Breaking down the 2023 CrossFit Competition Rulebook

As CrossFit Games format continues to evolve, understanding the rules and regulations continues to be essential for athletes who participate at all levels. Here’s you cheat sheet for understanding the rules set by HQ for the 2023 season:

The Open

The Open is the first stage of the CrossFit Games. It is a three-week, online competition where athletes from around the world can compete to qualify for the next stages of the competition. The Open consists of three workouts that are released one week at a time. The athletes must complete these workouts and submit their scores online before the deadline.

For more information about The Open, look at our previous blog post that covers all the details.

One of the more significant changes to The Open is in regards to the registration process. Athletes will be asked to register their competitive region based on their country of citizenship. The competitive regions are:

North America East
North America West
Europe
Oceania
Asia
South America
Africa

The athlete will remain assigned to this region throughout the competition season should they qualify for Semifinals.

One exception is that athletes with dual or multiple citizenships may choose which country they would like to represent.

Athletes holding permanent residency in a different country than where they hold citizenship will still compete for the country where they hold citizenship.

Divisions

There are 36 different competitive divisions based on the birthdate and gender selected by the athlete during registration. The divisions are as follows:

INDIVIDUALS:

Men and Women

AGE-GROUP:

Boys and Girls 14-15
Boys and Girls 16-17
Men and Women 35-39
Men and Women 40-44
Men and Women 45-49
Men and Women 50-54
Men and Women 55-59
Men and Women 60-64
Men and Women 65+

ADAPTIVE:

Men and Women Adaptive: Upper Extremity
Men and Women Adaptive: Lower Extremity
Men and Women Adaptive: Multi-Extremity
Men and Women Adaptive: Vision
Men and Women Adaptive: Short Stature
Men and Women Adaptive: Seated Athletes With Hip Function
Men and Women Adaptive: Seated Athletes Without Hip Function
Men and Women Adaptive: Intellectual

TEAM:

Team

In addition to moving on to Quarterfinals, cash prizes will also be awarded to the top worldwide individual men and women finishers at the end of The Open:

First Place: $15,000
Second Place: $10,000
Third Place: $7,500
Fourth Place: $6,000
Fifth Place: $5,000

The Leaderboard

The leaderboard is the online platform where athletes can submit their scores and track their progress throughout the competition. The leaderboard is updated in real-time and allows athletes to see how they rank compared to other athletes in their division.

At the conclusion of the Open, athletes who are ranked in the top 10% of the RX leaderboard in their region will qualify to compete in the Quarterfinal competition.

Following the Open, the top five men and five women from the Upper Extremity, Lower Extremity, and Multi-extremity divisions will advance to the Games to compete in person with a chance to win their division and be crowned champion

There are also scaled and foundations leaderboards, however there are no stages of competition following The Open. Athletes who are unable to perform an Open workout RX can do the scaled or foundations version of the test however a scaled test will be scored below all athletes who performed that test RX. A foundations test will be scored below athletes who performed the test scaled. Any score not submitted will receive a 0 and will be ranked below all athletes who have submitted a score.

Judging

In order for scores to be official on the leaderboard, the workout must be judged by an athlete that has passed the official Judges course, and then validated by an affiliate manager. Otherwise, workouts must be filmed and submitted to CrossFit HQ for online judging and validation.

Judges are responsible for enforcing movement and test standards, and for confirming the athlete’s score. Athletes will be asked to submit their judge’s name on the score submission page.

Scores must be submitted by 5 p.m. PT on the Monday following the workout announcement. Any score submission received after the deadline will not be accepted for any reason.

Affiliate managers have until Wednesday at 5 p.m. PT. to validate the submitted scores, otherwise it will be removed from the leaderboard.

Teams Division

The Teams Division is a separate competition (known as the Affiliate Cup) within the CrossFit Games that consists of teams of two men and two women. The teams compete in a series of events to determine the Fittest team on Earth. The teams must qualify for the competition through the Open.

The requirements for being on a team are:

Each athlete must be registered on the affiliate’s team roster following the Open.
Each athlete must submit a score for all of the Open tests.
Each Open test must be performed in the same physical location as the team’s affiliate.

Any athlete wishing to register a team or compete as part of a team must first register as an individual athlete and then be added to the team roster before the end of The Open. The athlete who registers the team will be designated as the team manager for the competition season and will be in charge of managing the roster and paying the registration fee.

