CrossFit Open
/ ˈkrɒsfɪt ˈoʊpən / · proper noun
Also: CFG Open, The Open, Worldwide Open
The first stage of the CrossFit Games season, an open online competition in which any registered athlete worldwide completes the same 3-4 weekly workouts and submits scores via video or affiliate validation. Top scorers globally and within age/region brackets advance to the Quarterfinals.
Format
- Duration: 3 weeks (typically late February through mid-March)
- Workouts: 3 to 4 (one workout per week, sometimes a final repeat workout)
- Submission: athletes complete each workout at their CrossFit affiliate gym (or anywhere if videoed) within a 4-day window per workout
- Scoring: reps, time, or weight depending on workout: submitted via the games.crossfit.com platform
- Field size: ~250,000-350,000 athletes registered globally (down from ~415k peak in 2020)
Divisions
- Individual Men / Individual Women: open to all ages
- Age groups: 14-15, 16-17, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65+ (men and women)
- Adaptive divisions: 8 categories (upper extremity, lower extremity, neuromuscular, vision, etc.)
- Teams: open team category; advancement through Quarterfinals as a 4-person team
Pathway to the Games
- The Open (3 weeks, all athletes) → top 25% advance regardless of age
- Quarterfinals (online, 1 weekend, top 25% from Open) → top scorers per region advance
- Semifinals (in-person, by region, ~30 athletes per region) → top 5 advance
- CrossFit Games (in-person, ~40 individual athletes) → world champion crowned
Why it matters culturally
The Open is the most-participated competitive fitness event in the world. For ~3 weeks every year, hundreds of thousands of athletes do the same workout in their local gym and compare scores globally. This creates an annual "season" structure that has shaped the broader fitness culture: including HYROX, which adopted similar season-and-Major-event structuring.
Workout patterns
Open workouts typically include:
- 1-2 high-skill movements (muscle-ups, handstand push-ups, double-unders)
- 1 weightlifting movement (snatch, clean-and-jerk, deadlift, thruster)
- 1 cardio component (rowing, biking, running, burpees)
- Time domain typically 8-20 minutes
Scaled vs Rx
- Rx (prescribed): the workout as written: the only path to advance to Quarterfinals
- Scaled: reduced loads and modified movements; ranks separately, no advancement
- Foundations (since 2024): further-modified entry-level scaling for athletes new to CrossFit
For hybrid athletes
The Open serves as an annual benchmark even for athletes whose primary sport isn't CrossFit. HYROX athletes commonly compete in the Open as cross-training and to test high-skill capacity. The 3-week structure is short enough to drop into a hybrid program without major disruption. Top hybrid athletes routinely place in the top 10-25% of the Open while maintaining HYROX-specific training.