On Monday, CrossFit announced the workouts for the upcoming Team In-Affiliate Semifinals, sparking much conversation and criticism online.
- The main concern expressed by athletes and fans centers on Workout 4 — a gymnastics and monostructural test featuring three 800-meter runs — and how it may complicate efforts to ensure fair competition. Secondary concerns include logistical challenges and the potential for cheating.
In-Affiliate Team Semifinals – Enter the 800-Meter Runs
Workout 4 for the upcoming Team Semifinals is:
- 800-meter run
- 100 pull-ups
- 800-meter run
- 100 chest-to-bar pull-ups
- 800-meter run
- 100 ring muscle-ups
All athletes must complete each 800-meter run together; they will then work one at a time to complete the gymnastics reps, which they can break up as needed.
One big thing: While Semifinals teams are not required to upload videos of their workouts to YouTube like individual and age-group athletes, “teams hoping to qualify for the CrossFit Games must have video evidence of their run course available on request. Failure to provide video on request may result in disqualification.”
- “Evidence,” as defined by CrossFit, includes photos and/or screenshots of a GPS tracking device that show the run course. Furthermore, CrossFit requires teams to produce “an uncut video of the course being measured.”
What they’re saying: Athletes quickly identified several issues regarding the incorporation of three 800-meter runs in an online workout that also includes a pull-up bar and rings.
To begin, they pointed out that, due to these requirements, it must be completed, starting and ending, at the gym rather than on a standardized track.
- Some 800-meter run courses are flat, while others have hills, not to mention other inconsistencies, such as weather, which make it impossible to create a fair and consistent course.
Three-time CrossFit Games veteran Carolyne Prevost summed it up in a comment on CrossFit’s Instagram post, saying:
- “If you put a run, you shouldn’t have it with a pull-up bar so people could actually find a place to run the 800 meters (i.e., a track).”
Prevost continued, stating, “Some affiliates are in major cities with a bunch of traffic lights, etc. This is going to be a shit show and very unfair to compare between places in different climates. And not to mention the cheating that happens when people measure these runs,” she said, adding that the courses won’t be comparable.
Emily de Rooy, who was on the winning team at last year’s CrossFit Games, also expressed concern.
- “Even at an in-person Semifinal last year… the run courses were different across Semis and showed massive differences in times. How do you expect a ton of athletes around the world to have a half-decent run course [to] make it fair?”
Anikha Greer, a four-time Semifinals athlete, was also outspoken, posting an Instagram story with her thoughts, pointing out the fact that the temperature in different parts of the world is “vastly different” at this time of year.
Furthermore, boxes in urban areas often lack the ability to run 800 meters, starting and finishing at the gym.
- “It’s insane to me how [CrossFit] keeps messing things up,” Greer wrote in her post. “I have two Garmins, and they both measure differently depending on where I am.”
It goes without saying that this could pose a logistical nightmare for teams, and the potential for errors, inconsistencies, and cheating here is significant.
Remind Me: This isn’t the first time athletes and fans of the sport have raised concerns about the In-Affiliate Semifinals this season. Last week, we reported on CrossFit’s new crowd-sourced video review process and the controversy that has come with it.
- This season, CrossFit has implemented 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.
Five-time Masters CrossFit Games champion and CrossFit Athlete Council member Jason Grubb outlined seven concerns that had arisen in an Instagram post and also discussed it on a Talking Elite Fitness podcast, where he concluded: “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.”
The Bottom Line
This year’s CrossFit season structure relies heavily on online competitions for the middle stage and makes them the primary qualifier for the CrossFit Games, so it was clear we were in for a certain amount of controversy.
With two weeks remaining until the Individual In-Affiliate Semifinals, significant questions, concerns, and challenges have already arisen. It feels like this might just be the tip of the iceberg.
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Featured image: Mike Halpin
