What are Open Games?

If you practice CrossFit Or you are a little involved in the fitness world, surely you have ever heard of the Crossfit Open Games. However, despite being worldwide, many people are not clear about their operation, their structure or - even more important - if they can participate and challenge the most recognized athletes. Don't worry. You are in the right place to discover everything that encompasses and how the "Olympics" of this sport that increasingly attracts more people has emerged. We will take a tour of the story of Crossfit Open and the Crossfit Games, and At the end of the article you can read the novelties that bring us this year 2021, in which the format has been adapted. Let's go to it! The CrossFit Open Games They are a qualifying phase for the next step: the regionals. The CrossFit Open Games are A 5 -week challenge, with a training per week. Each training is announced on Thursday and has until Monday to deliver the score. All 14 years old can register in the Open, without requirements, and must do the same training.

 

A brief tour of the history of the Open CrossFit Games

However, to better understand what the Open of CrossFit We have to take a tour over the years. From the moment the CrossFit Games with tan Only a few participants to what we know today.

Early years of CrossFit Games

The CrossFit Games were born in 2007 by Greg Glassman, founder of the brand CrossFit® and Dave Castro, an ex-Navy Seal that maintains the position of director of the competition since its inauguration. Hence the nature of CrossFit It was a high intensity training aimed at military, firefighters, police and other security and defense bodies but, finally, ended up attracting adherents around the world. The first time the CrossFit Games was June 30, 2007 and took place in the family ranch of Dave Castro located in California. At that time, athletes who would like to participate only had to move to the place to register, be of legal age and be associated with the brand's gyms CrossFit. This first edition housed, tan Solo, to 60 athletes and the award was 500 dollars. During the first two years many people began to echo this competition and, due to the hundreds of participation requests, the organization was forced to create a previous phase where registered should be previously classified if they wanted to compete in the final event of the CrossFit Games This is how in 2009 the regionals of the CrossFit Games At that time the category by teams that had to be composed of four members, two men and two women was also created.

Open of CrossFit, The Masters and Reebok entrance

In 2010 the competition had spread at the world levelL And, again, the organization had to make changes. Thus emerged a new classification called the Open of CrossFit. The Open of CrossFit They consisted of one Classification by countries where athletes had to send their results in online video or through the verification of a license coach CrossFit, In order to achieve Regionals and be the best of the 17 regions - 12 of them distributed between the US and Canada, and the remaining 5 distributed by the rest of the continents. In addition, due to the growing number of participants, the competition was transferred to Home Depot Center - Currently known as Dignity Health Sports Park-. It also had to be modified in number of team members, going from four to six. On the other hand, The Masters category was created, which understood men and women from 55 years. In this way the competition was balanced in terms of physical conditions due to the age difference with the youngest. Year after year, the competition was becoming more popular not only among athletes, but also among brands. Such was the success that, In 2011, the Reebok brand became the official sponsor of the CrossFit Games. With this entry, the awards began to have a value 10 times higher.

Open crossfit Games

There were no more doubts. This "new" sport reaped successes and managed to position itself.

The Regional and Sanctionals

In 2015, the classification system suffered changes again and the Super Regional or The Regionals. Eight regional events were formed - instead of 17-. They were classified for the Super Regionals, 20 women, 20 men and 30 mixed teams per region, to fight for a position in the final event of the CrossFit Games where a total of 40 women, 40 men and 40 mixed teams participated. In 2017, the location was changed again and moved to Alliant Energy Center Sports Complex, located in Wisconsin.

crossfit Open Games

In 2018, The organization made the decision of Delete the regionals Due to the excessive economic investment it supposed. However, the founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman reported that he would begin to collaborate in independent competitions that would directly catapult the classification of the CrossFit Games to the winners. This is how the Sanctinad Events or Sanctionals.

Coronavirus, controversy with Reebok and CrossFit Games 2020

In 2020, due to a controversial Tweet published by Greg Glassman, creator of the brand CrossFit, Reebok decided to break the negotiation unilaterally Contract with the training program which expired at the end of 2020, and hundreds of affiliated gyms were disconnected from the brand. The CrossFit Games 2020 were in danger. They lost sponsors and many athletes rejected assistance to the championship. As a consequence, Dave Castro, until now co-director of training, became CEO of CrossFit and the CrossFit Games were saved. June 24, Eric Roza bought the company And it became the new CEO. Thus, after the world coronavirus pandemic, the CrossFit Game underwent changes again. They were delayed until October 23, turned to Dave Castro's ranch and the public was suppressed.

CrossFit Open Games 2021

2020 was a turning point in the CrossFit Games as we knew them so far, and has caused us to see changes for the edition of CrossFit Games 2021.

