Semifinalists and the CrossFit Open


Semifinalists and the CrossFit Open

The makeup of the 2023 Semifinals field is what you would expect when you look at their CrossFit Open finishes. 41 of the top 50 from the CrossFit Open advanced to Semifinals in both the men’s and women’s fields. 206 women, or just over two thirds of the Semifinal field finished in the top 500 of the CrossFit Open. 184 men (61.5% of Semifinalists) had a top 500 finish in the Open this year. On the other side of the equation, only 1% of Semifinalists finished outside of the top 5000.

Thanks to the recent Instagram trend of athletes showing their CrossFit journey, I wanted to see more where these athletes came from, at least as far as the CrossFit Open is concerned.

The Best: The top athletes so far this year are still competing, but is there year over year success? Looking back over the previous 4 CrossFit Opens, we see a slight drop off each year, however 18 of the top 50 women from the 2019 CrossFit Open are competing at Semifinals this year. 20 of the top 50 men from the 2019 Open will also be at Semifinals in a few weeks.

These numbers align with what we see in back to back CrossFit Games appearances, where 61% of the 2022 Games field competed in Madison in 2021.


Slow and Steady Rise: For the most part, the days of walking into a CrossFit affiliate, then competing at Semifinals/Regionals 9 months later are behind us. The sport has matured, and dedication and effort is required to make it to this stage of the season.

In 2023, 6 of the 600 Semifinalists finished outside of the top 5000 of the Open. Looking back to 2019, 72 of these 600 Semifinalists were outside of the top 5000. Another 184 didn’t enter the Open.

42% of this year's Semifinalists either finished outside of the top 5000 of the 2019 Open or didn’t compete at all.


Making Semifinals: For athletes with dreams of competing at Semifinals, that dream may not be as far off as they think. Over 250 athletes competing at the next stage of the season were not on the competitive radar 5 years ago. Will it take hard work, dedication, consistency among other things to make it? Yes. 4 out of 10 athletes hitting the floor if a few weeks show us it is possible.

In case you missed it

🍿The toughest Semifinal field based on the Open

👧Kids these days

🏃 Active CrossFit Games streaks

🇿🇼Who is Christina Livaditakis?


Take Care

Dave from Fran Lung

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