Celebrating the Adaptive Open Champions

With the leaderboard for the 2021 CrossFit Open now officially locked, it also means that we are officially at the end of the season for all 16 newly created adaptive divisions. It’s a massive undertaking to create these divisions and make them accessible for this portion of the CrossFit community, and while many would love to see the season extended for them in the future, even having these divisions is a great step in the right direction. 

Participation: This year there were a total of 645 men and 444 women who registered for one of the adaptive divisions. The highest number of registrations for both men and women was in the Lower Extremity division with 196 men and 107 women registering. Similarly, the lowest number of registrations for both genders was in the Seated Athletes (with hip) divisions which saw 18 men and 17 women register.

Competition: There was a wide range of competition at the top of the leaderboard in the adaptive divisions. The closest races were in the Women’s Seated (with hip) division, which came down to a tie-break, and the Women’s Intellectual, which was a one point victory. Six other divisions were decided by between two and five points, an additional five divisions were decided by between six and ten points, while the final three divisions were eventually won by at least ten points, with the largest margin of victory coming by 20 points in the Men’s Intellectual division.

2021 CrossFit Open Adaptive Champions by Division:

• Men’s Upper Extremity: Casey Acree, USA (11 points)
• Women’s Upper Extremity: Sabrina Daniela Lopez, Switzerland (20 points)
• Men’s Lower Extremity: Ole Kristian Antonsen, Norway (20 points)
• Women’s Lower Extremity: Natalie Bieule, USA (28 points)
• Men’s Neuromuscular: Brett Horchar, USA (7 points)
• Women’s Neuromuscular: Lichen Du Plessis, South Africa (9 points)
• Men’s Vision: Marc Gil Manzanares, Spain (13 points)
• Women’s Vision: Kimberley Dekeyrel, USA (16 points)
• Men’s Short Stature: Michal Lagosz, Poland (11 points)
• Women’s Short Stature: Creusa Castro, Brazil (9 points)
• Men’s Seated (with hip): Tom Miazga, USA (10 points)
• Women’s Seated (with hip): Cindy Ouellet, Canada (10 points)
• Men Seated (without hip): Simon Farre, France (9 points)
• Women Seated (without hip): Andrea Wilson, USA (8 points)
• Men’s Intellectual: Loic Jacobowsky, France (7 points)
• Women’s Intellectual: Julia Lane, Canada (8 points)

The bottom line: Without a doubt there is still a lot to learn about the best way to continue incorporating adaptive athletes and divisions into the competitive CrossFit season. However, the fact that these divisions existed this year, and these athletes had this opportunity is unquestionably a good thing. A pillar of CrossFit is that it is infinitely scalable, and the inclusion of these divisions amplifies that core principle loudly. It’s a fantastic achievement to represent the community in this way for all 1,089 adaptive athletes who registered for the Open. And we’d like to extend a massive congratulations to the 16 adaptive champions from the 2021 CrossFit Open!