The 2021 CrossFit Open Leaderboard Explained

March 19, 2021

CrossFit

Here's how to interpret the official 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Open leaderboard.

The 2021 CrossFit Open Leaderboard looks different than in years past. This is because the changes to the season structure and the inclusion of the new foundations and equipment-free workout variations instigated changes in the way the leaderboard functions. In 2021, all athletes will be ranked according to their worldwide placement in each event and overall. 

Worldwide Placing

In 2021, when an athlete in the individual or age-group divisions navigates to the official CrossFit Open leaderboard, they will be able to view overall worldwide rankings and rankings for each separate workout for everyone on the roster until they filter by continent, hashtag, or workout variation.

Continental Leaderboard

Switching from the worldwide leaderboard to the continental leaderboard will show the athlete’s rank for their respective continent but the same worldwide workout ranks and point totals. 

Let’s say Athlete A sits in 100th place on the worldwide leaderboard with a total of 250 points. When filtered by their respective continent, Athlete A may jump up or down in placement, but their workout rankings and point totals will remain the same. 

Hashtag-Based Leaderboards

Think of hashtags as a filter on the worldwide leaderboard. CrossFit removes those who do not have the hashtag but otherwise leaves the worldwide overall and workout ranks unchanged. 

This means if Athlete A is placed higher than Athlete B on the worldwide leaderboard, and they identify with and filter the leaderboard using the same hashtag, Athlete A will still be higher than Athlete B. 

Age-Group Leaderboards

On the age-group leaderboards, athletes are only compared to other athletes from the same age group. Consequently, the age-group leaderboard ranks can deviate from the main individual men’s and women’s worldwide leaderboard ranks. 

Let’s say you have two athletes competing in the 35-39 age group. While Athlete A may be ahead of Athlete B on the individual worldwide leaderboard, Athlete B may take the lead when the roster is filtered for the 35-39 age group.

Equipment and Equipment-Free Workout Variations

Workouts with equipment and workouts without equipment cannot be easily compared. The workouts that require equipment (Rx’d/scaled/foundations) are on an entirely different leaderboard than workouts that don’t require equipment (equipment free).

Athletes are able to mix between equipment-free and equipped workout variations, but note that if they do, they’ll get the equivalent of a zero on the leaderboard for which they did not submit a score. 

Let’s say Athlete A did the first two Open workouts as Rx’d and the last one as equipment free. Athlete A will see scores for the first two workouts on the overall leaderboard and a (--) on the final workout. When Athlete A navigates to the equipment-free leaderboard, they will see a (--) on the first two workouts and a score for the final workout. 

Adaptive Athletes

Adaptive athletes are not combined with the non-adaptive population on the leaderboard, so adaptive athletes can compare their workout performances to those who are performing similar versions of the workout.

Each adaptive division hosts its own leaderboard. 

Teams

There are two types of teams in the 2021 Open: paid competitive teams (Affiliate Cup Teams) and free "for fun" teams (Affiliate Leaderboard).

Paid Competitive Teams

To advance in the season, an affiliate needs to create one or more Affiliate Cup teams. To create these teams, a person from the affiliate has to have completed team registration ($20 USD) and had their members actively choose to be on the team prior to the close of score submissions for Open Workout 21.1 (March 15, 2021, at 6 p.m. PT).

Free "For Fun" Teams

To play for fun, affiliate members can see how they're doing on the affiliate leaderboard. Each affiliate automatically gets one team named after the affiliate, and all the members of the affiliate are automatically added to its roster. The affiliate leaderboard can be ranked by five different scoring methods:

  • Top 2: Combines the scores of the top 2 men and top 2 women on the week’s workout. 
  • Top 4: Combines the scores of the top 4 men and top 4 women on the week’s workout. 
  • Top 10: Combines the scores of the top 10 men and top 10 women on the week’s workout. 
  • Full roster: The sum of all of the scores for all members of the affiliate. This ranking rewards participation.
  • Average: The average score across all members of the affiliate. This ranking rewards smaller affiliates.

Check out the official CrossFit Open leaderboard here