2020 Media Guidelines

There are two main pathways competitors can take to get to the Games: the Open and Sanctionals. The 2020 CrossFit Games Season underwent several unforeseen changes, which ultimately led to this year's unique competition format.

The Open

The 2020 worldwide Open was held in October 2019. The Open is a community-driven, five-week competition. The top ranked competitors in a number of categories advance to the Games. 

Those who advance past the Open fit into one of the following categories: National Champions, top 20 men and women on the worldwide leaderboard, or Age Group Online Qualifiers.

National Champions—one man and one woman—are crowned in each country with a CrossFit affiliate, and will advance directly to the Games. 

The top 200 men and women in each age division advance from the Open to the AGOQ, which will send the top 10 from each age group to the Games. However, it was announced in April that the 2020 season for the AGOQ competitors would conclude after the completion of the 2020 Qualifier, which was interrupted for many by lockdowns and restrictions due to Covid-19. The AGOQ competition will reset at the start of the 2021 CrossFit Games Season. 

Sanctionals

Hosted around the world, Sanctional competitions name the top man, woman, and team. Sanctional winners received an invite to the Games. Sanctionals are the only way for teams (2 men + 2 women) to earn invitations to compete at the Games in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2020, due to restrictions on social gatherings, the team competition has been eliminated and will resume in 2021. 

 

Cash prizes will be awarded to the top performers. All cash prizes will be paid in U.S. dollars and are as follows: 

First Place: $300,000

Second Place: $115,000

Third Place: $75,000

Fourth Place: $50,000

Fifth Through Eighth Place: $35,000, $30,000, $27,000 and $25,000, respectively.

Ninth Through 20th Place: $23,000, $21,000, $18,000, $16,000, $15,000, $14,000, $13,000, $12,000, $11,000, $10,000, $9,000 and $8,000, respectively.

Top Finish by Event: 
First Place: $3,000
Second Place: $2,000
Third Place: $1,000

2007

Men: James FitzGerald (Canada)

Women: Jolie Gentry (now Jolie Gentry Macias) (USA)

Team: CrossFit Santa Cruz (USA)

 

2008

Men: Jason Khalipa (USA)

Women: Caity Matter (now Caity Henniger) (USA)

Team: CrossFit Oakland (USA)

 

2009

Men: Mikko Salo (Finland)

Women: Tanya Wagner (USA)

Team: Northwest CrossFit (USA)

 

2010

Men: Graham Holmberg (USA)

Women: Kristan Clever (USA)

Team: CrossFit Fort Vancouver (USA)

Masters Men: Brian Curley (USA) 

Masters Women: Laurie Carver (USA)

 

2011

Men: Rich Froning (USA)

Women: Annie Thorisdottir (Iceland)

Team: CrossFit New England (USA)

Masters Men 45-49: Scott DeTore (USA)

Masters Women 45-49: Susan Habbe (USA)

Masters Men 50-54: Gord Mackinnon (Canada)

Masters Women 50-54: Mary Beth Litsheim (USA)

Masters Men 55-59: Steve Anderson (USA)

Masters Women 55-59: Shelley Noyce (USA)

Masters Men 60+: Greg Walker (USA)

Masters Women 60+: Betsy Finley (USA)

 

2012

Men: Rich Froning (USA)

Women: Annie Thorisdottir (Iceland)

Team: Hack’s Pack Ute (USA)

Masters Men 45-49: Gene LaMonica (USA)

Masters Women 45-49: Lisa Mikkelsen (USA)

Masters Men 50-54: Gord Mackinnon (Canada)

Masters Women 50-54: Susan Habbe (USA)

Masters Men 55-59: Tim Anderson (USA)

Masters Women 55-59: Marnel King (USA)

Masters Men 60+: Scott Olson (USA)

Masters Women 60+: Mary Schwing (USA)

 

2013

Men: Rich Froning (USA)

Women: Sam Briggs (U.K.)

Team: Hack’s Pack Ute (USA)

Masters Men 40-44: Michael Moseley (USA)

Masters Women 40-44: Amanda Allen (Australia)

Masters Men 45-49: Ron Ortiz (USA)

Masters Women 45-49: Lisa Mikkelsen (USA)

Masters Men 50-54: Craig Howard (USA)

Masters Women 50-54: Colleen Fahey (USA)

Masters Men 55-59: Hilmar Hardarson (Iceland)

Masters Women 55-59: Gabriele Schlicht (USA)

Masters Men 60+: Scott Olson (USA)

Masters Women 60+: Sharon Lapkoff (USA)

 

2014

Men: Rich Froning (USA)

Women: Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (Canada)

Team: CrossFit Invictus (USA)

