Every year, hundreds of thousands of athletes around the globe join together in the world’s largest participatory sporting event, the CrossFit Open. Over the course of three weeks, athletes from all skill levels and backgrounds measure their fitness and test their limits in this first step on the road to the CrossFit Games. At the end of the Open, the top 10% of individual athletes and top 25% of teams from each continent will advance to the next stage of competition, the Quarterfinals. 

The 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Open was the most accessible in history, with over 260,000 participants competing from their local gym or at home, with or without equipment. This year was also the most inclusive Open ever including — for the first time — a new adaptive division, an expanded masters division, and a new foundations version of the weekly workouts allowing everyone to play.  

For many, the Open looked a little different this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, but the return of the live Open announcements with Director of Sport Dave Castro brought a sense of normalcy to the community. Fans tuned in each week to see what challenges await them and watch elite athletes of the sport compete head-to-head in the workouts setting the scores to beat. 

A 2017 repeat, a new movement in the Open, and four unknown events — after three weeks of competition, Canada’s Jeffrey Adler and four-time fittest woman on Earth Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr each earned their first Open victory.