The 2025 CrossFit Games season is well underway, and as we close the book on this year’s Open, we’re getting a clearer picture of who is still in the chase to become the Fittest on Earth.
Rule 2.01 in the 2025 CrossFit Games Season Rulebook notes that after the Open concludes: “The top 1% (or a minimum of 1,200 athletes) in the Individual men and women divisions [based on worldwide ranking] will qualify to participate in Semifinals.”
- It’s important to note that the “top 1%” will be taken based on the number of athletes registered for the Individual Division at the close of 25.1.
Because neither division cleared the minimum threshold (although the men were very close), 1,200 men and 1,200 women are eligible to compete in the next stage.
For those athletes, there are two paths to the CrossFit Games: an In-Affiliate (virtual) Semifinal, run by CrossFit, and 10 In-Person Qualifying Events, run by outside organizers.
What You Need to Know
- 65.79% of men and 70% of women from the 2024 CrossFit Games are qualified for the second stage of the 2025 Games season.
- Notable athletes who aren’t moving on include: Michelle Basnett, Alessandra Pichelli, Guilherme Malheiros, and Sean Sweeney.
- In both the men’s and women’s fields, nearly half of the athletes who are moving on are from North America.
Who’s In?
Instead of listing all 1,200 athletes in each division, let’s start with a look from the perspective of competitive regions.
The competitive regions are mostly a thing of the past under the updated Games season structure (see below for some exceptions), but they do give a perspective on where the top athletes are located.
Men
| Region | Total Qualified for Semifinals | Top Ranked Athlete in Region (Worldwide) |
| North America West | 198 | 1st |
| North America East | 350 | 2nd |
| Oceania | 108 | 7th |
| Europe | 316 | 9th |
| Asia | 117 | 13th |
| South America | 99 | 36th |
| Africa | 12 | 525th |
Women
| Region | Total Qualified for Semifinals | Top Ranked Athlete in Region (Worldwide) |
| Europe | 310 | 1st |
| North America East | 334 | 2nd |
| Asia | 55 | 15th |
| North America West | 261 | 16th |
| Oceania | 140 | 20th |
| South America | 89 | 63rd |
| Africa | 11 | 331st |
In both the men’s and women’s fields, nearly half of the top 1,200 are from North America, the majority of which are from North America East.
- Only 12 men and 11 women from Africa remain in the top 1,200 and are eligible for the CrossFit Games through either the In-Affiliate Semifinal or In-Person Qualifier.
The top athletes from Africa are Michael van Tonder and Lani Venter from South Africa.
The Rebel Renegade Games in South Africa will allow athletes who are citizens of and residents of Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and the Gulf region to compete.
- The competition organizer, Tommo Thompson, told the Morning Chalk Up in an email that they made the decision to add the UAE and the Gulf region “as a way to strengthen the field and develop the sport in our regions.”
Adding UAE residents means that the top women’s qualifier to the Renegade Games is six-time Icelandic Games athlete Sara Sigmundsdottir, who also received a “Gold Ticket” invite prior to the end of the Open.
Sigmundsdottir, Toby Buckland (Open rank: 791st), and five-time Games athlete Lukas Höberg (1,284th) all accepted invitations to the Renegade Games and are residents of the Gulf region. Based on Höberg’s Open ranking outside the top 1,200, he will not be eligible to qualify for the CrossFit Games.
- Note: The Gulf region includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Athletes are included by citizenship or residency.
Three additional In-Person Qualifying Events — Copa Sur, the Syndicate Crown, and The Fittest Experience (TFX) — each have a residency component.
The Copa Sur competition rulebook states that “the top 30 women and top 30 men from the CrossFit Open leaderboard with South American citizenship will be eligible to sign up for the Copa Sur.”
- The Copa Sur top 30 is based on the competition’s own leaderboard on Competition Corner, which tracks athletes with South American citizenship who signed up specifically to compete for a spot.
