Breaking: Quarterfinals Workout 1 Penalties Put Some CrossFit Games Vets’ Seasons in Jeopardy
Additional writing and analysis by Mike Halpin
Some Games athletes who went to sleep last night feeling secure in their position on the Quarterfinals leaderboard woke up this morning with their season in peril.
What happened?: Starting around 5 p.m. PT, the CrossFit Games team began pushing updates to the 2024 CrossFit Games Quarterfinals leaderboard, specifically to the results of Workout 1.
- As that score updated, the overall and region-specific leaderboards shuffled, moving some well-known Games athletes out of qualifying position for their Semifinal events.
One big thing: As the old saying goes, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” and in this case, that means until the CrossFit Games team officially finalizes the leaderboard and sets the rosters for the seven in-person Semifinals.
Remind me: Section 2.09 of the 2024 CrossFit Games Rulebook states: “Leaderboards will not be set until after the video review process is complete. Only after this time will athletes know if they are advancing to the next stage of competition. CrossFit will make an announcement when each leaderboard is final.”
- The rulebook states that for Quarterfinals, the “Individual Leaderboard will be set no later than April 29, 2024.”
The current round of penalties is focused on Workout 1, a “Fight Gone Bad”-style workout with one-minute working intervals in repeating rounds.
- Individual Quarterfinals Workout 1
4 rounds for max reps of:
1 minute of snatches
1 minute of rowing for calories
1 minute of dumbbell box step-ups
1 minute of rest
Men: 135-pound (61kg) barbell, 50-pound (22.5 kg) dumbbells, 20-inch box
Women: 85-pound (38kg) barbell, 35-pound (15 kg) dumbbells, 20-inch box
While it is not yet clear, the penalties likely came from the snatches and the box step-ups (although not properly displaying the rower screen could also be a culprit).
CrossFit’s workout description listed the following as common “no reps” (note: this is not an exhaustive list):
- On the snatch – “Lowering the bar before full extension of the knees, hips, or arms.”
- On the box step-ups – “Descending before reaching full extension of the hips and/or legs.”
YouTuber Andrew Hiller analyzed the workout video of one of the athletes who received a major penalty (prior to the penalty adjustment), Oscar Luis Mora. In the video, Hiller notes multiple repetitions displaying the above faults.
The details: 26 women and 25 men who were in a Semifinal-qualifying position as of last night are now sitting outside the top 40 per-region cutline to make it to the next stage of the competition.
- This includes Paige Powers, the 10th-place finisher at the 2023 Games, who is now sitting at 104th (previously fifth), and Sydney Wells, sitting at 141st (previously 24th) in the North America East region.
Other notable names include four-time Games athlete Camilla Salomonsson Hellman from Europe, who went from 13th to 78th, and both women from Team Peak 360, who are three-time Games athletes themselves: Matilde Garnes (moved from 17th to 79th) and Lena Richter (moved from 31st to 180th). This has no impact on their team, only their individual ranking in the Quarterfinals.
On the men’s side, three-time Fittest in Mexico Mora was in 31st but is now down 150 spots in the North America West region to 181st. Gustavo Errico of South America, Miko Lilleorg, and Thor Hajnal of Europe all moved from a top-10 Quarterfinals placement in their region to now outside of the cutline.
2022 and 2023 Games athletes on the men’s side were penalized but still look to be in a Semifinal-qualifying position.
| Original Rank | Current Rank | Difference | Athlete | Region |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | Agustin Richelme | South America |
| 1 | 28 | -27 | Patrick Vellner | North America West |
| 3 | 14 | -11 | Kalyan Souza | South America |
| 4 | 29 | -25 | Lazar Đukic | Europe |
| 7 | 32 | -25 | Arthur Semenov | Asia |
| 20 | 21 | -1 | Henrik Haapalainen | Europe |
Here is what the penalty impact looks like for a few of these athletes:
- Original Overall Region Rank: 1st
- Current Overall Region Rank: 28th
- Original Workout 1 Rank: 2nd
- Current Workout 1 Rank: 214th
- Original Workout 1 Score: 252 reps
- Current Workout 1 Score: 202 reps
- Workout Penalty Percentage: -19.84%
Paige Powers
- Original Overall Region Rank: 5th
- Current Overall Region Rank: 104th
- Original Workout 1 Rank: 29th
- Current Workout 1 Rank: 668th
- Original Workout 1 Score: 209 reps
- Current Workout 1 Score: 168 reps
- Workout Penalty Percentage: -19.62%
These data are current as of 7:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 25. The full working document for tracking these changes is available here and will be updated when possible. A full report will be available once the Quarterfinals leaderboard is finalized.
The bottom line: This round of penalties created some shockwaves throughout the Quarterfinals leaderboard, and with several days until CrossFit’s self-appointed deadline of April 29 to finalize Semifinals rosters, the video review process could continue to shake things up.
Featured image: Ava Kitzi (right and left), CrossFit (middle)