In December 2020, CrossFit announced their 2021 Games season schedule and teased a few significant changes — including worldwide quarterfinals events, the return of the Affiliate Cup, and an Adaptive Division.
On Jan. 7, 2021, CrossFit released their official 2021 rulebook, providing more clarity into its changes, which include the introduction of eight adaptive classes and a three-phase Games qualification process that includes a Last-Chance Qualifier and the introduction of Continent-based qualification. Here’s a quick look at the 2021 CrossFit season schedule:
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CrossFit Official 2021 Major Changes
- 2021 Qualification Process
- The Return of the Affiliate Cup
- CrossFit Adaptive Division
- Equipment-Free Open Option
Qualifying Via Continents
To qualify for this year’s Games, athletes must compete in three specific phases: the Open, the Quarterfinals, and the Semifinals. Athletes who were close to qualifying will have a chance to compete in the Games via a Last-Chance Qualifier after the other three qualification phases have taken place.
How to Qualify for the 2021 CrossFit Games
- Compete in the Open (online), starting March 11, 2021
- Place in the top 10% of athletes on your continent (or 25% if you’re a Team competitor). Or, if you’re an age-group competitor, place in the top 10% of your group worldwide.
- Compete in Quarterfinals (online), starting on April 5 for Individuals, April 19 for Teams, and May 3 for Masters & Teens.
- There will be four Semifinal events in North America, two in Europe, and one each in Asia, South America, Africa, and Oceania. Here are the number of athletes that will be invited to compete at each Semifinal event by continent:
- The top 120 men and women and 80 teams (30 men, 30 women, and 20 teams in each of the four Semifinals) in North America.
- The top 60 men and women and 40 teams (30 men, 30 women, and 20 teams in each of the two Semifinals) in Europe.
- The top 30 men and women and 20 teams from Asia, South America, Africa, and Oceania, respectively.
- There will be four Semifinal events in North America, two in Europe, and one each in Asia, South America, Africa, and Oceania. Here are the number of athletes that will be invited to compete at each Semifinal event by continent:
- The Age-Group Online Qualifier takes place from May 6-10, 2021. The top 20 men and women in each age division will qualify to move on to the Games.
- Qualified athletes will compete in the Semifinals, starting on May 24, 2021, and taking place over four consecutive weekends, which will feature 10 in-person events hosted across six continents. The top five men, women, and teams will advance to the Games from both North America and Europe. The top three men, women, and teams will move onto the Games from Oceania. The top two men, women, and teams will advance to the Games from both Asia and South America. Africa will send one man, one woman, and one team to the Games.
- The Last-Chance qualifier will take place from June 28 through July 4, 2021, and will allow athletes who finished within three spots of a Games qualifying position to compete. At the end of the weekend, the top two men and women from the Last-Chance Qualifier will advance to the Games.
- The Games will take place on July 26, 2021, in Madison, WI.
New to this year’s Games is the continent-based qualification system. When first registering for the Open, athletes will establish their continent. This will be the continent assigned to that athlete throughout the Games. An athlete does not need to live in the country on the continent they want to represent, but they must be a citizen of that country to represent the continent.
The continents observed by CrossFit include: North America, Europe, Oceania, Asia, South America, Africa.
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The top 10% of men and women, respectively, will move on to the Quarterfinals in the Individual division. The top 25% of teams will move on to the next stage of Games qualification, the Quarterfinals.
Quarterfinals
During the Quarterfinals, the top men, women, and teams from each continent must submit videos for review. However, the number of submissions changes depending on the continent.
- North America: 150 women, 150 men, 100 teams
- Europe: 90 women, 90 men, 60 teams
- Oceania, Asia, South America, and Africa: 50 women, 50 men, and 40 teams.
For non-Adaptive athletes, the competitor’s age as of July 14, 2021, will determine their age group.
Individual men and women in the top 10% on each continent and the top 25% of total teams per continent (with a minimum of at least 50 teams from each continent) are eligible to participate in the Quarterfinals.
The equipment list for the Quarterfinals was released on March 31, 2021, by CrossFit HQ. It includes:
- All recommended Open equipment
- 30 feet of flat space suitable for movements covering distance
- 15 feet climbing rope
- Medicine ball 20/14 pounds
- Two dumbbells 50/35 pounds
- Concept2 Rower
- Gymnastic Rings
- GHD
- Squat Rack
Semifinals
There will be 10 total Semifinal events — four events in North America, two in Europe, and one each in Asia, South America, Africa, and Oceania. As of April 21, 2021, five of the scheduled CrossFit Semifinal events are now virtual competitions. The number of athletes who will qualify for the Semifinals is as follows:
- North America: the top 120 men and women and 80 teams (30 men, 30 women, and 20 teams in each of the four Semifinals).
- Europe: the top 60 men and women and 40 teams (30 men, 30 women, and 20 teams in each of the two Semifinals)
- Asia, Africa, South America & Oceania: the top 30 men and women and 20 teams, respectively.
Here are the number of athletes who can qualify for the Games from the Semifinals.
- North America & Europe: The top five men, women, and teams.
- Oceania: the top three men, women, and teams.
- Asia & South America: The top two men, women, and teams.
- Africa: one man, one woman, and one team
Related: 2021 CrossFit Games Semifinals Seedings Announced
Last-Chance Qualifier
There will also be a Last-Chance qualifier for athletes who narrowly missed Games qualification. This online competition will take place from June 28, 2021, through July 4, 2021. Individual athletes must compete in a series of events throughout the weekend, the exact number of which will be released prior to the start of the Last-Chance Qualifier. This will include athletes who finished within three spots of a Games qualifying position:
- North America: Athletes who finished in 6th-8th place at each respective Semifinal event.
