In 2020, close to 5,000 teenagers competed in the CrossFit Open. Some do it for fun, for the challenge, or to push themselves to be a little better than they were yesterday. Others do it for a chance to advance in the competition and compete on the big stage at the CrossFit Games.
Wherever you are in your CrossFit journey, the 2021 CrossFit Open is for you. This year’s competition is the most accessible to date, offering basic equipment and no-equipment options, Rx’d, scaled, and foundations versions of each workout, and for the first time including an adaptive athletes division that will give athletes with a variety of impairments a chance to compete against athletes with similar disabilities.
Teenage Athletes: How to Play
The CrossFit Open includes four teenage divisions: Boys and Girls 14-15, and Boys and Girls 16-17. Once you register for the Open, you’ll be placed in the appropriate division based on your birthday.
The Open competition kicks off on Thursday, March 11, at 5 p.m. PT, with the announcement of Open Event 21.1. Teenage athletes will compete in Open events specific to the teenage divisions. Scaled or foundations versions of the Open events will be provided, so every athlete can choose the workout most appropriate for their ability level.
Teenage athletes will be ranked among other athletes in their respective division on the official CrossFit Games Leaderboard.
The teenage athletes of the CrossFit community are the future — not only of the sport of CrossFit, but of the thriving community that exists today — and they showcase for their peers that a dedication to health and fitness can start at an early age.
Teenage Athletes: How to Advance
If your goal in the 2021 CrossFit Games season is to advance past the Open, here are a few key things to keep in mind.
Based on Open finish rank, the top 10 percent of teenage athletes worldwide in each age division will qualify to compete in the Age-Group Online Qualifier.
After the close of the Open, invitations will be sent out to those who have qualified to advance to the Age-Group Online Qualifier, and those athletes must complete registration for the Qualifier prior to submitting any scores. It is important to note that in order to qualify for the Age-Group Online Qualifier, teenage athletes must complete the version of each of the Open workouts that requires equipment. Most often, athletes who advance to the Age-Group Online Qualifier will also perform all of the Open workouts as Rx’d, although it is possible to qualify otherwise. As noted in the Rulebook, advancement to the Age-Group Online Qualifier is determined by placement on the overall CrossFit Games Leaderboard, where Rx’d event scores are ranked higher than scaled scores.
The Online Qualifier workouts will be released on Thursday, May 6, 2021, at 5 p.m. PT. Teenage athletes will have until Monday, May 10, 2021, at 5 p.m. PT, to submit their scores and any videos requested by CrossFit for these workouts. Please note that if an athlete does not perform any one workout at a CrossFit affiliate, they must submit a video of their performance to be judged and assigned a valid score by CrossFit.
At the start of the Online Qualifier, ranks will reset and each athlete will start with the same rank. At the close of the Online Qualifier, the top 20 boys and 20 girls in each age-group division will qualify to compete at the Games.
We’re nine weeks out from the start of the world’s largest participatory sporting event in history. The CrossFit Open unites hundreds of thousands of athletes from more than 150 countries in an all-inclusive competition that celebrates community, camaraderie, and fitness.
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