CrossFit Announces “Levels”, Grading System Based on 2022 Open Performance

If you’ve ever played in a golf league or have been on a bowling team (shout out to my college roommate team “Split Happens”), you understand establishing a handicap to ensure fair competition. 

On Sunday, CrossFit announced a new system that will do something similar for CrossFit athletes who are competing in the 2022 Open. 

One big thing: Every athlete who submits scores for all three workouts in the 2022 CrossFit Open will receive a “Level,” which will be displayed on their athlete profile. This level will help athletes find and compete against others of a similar capacity and base of fitness in CrossFit’s virtual competitions and other licensed CrossFit competitions throughout the season.

Remind me: In 2020, when Greg Glassman stepped down and prepared to sell CrossFit, Dave Castro took over as CEO for a short period of time. During that time, Castro announced several programs that have ultimately come to fruition, including the CrossFit Scholarship Program which will host its first Indigenous L-1 seminar this weekend in Page, Arizona at CrossFit Lake Powell. 

Castro also teased the original version of the “Levels” idea. On an episode of the Talking Elite Fitness podcast with Tommy Marquez and Sean Woodland, Castro said:

• “A ranking system in the Open. So, basically, coming out of the Open, [athletes] would be ranked [according to your] ability is only to set you up for further events, so meaning like–this person is considered an intermediate athlete based off of whatever percentage realm we set in the Open.” 
• “And then what that really allows you to do is that all these other events, when they have an intermediate competition, or intermediate category, we have actually ranked you. So you know, sometimes you go to these events and you’ve heard about people who are advanced athletes competing in lower divisions, well now we can standardize that on our end and give people rankings. If you want to reset your ranking, well one year later you have another chance in the Open.”

Here’s what the CrossFit announcement said:

• “Competition levels will help athletes of every fitness and ability level find and compete against others of a similar level in CrossFit’s virtual competitions and other licensed competitions and events throughout the season.”
• “Levels create an opportunity for athletes at every stage of this journey — from first-time Open competitor to professional CrossFit athlete — to find and compete against others like them.”
• “Only athletes who participate in the 2022 Open will be eligible to receive a level in 2022. Following the close of the Open, all athletes who submit scores for every workout will automatically receive a level based on their overall performance. Levels will be displayed on each athlete’s profile. Dual-division athletes (age group athletes who are also participating in the individual divisions) will be awarded two levels: one within the individual division and one within their respective age division.”

The bottom line: All athletes who enter three scores in this Open will receive a “Level”. However the announcement was made after the deadline for competitors to submit their score for 22.1.