- Nicolas Bedon is currently in first place over Agustin Richelme on that leaderboard, while the CrossFit Games South America leaderboard has Richelme in first and Bedon on the North America East leaderboard in 10th.
For Syndicate, the athletes must be in the top 20 of the North America East region, and for TFX, they must be in the top 33 of the North America West region.
- This means that, with TFX taking the top 33 in North America West, Alison Scudds will qualify for her eighth in-person regional/Semifinal in 10 years.
- The Syndicate Crown will take the top 20 North America East athletes, meaning Brooke Wells (8th) and Sydney Wells (11th) are in.
- However, seven-time Fittest on Earth Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, who is ranked 40th in North America East, will not qualify. Syndicate’s final 10 spots are going to North America East athletes who miss the cut for the In-Affiliate Semifinal.
Who’s Out?
I want to look at four categories to analyze the number of elite-level athletes who missed the cut at this point in the season:
- All Semifinalists from 2021-2024
- Semifinalists from 2024 only
- All Games athletes from 2021-2024
- Games athletes from 2024 only.
The charts below break each of these categories into three groups: Registered for the Open and qualified, Registered for the Open and did not qualify, and Did not Register for the Open.
Semifinals Athletes
2021-2024 Semifinals Athletes
| Division | Total | Registered and Qualified for 2025 Semis | Registered, Did Not Qualify | Did Not Register for the 2025 Open |
| M | 657 | 320 | 100 | 237 |
| F | 672 | 291 | 113 | 268 |
Examples from each group
Registered for the Open and Qualified: Mirjam Von Rohr won the Open for the second year in a row and qualified for Semifinals.
Registered for the Open, Did Not Qualify: Three-time Semifinalist Tayla Howe registered for the Open but did not submit a score for any of the three workouts and, therefore, does not qualify for the next stage of competition.
Did not Register for the Open: Emma Lawson did not register for the 2025 Open due to a back injury and will, therefore, be out for the remainder of the 2025 season.
2024 Semifinals Athletes
| Division | Total | Registered and Qualified for 2025 Semis | Registered, Did Not Qualify | Did Not Register for 2025 Open |
| M | 276 | 178 | 33 | 65 |
| F | 279 | 169 | 37 | 73 |
Games Athletes
2021-2024 Games Athletes
| Division | Total | Registered and Qualified for 2025 Semis | Registered, Did Not Qualify | Did Not Register for 2025 Open |
| M | 75 | 44 | 5 | 26 |
| F | 86 | 48 | 7 | 31 |
In total, 58.67% of men and 55.81% of women who competed at the Games between 2021 and 2024 and registered for the 2025 Open have qualified for the second stage.
The five men and seven women who registered for the Open but did not qualify are:
Women:
- Michelle Basnett – 1,225th
- Alessandra Pichelli – 1,326th
- Paige Powers – 4,379th
- Emilia Leppänen – 6,133rd
- Amanda Barnhart – 10,308th
- Ellie Turner – 90,924th
- Freya Moosbrugger – 90,924th
Men:
- Guilherme Malheiros – 1,561st
- Sean Sweeney – 1,631st
- Zach Watts – 3,197th
- Giorgos Karavis – 34,051st
- Ruan Potgieter – 113,223rd
2024 Games Athletes
| Division | Total | Registered and Qualified for 2025 Semis | Registered, Did Not Qualify | Did Not Register for 2025 Open |
| M | 38 | 25 | 2 | 11 |
| F | 40 | 28 | 0 | 12 |
In total, 65.79% of men and 70% of women from the 2024 CrossFit Games are qualified for the second stage of the 2025 Games season.
Only two athletes who registered for the Open did not qualify for the second stage. Potgieter is injured and did not submit any scores, and Gui Malheiros is focusing his season on the World Fitness Project Tour and placed 1,561st worldwide.
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Featured image: @ironandcastle / Instagram