Changes in the CrossFit Open 2021

He world registration began the past January 7 And for the first time the option of gift codes is included to pay the rate of a friend or family, available in Gamescrossfit .com. The CrossFit Open 2021 start on March 11 And they will have one Duration of 3 weeks, instead of 5 as until now. Another novelty is that WOD can be done at box or home. This makes the CRossfit Open Games 2021 The most accessible in history. You can participate both with equipment and without equipment. If you choose the equipment option you will need:
  • A Dumbbell
  • A bar and discs
  • A drawer
  • A Rope
  • A PULL UPS bar
Other novelties that are introduced in this edition are the following:
  1. Winning the Open no longer implies having a direct place for CrossFit Games The OPEN will be classified for sanctified/regional events.
  2. The National Champions disappear.
  3. A protocol will be established where each athlete will have its competition zone.
  4. The concept of quarterfinals worldwide is created. These rooms will include 10% of Open athletes competing from their box.
  5. There will be diez semifinal events in person organized by partners of CrossFit on six continents, which guarantees that at least one athlete of each continent qualifies for the Games. Each event will operate under strict security protocols, including contingency plans for online competition, according to local conditions and restrictions.
  6. A classification phase (REPERSCA) is also created for athletes who stayed at the gates of moving to the next phase in the semifinals, thus giving one more opportunity to those great athletes who did not have the best luck that day.
  7. This year, the CrossFit Games 2021 will be held in Madison The week of the July 26 , both for athletes and for teams that have classifiedeither. Depending on the health situation on that date, the possibility of doing it online could be considered.
  8. The Affiliate Cup in which members of affiliates who will compete with each other worldwide participate . Likewise, the teams can classify for quarterfinals, semifinal and Games.
  9. In addition to the divisions of masters and adolescents, a New Adaptive Division (Adaptive) to ensure that all members of the community of CrossFit Have the opportunity to compete and win.

When are Open 2021 celebrated?

The scheduled calendar for Open 2021 is as follows: From March 11 to 29: Open CrossFit Games Open them CrossFit Games will be held from March 11 to 29. Open WODS have not yet been published but will be accessible through the Official page of the CrossFit Games. In April: Finals Ten percent of OPEN individual athletes advance to the second stage of competition, the quarterfinals. Qualified athletes will compete in this online competition during the course of a weekend to have the opportunity to advance to the next stage, the semifinals. From May to June: Semifinals - Sanctionals The athletes that qualify for the semifinals will be invited to one of the 10 face -to -face events on six continents, ensuring that at least one athlete of each continent qualify for the games. The semifinals will take place from May 24 to June 14, 2021. Week of July 26: late CrossFit Games There is still a lot of information to confirm, since the organization has not given more data than those mentioned. We will have to be attentive to the official website of the CrossFit Games to see all the news of this edition.

How are the 2021 sanctionals?

After the Open CrossFit Games, as we have seen, They stop granting direct place to CrossFit Games, is passed to the phase of the Sanctioned Eves that will be the following:
  • 5 events in North America where 15 athletes will be classified, 5 for each event.
  • 3 events in Europe, of which 15 classified, 5 for each event will be.
  • 1 test in Australia and another in South America, each with three classified respectively.
  • 1 event in Asia and another in Africa, from which a classified of each will come out.

Calendar of the season of CrossFit 2021

Date Event Location (format)
January 7 Registration begins Gamescrossfit.com
March 8 Open - Week 1 Local gyms, athlete households (online)
March 15 week Open - Week 2 Local gyms, athlete households (online)
March 22 week Open - Week 3 Local gyms, athlete households (online)
April 5 Final - Individual quarterfinals Local gyms (online)
April 19 week Finals - Teams Local gyms (online)
May 3 Week Masters / Teens qualifier Local gyms (online)
MAY 24 WEEK Semifinals - Week 1 Worldwide (online)
May 31 week Semifinals - Week 2 Worldwide (online)
June 7 week Semifinals - Week 3 Worldwide (online)
June 14 week Semifinals - Week 4 Worldwide (online)
June 28 week Last chance qualifier Local gyms (online)
July 26 Ends of CrossFit Games Madison, Wisconsin (in person *)
* With online contingency plan, if necessary.

How to sign up for the Open of CrossFit?

If you are one of the brave who wants to compete in this edition of the Open CrossFit Games 2021 follows the following steps:
  1. Through the web Opencrossfit.com You can register, complete your profile and start competing.
  2. The web provides you with the command box to start your workouts for the Affiliate or your account program.
  3. In the same space you can raise the results and see how it was compared to the rest in the classification tables.

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