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Competitions

Is CrossFit’s Video Review Working? Questions Surround an Uncertain Process

April 29, 2024 by Nicky Freymond

Throughout a tumultuous and, for some, heartbreaking week, the 2024 CrossFit Quarterfinals leaderboards continued to shift as more and more athletes were hit with minor and major penalties. 

This development brought to mind the penalties given out in 2023 on the V sit-up workout (Individual Test 4), where 200 athletes’ scores were altered after the fact. This system is far from new — since the early days of the Open, video reviews have altered scores, dashed hopes, and changed the landscape of the sport’s leaderboards after these workouts have wrapped up. 

As of Sunday, April 28, CrossFit had administered 599 total penalties, with more rolling out into Monday. The list of previous Semifinal and Games athletes who are no longer eligible for the next stage of competition due to the scoring changes is long and full of well-known names. Some just barely fell under the cutline, while others dropped far below due to “major” penalties. 

One of the names on that list is four-time CrossFit Games athlete Camilla Salomonsson Hellman of Sweden, who posted about her situation on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Camilla Salomonsson Hellman (@camilla.salomonsson)

[Related: Was the 2024 CrossFit Quarterfinals Missing a Strength Test?]

The Details

On the morning of April 25, Hellman’s coach contacted her asking if she’d received any correspondence from CrossFit, as he noticed that her score had been adjusted. While she had been sleeping, she had gone from 13th in the European region to 80th, knocking her out of a qualifying spot for Semifinals. 

  • “It’s been going on and on in my mind since [Thursday] morning,” Hellman tells Morning Chalk Up. “My coach saw that I had received a huge penalty on the first workout. We both watched the video, and we couldn’t guess what it could be.” 
  • “I started my [Thursday] morning by being ashamed and not knowing why and what I should be ashamed of,” Hellman says. 

After speaking to her coach, Hellman checked her email and found a message from CrossFit notifying her of the penalty. The email outlined that her score had been modified because she had reps on the box step-ups that didn’t meet the standards.

  • “You had a significant number of reps where you failed to reach a position on the top of the box with your hip and both knees fully extended,” CrossFit explained in their email.

The email gave instructions on how to appeal the decision, which involved filling out a Google Doc. Hellman did this, pleading for them to take a closer look, asking exactly how many reps failed to meet the standard. Ultimately, she hoped for an answer as to why her penalty was deemed “major.” 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Camilla Salomonsson Hellman (@camilla.salomonsson)

[Related: Of Moms and Masters Athletes: 6 Inspiring Women Who Just (Unofficially) Qualified for the CrossFit Semifinals]

Shortly after, Hellman received a response from CrossFit that her appeal was denied. An explanation was given that there were a “significant number” of reps where her hips were not extended, reminding Hellman of box step-up standards. There was no mention of how many reps were questionable, deeming the penalty “major.” 

  • “I was one of the first penalized. And the percentages and penalties for everyone are all so different, ” Hellman says. “Some people are penalized by 10 percent, some people by 20 percent or more. But none of us knows why, how many reps were no-reps, or how they decided on if something was a minor or major penalty.”

Besides the argument of whether or not these no-reps are actual no-reps, Hellman sees CrossFit’s ambiguity between how a “major” penalty differs from a “minor” penalty as the largest frustration at this point. 

Minor vs. Major Penalties, According to CrossFit

In the 2024 CrossFit Games Rulebook, there is no defined number of reps differentiating the two classifications. For a “major” penalty, athletes can expect to have scores modified anywhere from 15 percent up to a whopping 40 percent.

The following excerpts are from section “2.08 – Quarterfinals – Video Review” (pages 16-17):

  • “At the conclusion of the competition, CrossFit will select one workout to review. If more review is required for an athlete, CrossFit may elect to review another workout.”
  • “All submitted videos are subject to review. Any video that is reviewed will be either validated, modified, or invalidated. The same scoring protocol from the regular Open video review process will be applied to this video review process. See section 1.22 for more information on the scoring protocol and outcomes.”
  • “If an athlete or team’s score is modified, the athlete’s or team’s overall rank will be recalculated with this new score. If the athlete or team remains ranked in a high-enough position following this recalculation, the athlete or team may receive an invitation to a Semifinal competition.”

