CrossFit Open: all the details

If you are new to CrossFit , you may wonder what CrossFit Open is. Here's what you need to know.

From CrossFit Games define the Open as the beginning of everything, and so it is. Any athlete who wants to end up at the CrossFit Games has to start by doing the Open.

The Open is the sporting event with the largest number of participants in the world.

Categories

The athlete must register for the category in which he/she meets the requirements and wishes to participate. The minimum age to register for the Open is 14 years old..

Individual RX

The one chosen by the professionals and athletes who know how to do all the exercises. 

Individual scaled

Those who need to make adjustments to their more difficult version of the exercises. This category has no chance of advancing further in the qualification for the Games.

Aged groups

Divided into different age ranges under 18 years of age (Teens) and over 35 years of age (Master).

Adaptive

People with limitations. Within this category there are many divisions according to the athlete's limitation. For example, in the upper or lower extremity, or different neurocerebral variants.

This is one of the newest categories and one that will surely undergo more changes over the years in order to be as inclusive as possible.

Teams

Formed by 2 boys and 2 girls from the same affiliated gym.

What are those Open numbers?

The system for naming WODs is by using the year of the season.For example, in the year 2022, the first number corresponds to the year and the following number is the order of the week. The first WOD will be 22.1, the next 22.2 and the last 22.3.

So if someone talks about how difficult 16.2 was you know they are referring to the Open in the second week of 2016.

How do I become a part of the Open?

First you must register on the CrossFit Games website and pay the registration fee which varies between $15-$20 depending on the country you are in. It is a single payment for the 3 weeks of competition.

The WOD in question is posted on Thursday and there is a time window until Monday to complete it. In that period you have 2 options to complete the WOD:

1.- Do the Open at an affiliated CrossFit:

It is the most common way to perform the Open and the most fun, since you share the suffering with your fellow boxers.

The judge supervises your WOD, the athlete uploads the result to the CrossFit website, and the manager will be the one to validate the scores.

2.- Upload the WOD video

You can record yourself doing the WOD and upload the result along with a link to the video. An official judge will validate your result.

** Important!!! ALL athletes with aspirations of advancing in the competition must record all Opens in case the organization asks them to review them.

When you upload your score your score will appear in a list along with the rest of the people competing around the world.

This competition is a way to celebrate the sport and participate in the world's most popular sporting event, no matter what your level.

It unites the community, since we are all facing the same tests and at the same time it is a personal challenge, it will help you to see how you evolve each year.

Open Regulations

The rules for competition are determined each season in the CrossFit Rulebook and if you want to compete seriously, it is important that you know the details that are specified each year.

The Rulebook is not only for the Open, but includes all phases including the Games.

What happens after the Open?

Quarterfinals

At the end of the 3 weeks only the best athletes will advance to the next phase, the Quarterfinals.

It consists of another 2 more weeks of online competition with the same method of operation as the Open, but with a smaller selection of athletes and with an increase in the demand of the WODs.

Semifinals

After the Quarterfinals, only the best will advance to a final stage before reaching the Games.

The semi-finals are competitions organized in collaboration with CrossFit but independently.

In principle, they are held in person if there is no uncontrollable setback on the part of the organization and are held between May and June.

The athletes are assigned the competition in which they participate according to the region to which they belong (data that they put in their registration at the beginning of the season for the Open).

CrosFit Games

The CrossFit Games will be attended by the qualifiers from the semifinals. The Gamess are held inAugust.

History

The Open has not stopped evolving since its first edition in 2011.

That year athletes from all over the world were encouraged to record themselves doing a WOD with the goal of qualifying to Regionals (what are now semifinals but organized by CF Games). The number of participants in the first edition was around 26,000.

That year the winners of the Gamess were Rich Froning and Annie Thorisdottir.

In 2012 the Open totaled close to 70,000 participants of 73 different nationalities. It has continued to grow in popularity year after year.

Its peak was in 2018 with 416,000 participants.

Open participants per year

The Open announcements

Once registered for the Open, the excitement was focused on knowing the WOD we were going to face.

For years, on Open Thursdays, a whole show was put on, broadcast on YouTube and orchestrated by Dave Castro, who has been the director of the Games for years.

The WOD was announced, no one knew what it consisted of, and 2 elite athletes were invited to do a 1 vs. 1.

At the beginning the way to choose the athletes was very simple, they looked at the list of the Games and made the 1st against the 2nd.

In 2015, 100,000 viewers at a time watched the head-to-head between Froning and Fraser on 15.1. That time Froning won by 3 reps ahead.

Past Opens