The first week of the 2026 CrossFit Open, presented by Air National Guard, featured a pyramid-type rep scheme with some twists. The primary movements were box jump-overs and wall-ball shots, with medicine-ball box step-overs coming into play near the top of the pyramid. The wall-ball shots were done in a 20-30-40-66-40-30-20 rep scheme. These alternated with 18 reps of box jump-overs or medicine-ball box step-overs, for a total of 354 reps. The workout had a very aggressive 12-minute time cap, with fewer than 1% of the athletes finishing the Rx’d workout.
The workout had a total of 246 wall-ball shots, which is quite a bit more than the 150 reps in a benchmark like Karen, Morrison, or Open Workouts 12.4 or 13.3. The format rewarded athletes who were able to consistently perform big sets of this movement.
Since there were no high-skill movements or advanced loads in 26.1, the majority of athletes were able to attempt the Rx’d version. The squat portion of the wall-ball shot combined with the box jump-overs was a painful combination for the legs, due to the high reps with relatively light loading. There was nowhere to hide in this workout and a big part of an athlete's score came down to their ability to put their head down and power through the discomfort.
Participation by Country
Each year, we take a look at the 10 countries in the Open based on participation. Week by week we will see how these countries’ performances stack up against one another. The table below shows each country’s share of the total Open participation, as well as how much that share has changed compared to the 2025 CrossFit Open.
The United States saw a 2.69% decrease in their share, bringing it down to 39% of the field. The United Kingdom regained their No. 2 spot after losing it to France last year. Brazil is back up to fifth, after dropping from fourth to sixth in 2025. This bumped Canada down to sixth place. The rest of the top 10 stayed in their respective places.
For the first week of the Open, we see South Korea leading the pack once again with the highest Rx’d participation rate (90%). They were followed by Australia with 89% and France with 86%.
For 26.1, we are using the percentage of athletes with more than 268 reps (past the second set of 40 wall-all shots) as a measure of competitiveness. Based on this metric, the most competitive top countries are Spain with 8.7%, Australia with 7.2%, and Canada with 6.5%.
Workout Analysis by Division
In the 2026 Open, the majority of participants are once again in the masters divisions, with athletes over the age of 34 making up 59% of the field. This is up 2% compared to 2025. Individuals aged 18 to 34 now make up 39% and teens aged 14-17 account for the remaining 2%.
Similar to what we saw in 25.1, a larger share of men aged 18-34 performed 26.1 as Rx’d compared to women of the same age, with 92% and 78% choosing the Rx’d version, respectively.
Looking at the distribution of scores for the Rx’d version of the workout, we can see that the vast majority of athletes made it to the top section of the pyramid — the 66 wall-ball shots. That is where the largest cohort of both men and women were time-capped on this workout. A decent proportion of athletes made it past the peak, to the 18 box step-overs and second set of 40 wall-ball shots, but very few made it beyond that point.
Community Cup Tiers
Back for its second year, the Community Cup is a tier-based stage of competition that takes place in affiliates after the Open. Based on your overall level in the Open, you will be placed in one of five tiers (Pro, Advanced, Intermediate, Novice, and Rookie) and compete against other athletes in your tier. The table below will give you an idea of what tier your score on 26.1 would place you in.
See the Overview for more details.
Percentiles by Division and Version
Below are percentile tables for individuals, masters, and teenagers with details for each version of the workout. You can see the breakdown of how many reps it took to achieve a particular percentile. For example, for Rx’d Women aged 18-34, a score of 237 reps got you into the 75th percentile.
These percentiles are comparing you against your division and workout version, which is different from your overall division percentile (compared against all versions combined).
*The data used for this article is from the official CrossFit Open submissions.
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