Masters Men 40-44: Shawn Ramirez (USA)

Masters Women 40-44: Amanda Allen (Australia)

Masters Men 45-49: Jerry Hill (USA)

Masters Women 45-49: Kim Holway (USA)

Masters Men 50-54: Will Powell (USA)

Masters Women 50-54: Mary Beth Litsheim (USA)

Masters Men: 55-59: Steve Hamming (USA)

Masters Women 55-59: Susan Clarke (Canada)

Masters Men 60+: Scott Olson (USA)

Masters Women 60+: Karen Wattier (USA)

 

2015

Men: Ben Smith (USA)

Women: Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (Iceland)

Team: CrossFit Mayhem Freedom (USA)

Teenage Boys 14-15: Angelo DiCicco (USA)

Teenage Girls 14-15: Sydney Sullivan (USA)

Teenage Boys 16-17: Nicholas Paladino (USA)

Teenage Girls 16-17: Isabella Vallejo (Australia)

Masters Men 40-44: Shawn Ramirez (USA)

Masters Women 40-44: Janet Black (USA)

Masters Men 45-49: Matthew Swift (Australia)

Masters Women 45-49: Kylie Massi (Australia)

Masters Men 50-54: Joe Ames (USA)

Masters Women 50-54: Cindy Kelley (USA)

Masters Men: 55-59: Will Powell (USA)

Masters Women 55-59: Susan Clarke (Canada)

Masters Men 60+: Steve Pollini (USA)

Masters Women 60+: Rosalie Glenn (USA)

 

2016

Men: Mathew Fraser (USA)

Women: Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (Iceland)

Team: CrossFit Mayhem (USA)

Teenage Boys 14-15: Vincent Ramirez (USA)

Teenage Girls 14-15: Kaela Stephano (USA)

Teenage Boys 16-17: Nicholas Paladino (USA)

Teenage Girls 16-17: Allison Weiss (USA)

Masters Men 40-44: Shawn Ramirez (USA)

Masters Women 40-44: Helen Harding (Australia)

Masters Men 45-49: Ron Mathews (USA)

Masters Women 45-49: Cheryl Brost (USA)

Masters Men 50-54: Ron Ortiz (USA)

Masters Women 50-54: Shellie Edington (USA)

Masters Men: 55-59: Will Powell (USA)

Masters Women 55-59: Mary Beth Prodromides (USA)

Masters Men 60+: David Hippensteel (USA)

Masters Women 60+: Shaun Havard (USA)

 

2017

Men: Mathew Fraser (USA)

Women: Tia-Clair Toomey (Australia)

Team: Wasatch CrossFit (USA)

Teenage Boys 14-15: Dallin Pepper (USA)

Teenage Girls 14-15: Chloe Smith (USA)

Teenage Boys 16-17: Angelo DiCicco (USA)

Teenage Girls 16-17: Kaela Stephano (USA)

Masters Men 35-39: Kyle Kasperbauer (USA)

Masters Women 35-39: Stephanie Roy (Canada)

Masters Men 40-44: Shawn Ramirez (USA)

Masters Women 40-44: Helen Harding (Australia)

Masters Men 45-49: Robert Davis (USA)

Masters Women 45-49: Cheryl Brost (USA)

Masters Men 50-54: Kevin Koester (USA)

Masters Women 50-54: Marion Valkenburg (Netherlands)

Masters Men: 55-59: Shannon Aiken (USA)

Masters Women 55-59: Susan Clarke (Canada)

Masters Men 60+: David Hippensteel (USA)

Masters Women 60+: Patty Failla (USA)

 

2018

Men: Mathew Fraser (USA)

Women: Tia-Clair Toomey (Australia)

Team: CrossFit Mayhem Freedom (USA)

Teenage Boys 14-15: Tudor Magda (USA)

Teenage Girls 14-15: Olivia Sulek (USA)

Teenage Boys 16-17: Dallin Pepper (USA)

Teenage Girls 16-17: Haley Adams (USA)

Masters Men 35-39: Kyle Kasperbauer (USA)

Masters Women 35-39: Anna Tobias (USA)

Masters Men 40-44: Neal Maddox (USA)

Masters Women 40-44: Stephanie Roy (Canada)

Masters Men 45-49: Robert Davis (USA)

Masters Women 45-49: Amanda Allen (AUS)

Masters Men 50-54: Cliffe Musgrave (USA)

Masters Women 50-54: Eva Thornton (RSA)

Masters Men: 55-59: Brig Edwards (USA)

Masters Women 55-59: Mary Beth Prodromides (USA)

Masters Men 60+: David Hippensteel (USA)

Masters Women 60+: Shaun Havard (USA)

 

