Analysis by Tommy Marquez and Mike MacPherson
Which region in CrossFit is the toughest?
Previously, we determined the regional power rankings for each of the three divisions: men, women and team. To arrive at our overall regional power ranking we added the scores from each division together, so that each division contributed equally to the total.
For details on how we got the division scores, check back to the first article in this series.
Cream of the Crop
We’ve arrived at the overall ranking, and it should come as no surprise that the North East is the most competitive.
The region finished first in both the Men’s and Team Divisions, and second in the Women’s Division. Not only did athletes in all three divisions consistently outperform other regions in the Open, but the North East lays claim to 2016’s Fittest Man and Woman on the planet, Mat Fraser and Katrin Davidsdottir.
The North East was the only region with a man, woman and team in the top five at the Games. Europe (29 points) also impressed, being the only region within a stone’s throw of the North East. It did so on the backs of strong Open performances, finishing fourth or better in Region Depth or Strength across all divisions.
The North Central (third), Central East (fourth), and South East (fifth) round out the top five but weren’t quite in the same league as the North East and Europe.
The South East (53 points) had more than triple the points than the North East (17 points). Some major twists would have to happen in 2017 for anyone outside of the South East to fall outside of the top five.
Middle of the Pack
It’s clear the Mid Atlantic (sixth - 64 points) stands the best chance at moving up to challenge the South East (fifth - 53 points) for a spot in the top five. However, the South East bested the Mid Atlantic in six of the nine scored categories in our rankings, and all three of them were in the Elite Strength category in each division.
Simply performing well at the Games each year won’t be enough to close the gap if the Mid Atlantic continues its average performance in the Open. The region averaged a ninth-place finish across all divisions when you take away its Elite Strength numbers.
The next four regions—Canada East, Southern California, Australia and South Central—could do some dancing back and forth in the rankings this year.
Just 8 points total separate them—a number that could be easily achieved by a surge in one division. If athletes like Alexis Johnson (31st) and Travis Williams (18th), can qualify and improve upon their 2016 Games finishes, it’d be more than enough to boost them upward.
Call it a little bit of home-region bias, but it was definitely difficult to come to terms with the fact that Northern California isn’t the region in terms of competitiveness that it used to be. The Women’s Division is the lone standout with finishes in the top half of the rankings in Region Strength and Elite Strength. Athletes like Chyna Cho, Alessandra Pichelli, and Brooke Ence will have to continue to carry the torch, because gone are the days of Jason Khalipa, Neal Maddox, Blair Morrison and Pat Barber holding things down on the men’s side.
Bottom of the Barrel
The bottom six regions were clear. Only twice did any of these regions break out of the bottom six—both by the North West.
The North West men moved up to a tie for 10th, and the women moved up into 11th place overall. The North West (89 points) sits only 1 point behind Northern California (90 points) and could feasibly move up, but the region also got a huge boost from Cole Sager finishing fifth at the Games, and would be banking on a similar performance in 2017.
The South West and Africa both have some promising developments that I mentioned in previous articles, but both are staring at fairly large deficits (25 for the South West, 34 for Africa).
For the bottom two regions—Latin America and Asia—patience will be key. Time will bring those regions more success as affiliate communities dig deeper roots, and the length of exposure required to build competitive groups of athletes globally expands in those areas. It really is only a matter of time before we start seeing more parity across the board from all regions around the world.
Wrap
If you’re reading this article in isolation, or if you managed to read any combination of the four we’ve published this week, I want to say thank you on behalf of myself and my colleague, the brilliant Mike MacPherson.
The idea of providing numbers-driven rankings has been something we’ve wanted to experiment with for the last couple years and it’s been a great pleasure getting to finally get these rankings up and running.
The participation and continued growth of the CrossFit Games is what makes this possible. None of that would happen without you guys, the community. So thank you, and I wish everyone the best of luck in the Open!
