Oh Hey There Second Place

Who you calling second place?

The competition down under, which just wrapped up yesterday, highlighted one of the challenges whenever a sport introduces significant changes — confusion.

The confusion in this case surrounds who gets invited to compete at the CrossFit Games. Sam Briggs, who won the Australian CrossFit Championship, already has an invite from winning the first Sanctional in Dubai. So what happens here?

Well. I’m waiting.

According to the rulebook, if an athlete wins multiple sanctioned events — like Sam — then it’s the second place athletes from the most recent Sanctional event.

Directly from the rulebook (Section 4.04):

“Should the winner of a Sanctionals competition qualify for or receive an invitation to the Games by another means, the second-place athlete/team from that Sanctionals competition will receive the invitation to compete at the Games. This backfill process will continue if the second-place athlete/team has already qualified, received an invitation, and so on.

This backfill process also will follow the chronological sequence of the Sanctionals. For example, if an athlete wins multiple Sanctionals, CrossFit Inc. will backfill to the second-place athlete from the second Sanctionals win, not the first.”

But wait, there’s more.

If Sam were to qualify for the Games by being National Champion or top 20 in the Open worldwide, then her invite from Dubai would pass onto the second place athlete from Dubai — Jamie Greene.

If Jamie has already qualified for the Games, then it’s passed down to the next, then the next until they’ve filled the position.

Whew, that’s a lot.

It is a lot, but it’s a lot more confusing this season because the Open is happening smack dab in the middle of the season. For the 2020 Games season, everything kicks off with the Open so things like National Champions and top 20 — if they choose to keep that around — will already be set prior to any sanctioned events.

Oh yeah, and if you have other questions on the rulebook, chances are we’ve answered them in this helpful guide.