This season, one of the changes CrossFit has implemented is a new public video review process at the Semifinals stage.
As outlined in rule 2.10a of the 2025 CrossFit Games Rulebook, anyone who has completed the 2025 Online Judges Course will be able to review, judge, and assess each video.
- More specifically, reviewers have three options: they can rate the video as “good video,” “needs review,” or “unviewable” (indicating that the video cannot be viewed or does not match the correct workout).
This public review process occurred for the Age Group Semifinals from the end of competition on Sunday, April 6, until Friday, April 11, at 5:00 p.m. PT. CrossFit now has until April 21 to finalize the leaderboard.
According to the rulebook, the Individual In-Affiliate Semifinals, which will be used to qualify 11 individual men and women for the 2025 CrossFit Games, will follow the same process.
Why It Matters
In theory, the new public review process appears to be an effective way to enhance transparency and fairness in the qualification process. However, in practice, it has raised numerous questions and concerns.
The most pressing question is: How does CrossFit intend to use the public review votes?
The rulebook is far from clear on this issue.
- According to the rulebook, after the public review period ends, for videos that receive “a significant number” of “good video” votes, “the score may be accepted on the leaderboard as submitted.”
If a video has received “a significant number” of “needs review” votes from the public, it will be assessed by CrossFit, and a penalty may be applied.
What does a significant number mean? Ten votes? Twenty? Fifty?
However, the situation is just the beginning of the confusion, and it’s something five-time age-group CrossFit Games champion Jason Grubb has openly addressed.
- In a recent Instagram post, he highlighted seven “issues” that have arisen from the public review process currently unfolding in the age-group divisions.
To begin with, voters aren’t actually required to watch a video to vote on it (nor do they need to hold a CrossFit Level 1 certification). All they need is $10 and 30 minutes of their time to pass the judge’s course.
- In Grubb’s case, he has more votes on some of his workout videos than he has video views, as he mentioned in an interview on Talking Elite Fitness, indicating that people who haven’t even watched his workouts are evidently weighing in.
Second, something that is clearly missing is a comments section so voters can provide feedback about what needs to be reviewed, rather than just giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down, Grubb pointed out.
The State of Play
According to Grubb, who is also a member of the CrossFit Athlete Council, athletes in the Age Group Division have asked their friends to boost their videos with “good review” votes, which he believes “might discourage others from watching and critiquing those videos.”
- Furthermore, he stated, “There are reports of organized networks downvoting other competitors.”
Grubb notes that scores at the top of the leaderboard and along the qualifying cutline are reviewed more than those in the middle.
- “If penalties are applied, they’ll likely hit the top and bottom scores harder, while questionable reps in the middle might slip through without the same scrutiny,” he said.
One Big Thing
With all the changes to the Semifinals qualification process this season, it is clear that some kinks still need to be ironed out.
Most recently, this prompted CrossFit to issue a “one-time exception” for age-group athletes judged by someone with expired credentials.
Remind me: According to the 2025 rulebook, athletes in the Age Group and Individual Semifinals must have two judges overseeing their workouts: a Floor Judge and a Head Judge, both of whom are required to hold a current Level 1 credential or higher.
- CrossFit reported that “a small number” of judges who oversaw age-group athletes had expired credentials.
On April 11, CrossFit announced a “one-time exception” as everyone continues to adapt to the new process.
CrossFit’s internal review team will “conduct a full video review of each of the affected workout submissions and adjust scores as needed, instead of disqualifying athletes judged by officials with expired credentials.
CrossFit also stated that the responsibility will rest on individual athletes competing in the upcoming In-Affiliate Semifinals to ensure their judges have current credentials, as they “will not be granted an exception if their judge is found to have expired credentials.”
The Big Picture
Implementing a public review process may have been motivated by good intentions, but the results remain uncertain for both the Age Group Semifinal and the upcoming Individual Semifinal in May.
At this point, it appears that there are still some issues to resolve.
Grubb put it this way on a Talking Elite Fitness podcast last week: “What we’re left with is the frustration that we don’t know what’s next. We don’t know what videos will get reviewed. And it’s stressful.”
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- CrossFit Games OGs Prove They’ve Still Got It in Age Group Semifinals
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Featured Image: @jasongrubb_fitness / Instagram
