CrossFit Games

The Crossfit Games
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 CrossFit Games
SportCrossFit
Founded2007
Owner(s)CrossFit LLC
DirectorAdrian Bozman
Competitors40 men, 40 women, 40 teams, 10 every age division
Venue(s)Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wisconsin
Most recent
champion(s)
  • James Sprague (men)
  • Tia-Clair Toomey (women)
  • Raw Iron CrossFit Mayhem Thunder (team)
Most titles
QualificationCrossFit Open, Quarterfinals, Semi-finals
Sponsor(s)Reebok (2011–2020)
NoBull (2021–2023)
Related
competitions
Rogue Invitational, Wodapalooza
Official websiteCrossFit Games

The CrossFit Games is an annual athletic competition owned and operated by CrossFit, LLC.[1] Athletes compete in a series of events at the Games, which may be various standard CrossFit workouts consisting of metabolic conditioning exercises, weightlifting, and gymnastics movements, as well as a range of activities from other sports such as swimming, road cycling and strongman. The events generally are not revealed before the Games, can include unexpected elements to challenge the athletes' readiness to compete, and they are designed to test the athletes' fitness using CrossFit's own criteria.[2] Winners of the CrossFit Games earn cash prizes and the title of "Fittest on Earth."[3][4]

The competition started in 2007 and has been held every year since, normally in the summer. The first competition was held at a ranch in Aromas, California, with small groups of participants and spectators, but the CrossFit Games rapidly grew, and within a few years, the competition was moved to larger venues at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, followed by the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin.[5] It was held in the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas in 2024. The Games were sponsored by Reebok from 2011 to 2020,[6] and by Nobull from 2021 to 2023.[7]

The CrossFit Games season consists of four stages; the first qualification stage, the Open, is billed as the largest participatory sporting event in the world, with over 415,000 athletes signing up to compete in 2018.[3][8][9] The number of participants are reduced in two more qualification stages, the quarterfinals and semifinals, to 40 men, 40 women and 40 teams to compete at the CrossFit Games. A few athletes have dominated in the Games' history; they are Rich Froning (four wins) and Mat Fraser (five wins) in the men's competition,[10][11] and Tia-Clair Toomey (seven wins) in the women's.[12]

  1. ^ "How CrossFit Embraced Fans and became the next great spectator sport". Forbes.com. June 2, 2013. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  2. ^ Glassman, Greg (October 1, 2002). "What Is Fitness?". CrossFit Journal.
  3. ^ a b Cluley, Emma (October 11, 2019). "CrossFit Games: The journey to crown the 'Fittest on Earth'". BBC Sport.
  4. ^ "CrossFit Games: Mat Fraser and Tia-Clair Toomey once again". CNN. August 5, 2019.
  5. ^ Roberts, Ben (July 23, 2017). "18 Things Only Old School Crossfit Athletes Will Remember". BoxRox.
  6. ^ Millington, Alison (July 22, 2015). "Reebok in 'relaunch phase' as it looks to become top fitness brand". Marketing Week. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2021Nobull was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "About the Games". CrossFit Games.
  9. ^ Edmonds, Will (February 22, 2018). "Is the CrossFit Open the biggest sporting competition on Earth?". CNN.
  10. ^ Levesley, David (February 25, 2020). "How one of the world's fittest men lives up to the title". GQ Magazine.
  11. ^ Danforth, Austin (February 2, 2021). "Mat Fraser, five-time CrossFit Games champion, announces his retirement". USA Today.
  12. ^ Kleyn, Brittney (January 1, 2021). "CrossFit and weightlifting champion Tia-Clair Toomey sets sights on bobsled at 2022 Winter Olympics". ABC News.