2025 CrossFit In-Affiliate Semifinals: Judging Rules and Location Requirements

The second phase of the 2025 CrossFit season has begun with the start of both the Age Group Semifinals and the first In-Person qualifying events.

The first weekend of Semifinals features the largest field:

Division	Dates	Count
Age Group	April 3-6	4,899
Teams	April 24-27	855
Individual	May 1-4	2,401
Adaptive	May 8-11	558

Note: These totals are based upon the CrossFit Games rulebook and the CrossFit In-Affiliate Semifinals resource hub. Per the rulebook, there is no plan to backfill beyond these numbers. 

2025 Location Requirement Changes

In previous years, the requirements for where the workouts were completed and the judges’ qualifications largely remained the same as those for the Open. 

• The athlete could perform the workouts anywhere; some programmed movements were better suited to an affiliate, such as 15-foot rope climbs and GHDs. However, being in an affiliate “in good standing” was not a requirement if you had a well-equipped barn or garage.

New location requirement for the 2025 season: Now, all athletes must compete at a CrossFit affiliate, which must be in good standing (meaning that it is current on its affiliation fees). This means they should be among the 9,877 affiliates listed on CrossFit’s Affiliate Map here (accessed on April 1, 2025).

2025 Judging Requirement Changes

In 2024, online Semifinal judges were required to pass that year’s judges’ course and be visible in the video submission for each workout.

This year, if athletes wish to set aside time from Friday to Sunday and have their friend or affiliate owner serve as their judge, they will need to recruit a few more people and probably verify their CrossFit certification status.

New judging requirements for the 2025 season: Athletes will require a Head Judge to be present and a Floor Judge to directly monitor their workout. 

• According to guidelines from CrossFit: “The Head Judge is expected to confirm that the information found in the workout descriptions documents is followed for each competing athlete. This includes overseeing that the correct setup, workout flow, and movement standards are observed.”

The guidelines continue: “If judges do not hold the required credentials, a zero score may be given to the athlete. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the athlete to ensure their judges hold the required credentials.”

Overall, a comparison of the changes in location and judging requirements between 2024 and 2025 is as follows:

Why This Matters

Flashback to last year around this time, when the Quarterfinal review was underway. In just one day, hundreds of athletes received penalties on Workout 1 for failing to achieve full extension at the top of the weighted box step-ups. 

The penalties affected top elite athletes like Pat Vellner, Paige Powers, and Sydney Wells, who recently discussed this on the Beat the Heat podcast alongside her sister Brooke. Although Brooke was also penalized, her penalty was less severe than Sydney’s, who fell below the cutline to qualify for the 2024 Semifinals.

• On the podcast, Brooke Wells stated, “If we had a judge in person and they said ‘no rep,’ we would fix it in the moment and get no more no reps… if we would have known in the moment, we would have fixed what we were doing.”

Since this stage of competition will send 11 men and women directly to the CrossFit Games, the Games Team has implemented these changes to prioritize judging and maintain proper movement standards.

While appointing a Head Judge for the online Semifinals may seem somewhat excessive, this individual plays a critical role in in-person events, and CrossFit aims to replicate that experience.

• According to CrossFit’s new “Advanced Judges Course,” one of the responsibilities includes ensuring that standards of competition are applied evenly across the field and offering on-field guidance to floor judges. 

In fact, an entire section of the “Advanced Judges Course” focuses on how head judges must oversee the floor judges to ensure that standards are upheld and inform them to “no-rep” or advise the athletes if they are “riding the line” of a movement standard.

Video Review

In the 2025 In-Affiliate Semifinals, all competing athletes must submit a public link (not private or unlisted) on YouTube; links from Vimeo or any other hosting sites will not be accepted.

Once the submission deadline for the division closes, a voting period will commence during which anyone who has completed the 2025 Judges Course may vote on whether the video fits into one of three categories:

1. Workout is Good
2. Needs Review
3. Submission Rejected

According to the CrossFit guidelines, “Videos that have received a significant number of ‘needs review’ votes may be reviewed by the CrossFit Games Team. Based on the outcome of these reviews, penalties may be issued following the criteria outlined in the workout descriptions document.”

• Worth noting: In previous years, a similar process was utilized for video reviews. However, the videos were not accessible to the public, and judges received compensation of up to $350 for their collaboration with the Games Team on the video review. 

A note regarding the Team Division: In the Team Division, athletes need a Head Judge and up to two Floor Judges per team. It is recommended that teams aspiring to qualify for the CrossFit Games submit videos, in accordance with CrossFit’s guidelines.  

Rule 2.11 lays out the video review for the Team Division and states: 

• “Team scores will be valid at the close of competition. CrossFit may request videos for review at its discretion. It is recommended that teams aspiring to qualify for the CrossFit Games have videos available should CrossFit request to review a score.”

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