrossFit Open workouts. In past years, athletes who signed up for the Open could submit scores from Thursday (typically after a live announcement) through Monday.
For 2027, CrossFit will announce the Open workouts on Wednesdays, and athletes have until Monday at 5 p.m. PT to submit their scores.
- Registration opens on January 7, 2027
- Open Workout 27.1: February 17-22, 2027
- Open Workout 27.2: February 24-March 1, 2027
- Open Workout 27.3: March 3-8, 2027
Quarterfinals are the same as last season. The top 25% of individuals worldwide will advance from the Open to the Quarterfinals. The window is March 15-22.
Individuals
The biggest change for individuals is the Semifinal stage. As in 2026, the top 2,000 men and women will have the chance to compete in either an in-person or an Online Semifinal.
- For 2027, athletes can accept invitations to only two Semifinal events. They may also compete in the Online Semifinals, which won’t count toward the two.
- Another change is that each Semifinal will qualify three men and three women for the CrossFit Games. In years past, some events had only one or two qualifying spots.
Another major change is that the top 40 men and 40 women from the Semifinals stage will advance to the Games. This number has changed over the years, with only 30 men and 30 women competing at the 2026 Games. The largest starting field was in 2019, when global qualification was in play and over 200 individuals competed.
Teams
Teams will face major changes throughout their 2027 season. There will be no quarterfinal stage; instead, teams will go from the Open directly to the Team Qualifiers.
- The Team Qualifiers will be a series of in-person events hosted by select partners.
- According to CrossFit, each event may have its own post-Open qualification process. Teams will be ranked on a global leaderboard. All workouts will be standardized across Team Qualifier events.
- The dates and events are still to be determined. The number of Games spots has not yet been disclosed.
Age-Group and Adaptive
The biggest change to the age-group division is adding a new 18-19 age division for both boys and girls.
- In-person Semifinals will run from April to June, and the Online Semifinals for teenagers and masters will be held June 24-28.
- Teenage athletes will compete only in the Age-Group Online Semifinals to earn a ticket to the 2027 Teenage CrossFit Games.
- The top teenagers from the Online Semifinals will advance to the 2027 Teenage CrossFit Games, hosted by Pit Prodigies. The top masters from the Semifinals will advance to the 2027 Masters CrossFit Games, hosted by Magic City Games.
The Adaptive division remains largely unchanged. WheelWOD will continue to host the Adaptive CrossFit Games.
- This year, for the Adaptive division, Open registration will determine Games-qualifying spots by division and sex. Further information will be released when the 2027 Adaptive CrossFit Games Rulebook is published.
Separately, Dave Castro, general manager of sport, announced earlier this month that the Open will add a pairs division. He also outlined a path to the National Championships. HQ shared additional details about the National Champion competition in its announcement.
- “Athletes progress from the Open to Quarterfinals to a country-specific National Championship event, and the winner from each host country earns the title of National Champion,” CrossFit wrote.
- National Champions are the top-ranked male and female CrossFit athletes from each recognized country. Previously, the national champion title was awarded to the athlete with the best Open results in each country. This year, national champions will be crowned based on how far they advance through the Open, the Quarterfinals, or a CrossFit-Licensed Event in their home country.
One last thing: The announcement offers a clear view of the 2027 season and what athletes can expect. But several divisions still have major questions about the dates and location of the Games, as well as the number of qualifying spots for teams and age-group divisions.