Quarterfinals

The Quarterfinals is the second stage of the CrossFit Games. It is a four-day, online competition that takes place after the Open.The athletes must complete a series of 5 workouts that are released over the four days and submit their scores online.

The top 10% of athletes from each division (and the top 25% of teams), will be eligible to move on from The Open to the Quarterfinals. These athletes will be sent an invitation to participate in the Quarterfinal stage and have until the first score submission deadline to register. Declined invitations will not be backfilled to the next ranked athlete.

During this stage, scores will be submitted similarly as in The Open however athletes will be asked for video proof even if you have a judge to certify your workouts.

There will be 3 competition windows in which individual athletes will need to perform tests and submit scores (2 windows for teams and age groups). During the competition window, athletes will have 24 hours to complete the designated number of tests and submit scores (and videos) for each test.

Qualifying teams must finalize their roster and select 2-3 men and women should they advance to the next stage. Although athletes may choose to participate both as team or individual athletes, from this point on no changes can be made to the team roster.

Athletes can compete in any Quarterfinal that they qualify for meaning it’s possible to compete as an individual, on a team, and/or as a age group athlete.

For more information about Quarterfinals, check out our page here.

Semifinals

The Semifinals is the third stage of the CrossFit Games, and the final hurdle to qualify for The CrossFit Games. There will be 7 in-person, regional competitions that take place around the world over 3 consecutive weekends from May 14 – Jun 4, 2023.

Following the Quarterfinals, the top 60 individual athletes and top 40 teams will be invited to compete at the North America East, North America West, and Europe Semifinals. The top 30 individual athletes and top 20 teams will be invited to compete at each of the Africa, Asia, Oceania, and South America events.

For age groups (masters and teens), 30 men and 30 women from each age group from Quarterfinals will be invited to the online Age Group Semifinal.

CrossFit will organize the North American and Europe events while working with other entities for the Africa, Asia, and Oceania Semifinals. All workouts in the Semifinals will be programmed by CrossFit.

At the end of this stage, a minimum designated number of Games-qualifying spots will be awarded to each region with additional spots for the regions with a stronger field of competitors.

More details about Semifinals can be found here.

The CrossFit Games

The CrossFit Games is the final stage of competition and marks the end of the season. It is a 6-day, in-person event that takes place in Madison, WI from August 1-6. The top athletes from each division, including the Teams and the Age group divisions, compete in a series of tests to determine the fittest athletes and teams on earth.

The top five men and women from the Upper Extremity, Lower Extremity, and Multi-Extremity divisions will advance to the Games from the Open.

Athletes Competing in the 2023 CrossFit Games (Individual)

The following individual athletes have qualified for the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games and will compete in Madison, Wisconsin:

REGION	MEN	WOMEN
North America East	Jeffrey Adler Jayson Hopper Dallin Pepper Roman Khrennikov Samuel Cournoyer Will Moorad Noah Ohlsen Luke Parker Alex Vigneault Jack Farlow James Sprague Spencer Panchik	Emma Cary Danielle Brandon Amanda Barnhart Emma Lawson Alexis Raptis Paige Powers Sydney Wells Feerozeh Saghafi Shelby Neal Caroline Stanley Paige Semenza
North America West	Patrick Vellner Brent Fikowski Samuel Kwant Cole Greashaber Justin Medeiros Chandler Smith Nick Mathew Colten Mertens Cole Sager	Alex Gazan Katrin Davidsdottir Arielle Loewen Christine Kolenbrander Bethany Flores Emily Rolfe Olivia Kerstetter Abigail Domit Baylee Rayl Kelly Baker
Europe	Lazar Djukic Henrik Haapaleinen Moritz Fiebig Jelle Hoste Jonne Koski Uldis Upenieks David Shorunke Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson Bronislaw Olenkowicz Michal Wesolowski Fabian Beneito	Gabriela Migala Annie Thorisdottir Laura Horvath Emma Tall Karin Freyova Matilde Garnes Manon Angones Ella Wunger Elisa Fuliano Emma Mcquaid Rebecka Vitesson
Oceania	Jay Crouch Bayley Martin Jake Douglas	Ellie Turner Jamie Simmonds Emily De Rooy
South America	Kaique Cerveny Kalyan Souza	Victoria Campos Alexia Williams
Africa	Jason Smith	Michelle Basnett
Asia	Arthur Semenov Morteza Sedaghat	Seher Kaya Shahad Budebs