New partnerships imply no journey to the CrossFit Video games finale for some athletes.
Shortly after switching the placement of the 2024 CrossFit Video games from Madison, Wisconsin to Fort Value, Texas, CrossFit HQ has shifted gears but once more by making important modifications for the upcoming season. Nonetheless, in contrast to the choice to host the game’s preeminent occasion at Dickie’s Area subsequent yr, selecting to overtake the Adaptive and Age-Group divisions will seemingly be met with extra criticism than pleasure.
On Oct. 10, 2023, CrossFit HQ delivered a press launch detailing main modifications for the 2024 season.
“CrossFit is worked up to announce three new partnerships that may assist develop the CrossFit Video games championship competitors and create new alternatives to shine a highlight on athletes throughout all divisions. WheelWOD Video games, Pit Teen Throwdown, and Legends Championship will host the adaptive and age-group championships for the 2024 CrossFit Video games season.
The change will dramatically enhance the variety of masters and teenage athletes competing within the finals, almost double the variety of divisions for adaptive athletes, and provide an opportunity for CrossFit to evolve its competitors mannequin to make the CrossFit Video games internationally scalable sooner or later.”
Though the partnerships will give extra athletes an opportunity to take part, taking away the chance for rivals within the Adaptive and Age-Group divisions to share the identical stage as the highest Particular person and Workforce performers within the championship spherical represents an apparent disadvantage.
As a substitute, qualifying Masters athletes (ages 35-65+) will transfer via the web Quarterfinals and Semifinals earlier than advancing to the Legends Championship for an in-person Closing. Whereas the 2023 Legends Championship will happen in Tempe, Arizona from Dec. 7-10, it’s unclear if the 2024 version will occur in the identical location.
Athletes within the Teenagers division (ages 14-17) will observe the normal CrossFit Video games phases (Open, Quarterfinals, and Semifinals) earlier than wrapping up their season on the Pit Teen Throwdown. The 2024 version will nonetheless happen in Three Rivers, Michigan, which has hosted the annual health competitors for a number of years.
Per the CrossFit press launch: “The Pit Teen Throwdown provides a extremely aggressive area for world-class athletes to check their talent, energy, and stamina in opposition to their friends,” CrossFit HQ wrote within the press launch. “Huge names within the sport have competed within the Throwdown prior to now comparable to 2023 Rookie of the Yr Olivia Kerstetter and 2022’s second-Fittest Lady on Earth Mal O’Brien.”
The 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Video games, which occurred in August, topped a number of new champions within the Teen division, together with:
- Maria Granizo (14-15 Ladies)
- Jeremie Jourdan (14-15 Boys)
- Lucy McGonigle (16-17 Ladies)
- Ty Jenkins (16-17 Boys)
Transferring ahead, although, proficient children like Granizo and Jourdan must accept showcasing their energy, agility, and health on the Pit Teen Throwdown somewhat than at what must be a jam-packed Dickie’s Area.
In the meantime, your complete Adaptive athlete season can be run completely by WheelWOD, a corporation that brings greater than a decade of expertise internet hosting annual competitions. The brand new partnership won’t solely broaden the variety of aggressive divisions from eight to fifteen, however it’s going to additionally enable athletes from all 15 to have an opportunity to advance to the in-person ultimate.
The present Adaptive divisions embrace:
- Imaginative and prescient
- Mental
- Seated With Hip Operate
- Seated With out Hip Operate
- Quick Stature
- Multi Extremity
- Decrease Extremity
- Higher Extremity
Contemplating solely three divisions (Multi Extremity, Decrease Extremity, and Higher Extremity) moved on to the ultimate at the newest CrossFit Video games, the brand new format must be considered positively from a participation perspective — particularly with WheelWOD providing extra divisions comparable to Sensory (which incorporates each imaginative and prescient and listening to) and extra particular Higher and Decrease Extremity classes as outlined by an athlete’s “factors of contact” with their related limbs.
With the 2023 WheelWOD Video games going down in Raleigh, North Carolina from Nov. 30-Dec. 3, Adaptive athletes can get a touch of what subsequent yr’s competitors would possibly seem like. Nonetheless, CrossFit HQ stated the dates and site for 2024 can be shared at a later time.
Regardless of shifting instructions in such appreciable style, CrossFit Common Supervisor of Sport and Schooling Dave Castro believes the modifications “will profit every division in important methods, most significantly greater than doubling qualifying spots for masters and teenagers and permitting each adaptive division a spot on the in-person championship.”
Solely time will inform whether or not the athletes affected share the identical sentiment. Nonetheless, there’s little doubt that the 2024 CrossFit Video games will look fairly completely different, and after delivering substantial bulletins in successive months, don’t be shocked if extra modifications are unveiled transferring ahead.
Featured Picture: @crossfitgames / Instagram