The finals of the 2020 CrossFit Games begin tomorrow, and it is truly a wonder that they’re happening at all. In a year packed with tumultuous changes and so much uncertainty, the CrossFit community — athletes, staff, affiliates, and fans — has persevered and collectively manifested the Games that almost weren’t. And that’s something to celebrate.
So let’s take a look back at the year and see how we’ve made the very best of a challenging season.
The Open
The 2020 Open went off without a hitch. From Oct. 10, 2019, through Nov. 11, 2019, athletes took on one workout each week in their affiliates or home gyms, starting the season off with competition and camaraderie, oblivious to the big changes that were on the horizon.
Canadian Patrick Vellner topped the leaderboard for the men, while Icelandic Sara Sigmundsdottir took the overall win on the women’s side, and we looked ahead to the rest of the season.
Big Shifts
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, CrossFit encountered some major shifts.
CrossFit staff and community members were still reeling from changes that occurred after the Games in 2018 when the media team was dramatically reduced and the company seemed to shift its focus away from the sport. In the ensuing months, the Games qualification process was overhauled, Regionals were eliminated and replaced by CrossFit-sanctioned events around the world, and the CrossFit Open became a direct qualifier to the Games, sending the top 20 men and women to the world stage.
In February of 2020, CrossFit Director of Sport Dave Castro joined Julie Foucher on her podcast Pursuing Health to address the community’s reaction to the abrupt changes.
“I think people are resistant to change,” Castro said during the interview, “and I think people being more tolerant and accepting of change is a good thing. I think this forced all of us to learn how to deal with it, and people who weren't prepared for it, people in the community, staff, athletes — hey, this is life. You’re going to get handed things you don’t like to deal with and change you don’t want to deal with. And so, it was all a good lesson in life for so many of us.”
He couldn’t know then how relevant his statement would be in the coming months.
COVID-19
In March 2020, soon after CrossFit recognized the impending COVID-19 pandemic, the global health situation began to spin out of control.
As the pandemic spread, countries began to shut down, issue stay-at-home orders and social-distancing guidelines, forcing CrossFit affiliates around the world to close their doors and put their livelihoods at risk. Affiliate owners had to get creative to retain membership and fitness.
But if anyone’s familiar with the unknown and unknowable, it’s the CrossFit community, and many reinvented their businesses in real time to meet the challenge.
A lot of coaches and affiliates got crash courses in online video conferencing, like Zoom. They instructed athletes through workouts in their homes or garage gyms, got creative with odd objects, or used the unique circumstances as a chance to focus on body-weight movement. Aspiring athletes continued to train in pursuit of the 2020 Games, which at the time were still slated for early August in Madison, Wisconsin. And CrossFit organized an event called Support Your Local Box, a fundraiser to benefit the CrossFit affiliates affected by COVID-19 around the globe.
Slowly, mandated closures around the world started to be lifted. In affiliates that were given the go-ahead to reopen, owners, staff, and trainers worked diligently to keep their members safe, implementing new protocols around distancing, hygiene, and masks, like boxing off workout spaces to allow for distancing or taking workouts outdoors. Some prominent athletes even began sharing at-home workouts to keep the community motivated.
Age Group Division Canceled
While some boxes were able to reopen, it was clear by late spring that most large events would have to be canceled for months. Bowing to this new reality, CrossFit announced that the 2020 Games would not be held in Madison, Wisconsin, its home of the last three years, and the Age Group competition was canceled in early May. Many observers doubted that any in-person competition would be possible in 2020.
Though there was much disappointment at the cancellation, many athletes took the news in stride. Olivia Sulek, first in the Open in the Girls 16-17 Division, didn’t let the announcement or the quarantine stop her from working hard.
CrossFit looks forward to welcoming the Age Group Division back in 2021.
Inklings of a Plan
On May 18, 2020, CrossFit published this video of CrossFit Director of Sport Dave Castro enthusiastically talking about hosting the Games for the individuals at The Ranch in Aromas, California, the location of the first CrossFit Games in 2007.
“I think the majority of the fans will be very excited that we’re even delivering some sort of competition and entertainment,” Castro says.
As news spread that the Olympics and other major sports had decided to cancel their seasons, Castro addressed his feelings around the possibility of a similar cancellation in an interview on the podcast Talking Elite Fitness.
“I feel like canceling would be giving up,” Castro said. “I feel like canceling would be quitting, and I don’t like to quit, and I don’t like to give up.”
And so CrossFit didn’t cancel. The format of the Games would need to change, and the plans for the new format would have to be discussed with a new leadership team.
Entering a New Era
In June of 2020, a controversy engulfed the company around comments made by CrossFit Founder Greg Glassman, who subsequently decided to sell the company to tech executive and box owner Eric Roza. Roza made it clear from his first day that he planned to reenergize the global growth of the Games, aiming for half a million Open participants in 2021 and a future worldwide fan base of more than a billion people.
Game Time!
The 2020 Games would need to go through one more shift on the way to the championship, however, as Castro, General Manager of Sport Justin Bergh, and Roza decided that the original plan for a unified in-person finals in Aromas would need to be adjusted due to travel and safety considerations.
On Aug. 7, CrossFit announced a new two-stage competition format, combining an online first stage in athlete’s home gyms around the world from which the top finishers would progress to an in-person finals in Northern California.
The first stage of that new format took place from Sept. 18-19 with the 30 men and 30 women qualifiers competing for one of five slots for each division. Those 10 athletes were invited to compete in the in-person finals in Northern California beginning Friday, Oct. 23.
To protect the safety of the athletes and staff in the final stage, the CrossFit staff created new CrossFit Access Protocols, which lay out extensive measures to try to protect the athletes and staff during and after the competition. The CrossFit team has worked tirelessly to ensure a safe and exciting event for the finalists and fans of the 2020 CrossFit Games.
And it’s almost time. A culmination of hard work, perseverance, and relentlessness — by athletes, staff, and community alike — will take place in Northern California, and when it’s all over, the Fittest on Earth will be crowned and we’ll begin to look ahead to the 2021 season.
The CrossFit community is skilled in the art of dealing with the unknown and the unknowable. We will undoubtedly continue to rise to the challenges life presents, because we’ve come to learn that the obstacle is the way.
Get all the info on how to watch the finals here.