2019

Men: Mathew Fraser (USA)

Women: Tia-Clair Toomey (Australia)

Team: CrossFit Mayhem Freedom (USA)

Teenage Boys 14-15: David Bradley (USA)

Teenage Girls 14-15: Emma Cary (USA)

Teenage Boys 16-17: Dallin Pepper (USA)

Teenage Girls 16-17: Chloe Smith (USA)

Masters Men 35-39: Nicholas Urankar (USA)

Masters Women 35-39: Anna Tobias (USA)

Masters Men 40-44: Jason Grubb (USA)

Masters Women 40-44: Joey Kimdon (USA)

Masters Men 45-49: Joel Hughes (USA)

Masters Women 45-49: Janet Black (USA)

Masters Men 50-54: Kevin Koester (USA)

Masters Women 50-54: Jana Slyder (USA)

Masters Men: 55-59: Joe Ames (USA)

Masters Women 55-59: Laurie Meschishnick (Canada)

Masters Men 60+: Gord Mackinnon (Canada)

Masters Women 60+: Susan Clarke (Canada)

 

Spirit of the Games Award Winners

2007—Kallista Papas and Ronnie Boose

2008—Geoff Aucoin

2009—Jason Khalipa

2010—Chris Spealler

2011—Annie Sakamoto

2012—Deborah Cordner Carson

2013—Kristan Clever

2014—Rebecca Voigt

2015—Dan Bailey

2016—Kara Saunders (Webb)

