The 2025 CrossFit Games Season Rules Changes Would Have Made a Big Impact in 2023 and 2024
The 2025 CrossFit Games season has been announced, and among the many changes next year, the individual field size has been reduced from the traditional 40 athletes to 30.
The 2024 CrossFit Games Season
To see who the top 30 Semifinal athletes were from this past year, we created a combined leaderboard and ranked the scores in each event from all 277 men and 279 women.
Under the recent CrossFit Games qualification system, tickets were allocated to specific regions. If the 2025 rules were applied to the 2024 season, the CrossFit Games roster would have looked different in a few minor ways and one major way.
- On the men’s side, the combined Semifinals leaderboard places Tudor Magda (14th) and Seth Stovall (23rd) in the top 30 athletes, but they did not earn a Games ticket in 2024.
- On the women’s side, two women would have qualified who did not make the trip to Fort Worth, TX, in 2024: Anikha Greer (18th) and Ashleigh Wosny (28th).
And if the 2024 CrossFit Games operated under the new qualification rules, the third Fittest Women on Earth, Emily Rolfe, would’ve been watching from home.
The 2023 CrossFit Games Season
In 2023, we saw consistent programming across all the Semifinals and can use the full qualification test to determine the top athletes across the seven Semifinals.
Similar to 2024, Emily Rolfe was the top finisher at the CrossFit Games who landed outside the top 30 in a combined Semifinals leaderboard.
- In 2023, Rolfe finished 12th at the CrossFit Games, thanks in part to her event win in the “Cross Country 5K.”
Applying the 2025 Games qualification rules to 2023, three more European women would have made a trip to the Games.
No More Regions?
If CrossFit focuses on the top 30 men and women from their online Semifinal regardless of location, we could see a change in the location of CrossFit Games athletes.
- In both 2023 and 2024, all of the top 30 women on the combined Semifinal leaderboard were from North America, Europe, and Oceania.
The Big Picture: 2025 CrossFit Games Season Is Still Light On Details
The meat of the 2025 CrossFit Games season should come in early January when the rulebook is released.
While we would have missed two great performances by Emily Rolfe and Austin Hatfield’s stand-out rookie year, the majority of the top 20 would have been the same with the new rules or the old ones.
Conclusion
The 2025 CrossFit Games season is shaping up to be an exciting one, with changes to the qualification process and a reduced field size. While we would have missed a few great performances under the new rules, the majority of the top 20 would have remained the same.
FAQs
Q: What are the changes to the CrossFit Games qualification process for 2025?
A: The individual field size has been reduced from 40 athletes to 30, and the qualification process will focus on the top 30 men and women from the online Semifinal regardless of location.
Q: How would the 2024 CrossFit Games season have looked under the new qualification rules?
A: Tudor Magda and Seth Stovall would have qualified on the men’s side, and Anikha Greer and Ashleigh Wosny would have qualified on the women’s side.
Q: How would the 2023 CrossFit Games season have looked under the new qualification rules?
A: Three more European women would have qualified, and the majority of the top 20 would have remained the same.
