In just a few months, the next CrossFit season will begin with the 2023 CrossFit Open launching on Feb. 16, 2023. Before the season begins, however, parts of its overall setup will be shifting around. On Oct. 11, 2022, through a press release, CrossFit HQ announced several new changes that will be implemented for the 2023 competitive season.
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Here’s an overview of what to expect from the changes to the 2023 CrossFit campaign.
New Competition Map
According to CrossFit HQ’s announcement, athletes will compete in regions based on their country of citizenship, starting with the CrossFit Open and carrying on through the Quarterfinals and Semifinals. Meanwhile, any Individuals or Teams in North America will be divided into regions in the East and West.
Here are the seven competitive regions around the world for 2023 CrossFit:
- North America West
- North America East
- South America
- Europe
- Asia
- Africa
- Oceania
The main purpose of these changes is to give the respective competitors an idea of the region and path they must choose to advance to the 2023 CrossFit Games in Madison, WI.
Standardized Programming
Every Semifinals competition will have standardized programming for any athletes who advance to the 2023 CrossFit Semifinals. This is a shift from the 2022 CrossFit Semifinals, which had just two standardized workouts. The same sentiment will apply to the rest of the CrossFit season, which will also be standardized.
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Quarterfinals
The only significant change to the Quarterfinals portion of the 2023 CrossFit season is that 2023 will have just two submission windows. The 2022 campaign had three submission windows. However, eligible athletes can choose which Quarterfinal they want to compete in.
Semifinals
Once in the Semifinals portion, there will be two Semifinals in North America, one in Europe, and other organizers for the regions left on the map. In total, there will be seven Semifinals with a “guaranteed” number of CrossFit Games berths.
Here’s how the qualifying spots will shake out according to CrossFit HQ’s announcement:
- The top 60 Individual Women’s athletes, the top 60 Individual Men’s athletes, and the top 40 Teams will compete at the North American East, North American West, and European Semifinals.
- The top 30 Individual Women’s athletes, Individual Men’s athletes, and the top 20 Teams will compete at each of the Semifinals in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and South America.
- The top 40 Individual Women’s athletes, Individual Men’s athletes, top 38 Teams, and the top 10 athletes in each Age Group will qualify for the 2023 CrossFit Games.
No More Last-Chance Qualifier
The Last-Chance Qualifier that determined any remaining entrants to the CrossFit Games will no longer be around in 2023. Instead, any remaining spots in the 2023 CrossFit Games will be determined by a ranking system from the Semifinals based on the strength of that competition’s field. At the time of this writing, there is no word on how a field’s strength will be calculated.
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Team Eligibility
As for the Teams during the 2023 CrossFit season, any athletes competing in the Teams category still need to participate as Individuals during the Open. When the Open concludes, Teams will choose groups of six people with four regulars and two alternates.
There will also be new eligibility requirements for Adaptive athletes, though those details are unavailable at the time of this article’s publication.
Even with these new changes across the board, the 2023 CrossFit season should be another doozy.
Featured image: @crossfitgames on Instagram