2017—Cole Sager

2018—Team Código CrossFit

2019—Samantha Briggs

• CrossFit introduced the Sport of Fitness to the world in 2007 when around 70 athletes gathered at a ranch in Aromas, California, for the inaugural CrossFit Games. CrossFit Founder Greg Glassman believed the fittest athletes should be able to handle any and every task, so one event was chosen at random. The only way to win: do more work faster than anyone else.
• From 2007 to 2008, the Games went from 70 athletes to approximately 300.
• In 2009, the Games marked the global explosion of CrossFit with regional qualifiers held in the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe, Iceland, Asia, Australia and Africa, as well as online. 
• 2009 also featured 100 teams competing in the Affiliate Cup. There were team competitions in 2007 and 2008, but they were made up of the combined scores of individual athletes. Teams competed together for the first time in 2009.
• In 2010, the event grew too big for The Ranch and moved to the Home Depot Center (now StubHub Center) in Carson, California. 
• For the first time in history, in 2010 the CrossFit Games featured male and female masters competitions, with athletes aged 50 and older.
• In 2011, the masters competition was expanded to four male and four female divisions.
• In 2011, an off-site event tested athletes in the waves at the Santa Monica Pier—a first for the Games.
• The 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games were streamed on ESPN3.com and telecast on ESPN2 in a series of episodes that aired after the competition. 
• In 2012, the Central East Regional featured two former CrossFit Games champions competing in the same regional for the first time. Rich Froning and Graham Holmberg also competed against 2011 Open winner Dan Bailey in an event that was streamed live over the internet on ESPN3.com.
• In 2012, Rich Froning and Annie Thorisdottir became the first repeat champions of the CrossFit Games.
• At the Games in 2012, all events were streamed live on Games.CrossFit.com, and each day six hours of content was produced for ESPN3.com. After the Games, 17 shows were produced and aired on ESPN, ESPN2 and Canada’s TSN.
• In 2013, the 40-44 Masters Division was added to the competition, and the masters events were held earlier in the Games week.
• In 2013, the CrossFit Games repeated a workout for the first time as the athletes performed the triplet that opened the 2007 competition.
• In 2013, all CrossFit Games heats and events were shown on ESPN3 (or on Games.CrossFit.com for international viewers). This was also the first year events were held in the soccer stadium.
• In 2014, more than half of the individual events took place in the soccer stadium to accommodate more fans.
• Froning won the CrossFit Games for the fourth time and announced he would not compete as an individual in 2015.
• Select events from the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games were also broadcast live on ESPN’s platforms on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and all events were broadcast live on ESPN3 on all competition days (or on Games.CrossFit.com for international viewers).
• In 2015, CrossFit Games coverage on ESPN and ESPN2 increased to 16.5 hours and featured events from the team competition for the first time. ESPN broadcast a total of six hours live on Friday and Saturday, and ESPN2 aired three and a half hours of live competition on Sunday. All heats of all events were streamed live on ESPN3 and YouTube. 
• Froning returned to the Games podium by winning the 2015 Affiliate Cup with CrossFit Mayhem Freedom.
• Four teenage divisions (boys and girls 14-15 and 16-17) were added in 2015. 
• In 2016, the Games were streamed on YouTube and WatchESPN, with 10 hours of live content on ESPN networks. The Games also used Facebook live to bring exclusive content to the social-media audience.
• Individual athletes were surprised to travel at the start of the Games in 2016. With little warning and no mention of final destination, they flew from Los Angeles to San Jose and rode a bus to complete three events at The Ranch in Aromas, the site of the first three editions of the CrossFit Games. 
• In 2017, the Games took place outside California for the first time, at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin. 
• The masters competition included a new 35-39 division. The four teenage divisions expanded from 10 to 20 competitors in each category. In 2017, teens had to qualify for the Games via an online qualifier similar to that used to select masters athletes since 2014. 
• The competition was streamed live to Facebook and the CrossFit Games website, and CBS Sports Network aired four preview shows in the lead-up to the competition, plus two hours of competition coverage every day during the Games. CBS’ flagship network aired a one-hour live look on Aug. 5, and a highlight show on Sept. 3. In the fall, CBS Sports Network aired a series of one-hour episodes.
• Mathew Fraser won the Games for the second consecutive time. He won with 1,132 out of 1,300 possible points, at the time giving him the most dominant performance in CrossFit Games history by both points margin over second place and percentage of points earned (in the Open era).
• Tia-Clair Toomey and Kara Saunders (formerly Kara Webb) were the first two Australian individuals to podium at the CrossFit Games. Toomey took first, Saunders took second. (Australian male individual Ricky Garard took third but was later stripped of his title after testing positive for banned performance-enhancing substances in a sample taken after the final event.)
• In 2018, the number of regional competitions expanded from eight to nine. The Latin America and Europe Regionals were reinstated while the U.S. regionals were consolidated to five. 
• In 2018, Mathew Fraser won the Games for the third consecutive time (one short of Rich Froning’s four consecutive individual championships). He won with 1,162 out of 1,400 possible points, giving him the most dominant performance in CrossFit Games history by points margin (220 points) over second place (beating his record from 2017).
• In 2018, Tia-Clair Toomey won her second consecutive Games tying her for the most all time by a woman with Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir.
• In 2018, CrossFit Mayhem Freedom returned to the top of the podium to win their third CrossFit Games Team competition – the most of all time. 
• The team competition that year featured teams of four athletes, reduced from six which was the standard number of team members since 2010.  
• For the 2019 Games season, CrossFit HQ made many significant structural changes. First, regionals were eliminated. “Sanctionals” were created, which incorporated past independent competitions and brand new competitions. There was a total of 15 two- to four-day Sanctional competitions that provided a direct invite to the 2019 Reebok CrossFit Games for the individual man and woman winners, and the 4-person team winner (one Sanctional did not have a team competition, thus 14 teams were invited to the Games). Secondly, the Open became a direct qualifier to the Games. Each country that had at least one CrossFit affiliate was able to send their man and woman National Champion of the Open to the Games.  Third, the top 20 men and women Open finishers who were not National Champions were also invited to the Games.  Lastly, the number of Games qualifiers in each age group division was reduced from 20 to 10.
• The CrossFit Games coverage was delivered by an open-source world feed onsite, which provided video of the events with graphics. The world feed was used by over 30 media outlets around the world to broadcast their own unique commentary on their platforms. 
• In 2019, Mathew Fraser won his fourth-consecutive Games title, while Tia-Clair Toomey won on the women's side for the third-straight year. CrossFit Mayhem Freedom took its fourth CrossFit Games title in the Team Competition.
  
  View the history pages for more.

See the scoring table below to learn about the 2020 scoring system. Each event has a point value assigned to it, and at the end of Stage 1, the top five men and top five women with the most points will advance to Aromas, where their slates will be wiped clean before the start of the in-person competition. 

Scoring System 

 

CrossFit Games, Stage 1, Press Release

2020 CrossFit Games Press Conference - Thursday, Oct. 22, 9 a.m. PT

• Introducing CrossFit's New Owner and CEO, Eric Roza
• CrossFit Announces Online + In-Person Format for 2020 Games
• Dates Confirmed for 2020 CrossFit Games
• The CrossFit Games Begin in 8 Days
• The CrossFit Games Begin in 4 Days, #CFGCheers
• What are the 2020 Games Events?
• Stage One Games Events 1 and 2 Announced!
• Stage One Games Events 3 and 4 Announced!
• Stage One Games Events 5 and 6 Announced!
• WOD Along With CrossFit Games Athletes
• The 2020 CrossFit Games Have Begun
• 2020 CrossFit Games Scoring
• The Results of Events 1 and 2 are in
• The Results of Events 3 and 4 are in
• The Results of Events 5 and 6 are in
• The Results of Event 7 Are In