The announcement of CrossFit Open workout 25.2 was held at CrossFit Incendia in Peoria, Arizona. Emily Rolfe and Sydney Wells competed in the workout head-to-head in front of a raucous local crowd.
Dave Castro made a brief appearance to hand the mic to Rob Best and Tammi Saunders from The Barbell Saves Project.
Best then revealed that the workout would be a repeat of 22.3.
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Remind Me
Last year, Colten Mertens traveled to Boise, ID, to battle Justin Medeiros in his home gym, the “Shred Shed,” for 24.2.
WWE wrestler Seth Rollins brought some flair to the announcement, and the livestream set an all-time high for concurrent views with 206,012.
Both maximum concurrent views (how many people were watching at once) and overall livestream views (after 24 hours) for 25.2 decreased from last year. The total views after 24 hours for 25.2 fell below the average views (after 24 hours) for all three announcements from 2024.
The Details
The 25.2 announcement recorded a maximum concurrent viewership of 135,078, a 34% drop from 24.2. But, it was up 4.8% from 24.3 and 7.4% from 25.1. It reached a total view count of 601,421 after 24 hours.
How Does This Compare?
| Viewership | 25.2 | 25.1 | 24.1 | 24.2 | 24.3 |
| Max Concurrent (Unofficial) | 135,078 | 125,034 | 161,127 | 206,012 | 128,658 |
| Total Views (at 24 hours) | 601,421 | 707,392 | 872,651 | 835,042 | 588,000 |
- The max concurrent average for the 2024 Open was 159,980, above what we’ve seen in the first two weeks of 2025. We typically see viewership increase each week of the Open, and 2025 is following that trend.
- The total views per week average for the 2024 Open was 765,231, while total views for 25.2 came in at 601,421 after 24 hours — a difference of 163,810 views.
- One thing to note: The max concurrent views of 25.2 were just over 10,000 higher than 25.1, yet the total views after 24 hours were higher for week one by 105,971.
What They’re Saying
Five-time Games athlete and WFP Pro Card holder Emily Rolfe set the time to beat at 5:18, then paid tribute to the fans in her post-match interview. “I’ve never had that much fun. This is like a Games-level crowd,” Rolfe told Bella Martin.
Fellow WFP Pro and 2023 Games athlete Sydney Wells finished over a minute faster on 25.2 than her time on 22.3 and credited working with Dwight Upshaw from PRVN Fitness to become a smarter athlete.
When Martin asked what else we can expect to see this season, Wells responded, “Of course, the goal is to make it back to the Games. I had a great experience in 2023, and I want to do it again.”
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The Big Picture
The average total views after 24 hours for each of the five weeks back in 2020 was 367,857. Since then, viewership has been steadily climbing until this year. The numbers are down from 2024 but are comparable to 2023.
Although the numbers are down on average 19% from last year through the first two weeks, this is less than the drop off in Open registration of 32%. We will continue to track viewership through the final week of the Open this year.
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Featured image: @CrossFitGamesTV / YouTube