- Europe: Athletes who finished in 6th-8th place at each respective Semifinal event.
- Oceania: Athletes who finished in 4th-6th place.
- Asia: Athletes who finished in 3rd-5th place.
- South America: Athletes who finished in 3rd-5th place.
- Africa: Athletes who finished in 2nd-4th place.
At the conclusion of the Last-Chance Qualifier, the top two men and two women from the Last-Chance Qualifier will advance to the Games
Age Group Online Qualifier
Age-group athletes will be competing in the Open against other age-group athletes. The top 10% of age-group athletes in each age division worldwide will compete in the Age-Group Online Qualifier, which starts on May 6, 2021, and gives athletes until May 10, 2021, at 5:00 p.m. PST to submit their workouts.
The top 20 men and women from each age group will be invited to compete at the Games. If for some reason one of those athletes declines, the next highest-ranked competitors will qualify. The age groups are:
- Boys and Girls 14-15 (Born on or between 07/15/2005 and 7/14/2007)
- Boys and Girls 16-17 (Born on or between 07/15/2003 and 07/14/2005)
- Men and Women 35-39 (Born on or between 07/15/81 and 07/14/86)
- Men and Women 40-44 (Born on or between 07/15/76 and 07/14/81)
- Men and Women 45-49 (Born on or between 07/15/71 and 07/14/76)
- Men and Women 50-54 (Born on or between 07/15/66 and 07/14/71)
- Men and Women 55-59 (Born on or between 07/15/61 and 07/14/66)
- Men and Women 60+ (Born on or before 07/14/61)
2021 CrossFit Open Cash Prizes
Each week, the individual man and woman with the best scores worldwide will receive $2,021. (To claim the prize, athletes must ensure their video is submitted to CrossFit before the deadline.) Here are the overall payouts for the top five men and women in the Open:
- First place: $15,000
- Second place: $10,000
- Third place: $7,500
- Fourth place: $6,000
- Fifth place: $5,000
The Affiliate Cup Returns
Affiliate teams will consist of at least two men and two men who train primarily at the same CrossFit affiliate. You must train at a CrossFit affiliate and live within 100 miles of the gym to register a team for the Affiliate Cup. To register a team, an athlete must first be registered as an individual athlete.
Though more than one team can form out of the same affiliate, members cannot switch teams during the competition.
CrossFit Adaptive Division
For the first time, CrossFit will be including an Adaptive Division in the 2021 season. Whether the Adaptive Division would be included in the 2021 Games or launch in 2022 was unclear, but according to the CrossFit rulebook, “Athletes with disabilities, also known as “adaptive athletes,” are welcome to participate in the CrossFit Open and Games in accordance with the requirements set forth below.” BarBend reached out to CrossFit to confirm the Adaptive Division’s inclusion in the 2021 Games.
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Within this division, there will be 16 classes, eight each for men and women. Those include:
- Men and Women Adaptive: Upper Extremity
- Men and Women Adaptive: Lower Extremity
- Men and Women Adaptive: Neuromuscular
- Men and Women Adaptive: Vision
- Men and Women Adaptive: Short Stature
- Men and Women Adaptive: Seated Athletes (with hip function)
- Men and Women Adaptive: Seated Athletes (without hip function)
- Men and Women Adaptive: Intellectual
Equipment-Free Open Option
For athletes who don’t have access to the necessary equipment — a dumbbell, barbell with plates, plyo box, jump rope, and a pull-up bar — or want to participate at home, CrossFit offers an equipment-free Open. However, there are a few stipulations.
First, CrossFit will have a separate leaderboard for equipment-free athletes. To stay on the leaderboard, those athletes must complete all of the equipment-free Open events. However, an athlete can finish the overall Open using a combination of foundations, scaled, prescribed, and equipment-free events.
It’s also important to note that any athlete who chooses to perform the equipment-free version of the Open will be compared to other equipment-free athletes and ranked below athletes who choose the three other Open options available. Also, any athlete who opts for the equipment-free versions of the Open workouts will not be able to advance to the competition’s next stage.
2021 CrossFit Season Schedule
Registration for the CrossFit seasons starts on Jan. 7, 2021, with the Open kicking off the competition schedule on March 11, 2021. If you need a refresher, you can check out our video on the season announcement and the schedule below.
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- Jan. 7 — Registration Starts — games.crossfit.com
- Week of March 8 — Open, week one — Local gyms, athletes’ homes (online)
- Week of March 15 — Open, week two — Local gyms, athletes’ homes (online)
- Week of March 22 — Open, week three — Local gyms, athletes’ homes (online)
- Week of April 5 — Quarterfinals, Individual Divisions — Local gyms (online)
- Week of April 19 — Quarterfinals, Teams Division — Local gyms (online)
- Week of May 3 — Qualifier, Masters & Teens Divisions — Local gyms (online)
- Week of May 24 — Semifinals, week one — Worldwide (in-person*)
- Week of May 31 — Semifinals, week two — Worldwide (in-person*)
- Week of June 7 — Semifinals, week three — Worldwide (in-person*)
- Week of June 14 — Semifinals, week four — Worldwide (in-person*)
- Week of June 28 — Last-Chance Qualifier — Local gyms (online)
- Week of July 26 — CrossFit Games Finals — Madison, Wisconsin (in-person*)
*CrossFit acknowledges that they have a contingency plan in place in case COVID-19 halts the in-person events.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Feb. 2, 2021, to include more details on the Semifinals and Last-Chance Qualifier, sent by CrossFit HQ.
Featured image courtesy of CrossFit