It’s important to note that the above sections reference the review standards for Open videos found in section “1.22 – Open Workouts – Video Submissions – Scoring Protocol.” The rulebook defines the two types of penalties (page 11) as:

  • “Valid With Minor Penalty: Over the course of the video, the athlete demonstrates a small number of no reps that result in a faster time or higher score for a given workout. A minor penalty will be applied, and a score adjustment will be made to the athlete’s final score. If the score is posted in the form of a time, the total time to complete the workout will be adjusted accordingly.*”
  • “Valid With Major Penalty: Over the course of the video, the athlete demonstrates a significant number of no reps that result in a faster time or higher score for a given workout. In this case, a major penalty will be applied, and the score may be modified by subtracting between 15% and 40% from the total rep count. If the score is posted in the form of a time, the total time to complete the workout will be adjusted accordingly.”

The bottom line is that the penalties given by CrossFit are up to the judging team’s discretion.

The Community Reacts

Some athletes, in recent days, have questioned whether or not there is a definite and objective method in determining how much of a penalty is given. 

With a review process that one can hope is consistent and fair, some athletes have also wondered if the omission of a floor plan (and no guidance on where to place the camera) allows CrossFit HQ to judge videos equitably. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kelly Stone, DPT, CSCS, Pn1 (@kellstone35)

[Related: Interview: Andrea Nisler Talks About Qualifying for Semifinals 6 Weeks After Giving Birth]

Kelly Stone, a three-time CrossFit Games athlete, was one of many affected who chimed in on social media.

  • “The CrossFit organization is in dire need of change,” Stone wrote. “Its haphazard nature of violently shifting from not upholding ANY standard to fixating on the most minute detail of one particular movement in [Quarterfinals] is one of many issues that negatively impact current athletes & reflect poorly on our sport.”

Stone noted that she dropped from 24th to 582nd in North America after the video reviews.

Mike Halpin of Known Knowable, a Morning Chalk Up contributor and coach at CrossFit Fairfield, has been collecting data on which athletes were penalized, by how many reps, by how much of a percentage, and how far they have fallen on the leaderboard. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Known & Knowable (@known_knowable)

[Related: 4 Morning Chalk Up Writers Took on the 2024 CrossFit Games Quarterfinals — Here Are Their Reactions]

Halpin shared his frustration on behalf of the athletes in a social media post on Friday. 

  • “I would like someone at CrossFit HQ, in an appeal response, to justify that some athletes received a major penalty at 15-20% and other athletes received a major penalty at over 20%. If the reps can’t all be counted, shouldn’t a static (percent) be applied? But that’s not what’s occurring,” Halpin wrote. 

The Bottom Line

The community is still abuzz regarding the harshness of the penalties given after seasons that appeared relatively lax. 

While an online portion of the CrossFit season is necessary to cull the giant, worldwide field, could there be a better way to review and validate athletes’ performances?

Some might argue that video review is, in fact, working. It is designed to ensure that the athletes moving on to the next round complete the Quarterfinals workouts according to standards that CrossFit’s judging team laid out and then reviewed through video submission. That perspective has its place in this discussion as well.  

It must be stated that CrossFit’s ultimate goal is to provide fair tests with universal standards and to filter the fittest athletes from one stage to the next. 

Given the events of the past few days, though, whether or not we will see the 40 fittest men and women from each region compete at Semifinals has become a valid question. Did this video review process allow a few of the fittest to slip between the cracks?  

Featured image: Ava Kitzi 

BarBend

BarBend is an independent website. The views expressed on this site may come from individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the view of BarBend or any other organization. BarBend is the Official Media Partner of USA Weightlifting.

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