The CrossFit Semifinals seeding is nearly finished and the best of the best have received invitations to battle one last time before going to the CrossFit Games. But, of all 10 events scheduled to happen in the next weeks, which Semifinal has the fittest athletes? Turns out, some Semifinals are “more difficult” than others if you look strictly at the Quarterfinal worldwide placement of athletes who made the cut.
There will be 10 Semifinals events across the globe and in each of those events, 30 athletes will compete head-to-head to get a chance to become the next Fittest on Earth. Since we have 4 Semifinals in North America, 2 in Europe and 1 in Oceania, Africa, Asia and South America, the number of athletes invited is proportional to that continent.
- North America: top 120 men and women
- Europe: top 60 men and women
- Oceania: top 30 men and women
- Asia: top 30 men and women
- South America: top 30 men and women
- Africa: top 30 men and women
“If a significant number of invited athletes choose not to compete as individuals, CrossFit may, at its sole discretion, invite additional athletes based on the order of their finish during Quarterfinals,” the rulebook states.
Source: Photo Courtesy of CrossFit Inc.Semifinal Seeding: Top and Last Placed?
New in this year’s rulebook is the Semifinals invitation process for individual athletes in North America and Europe, stating that athletes will be placed in Semifinals before invitations are sent.
”CrossFit will make every effort to ensure the seeding process will be fair and equitable. Quarterfinals ranking distribution and the geographical location of athletes will be the primary determining factors for competition seeding in North America and Europe.”
Taking into consideration solely the Quarterfinal worldwide placement of athletes who accepted an invitation to compete at any given Semifinal event, we can begin to paint a picture to find out which Semifinal has the fittest athletes competing.
But first, check out below who was the best-placed athlete in the world and the last-placed athlete worldwide (in the Quarterfinals) that will compete in a Semifinal event this year.
North America
| Event | Division | Worldwide Best Place | Worldwide Last Place |
| Granite Games | Men | Chandler Smith (4th) | Kyle Baughman (258th) |
| Granite Games | Women | Mallory O’Brien (4th) | Victoria Caruso (263rd) |
| MACC | Men | Noah Ohlsen (5th) | Mitch McClune (251st) |
| MACC | Women | Danielle Brandon (6th) | Jessica Schwartz (254th) |
| Atlas Games | Men | Jeffrey Adler (3rd) | Will Bennett (269th) |
| Atlas Games* | Women* | Emma Lawson (10th) | Ellie Tarence Hiller (227th) |
| Syndicate Crown | Men | Justin Medeiros (1st) | Mike McDonald (241st) |
| Syndicate Crown | Women | Alexis Raptis (5th) | Karis Demi (247th) |
* Women Atlas Games division still has 2 spots to be filled by CrossFit HQ.
Europe
| Event | Division | Worldwide Best Place | Worldwide Last Place |
| Lowlands Throwdown | Men | BK Gudmundsson (8th) | Mats Cibis (208th) |
| Lowlands Throwdown | Women | Gabriela Migala (3rd) | Maria Längfors (211th) |
| Strength in Depth | Men | Willy Georges (9th) | Marius Tinglum Pettersen (223rd) |
| Strength in Depth | Women | Emma McQuaid (10th) | Sam Briggs (268th) |
Asia
| Event | Division | Worldwide Best Place | Worldwide Last Place |
| Far East Throwdown | Men | Roman Khrennikov (12th) | Min Sun Kim (894th) |
| Far East Throwdown* | Women* | Seungyeon Choi (45th) | Hyerin Baek (1817th) |
* Women Far East Throwdown division still has 1 spot to be filled by CrossFit HQ.
South America
| Event | Division | Worldwide Best Place | Worldwide Last Place |
| CrossFit Copa Sur | Men | Guilherme Malheiros (2nd) | Juan Manuel Seitun (290th) |
| CrossFit Copa Sur | Women | Luiza Marques (32nd) | Gabriela Marrafon (449th) |
Africa
| Event | Division | Worldwide Best Place | Worldwide Last Place |
| Fittest in Cape Town | Men | Jason Smith (99th) | Youssef Ehab (1304th) |
| Fittest in Cape Town | Women | Michelle Merand (130th) | Dalia Al Amry (1405th) |
Oceania
| Event | Division | Worldwide Best Place | Worldwide Last Place |
| Torian Pro | Men | Ricky Garard (11th) | Jake Soles (447th) |
| Torian Pro | Women | Tia-Clair Toomey (1st) | Olivia Kelly (404th) |
Which Semifinal Has the Fittest Athletes?
The tables above take into consideration only the best place of any given athlete in that Semifinal and the last person invited to the event. However, you can stack the numbers of all athletes in any given Semifinal event, compare their worldwide placement at the Quarterfinals and come up with the average in each competition.
That is what the people from Fantasy Fitnessing did. Check out the numbers they came up with. So which Semifinal has the fittest athletes? It depends on the division, but we can make some conclusion from this.
Men – Worldwide Quarterfinal Average of Semifinal Athletes
- Syndicate Crown – 112.5 (North America)
- MACC – 113.1 (North America)
- Strength in Depth – 113.6 (Europe)
- Lowlands Throwdown – 117.6 (Europe)
- Granite Games – 118.0 (North America)
- Atlas Games – 141.9 (North America)
- Copa Sur – 196.2 (South America)
- Torian Pro – 243.8 (Oceania)
- Fittest in Cape Town – 485.6 (Africa)
- Far East Throwdown – 804.8 (Asia)
The men’s division of the Syndicate Crown and Copa Sur were the only Semifinals that did not receive any backfills. “Last year, every Semifinal had backfills for men and women,” Chad Schroeder, data master of CrossFit told BOXROX. “Back in Regional days, from what I can recall, it was rare to not have any backfills, but it occasionally happened.”
Women – Worldwide Quarterfinal Average of Semifinal Athletes
- Lowlands Throwdown – 91.4 (Europe)
- Strength in Depth – 98.2 (Europe)
- Granite Games – 126.0 (North America)
- MACC – 129.4 (North America)
- Syndicate Crown – 132.3 (North America)
- Atlas Games – 141.5 (North America)
- Torian Pro – 242.6 (Oceania)
- Copa Sur 245.8 (South America)
- Fittest in Cape Town – 695.2 (Africa)
- Far East Throwdown – 906.8 (Asia)
In both divisions (men and women), North America and Europe events are the Semifinal with the fittest athletes on average.
European female athletes will have the hardest Semifinal events.
For both men and women, the Atlas Games will be the event with the lowest average of fittest athletes in any Semifinal in North America.
The guys from Fantasy Fitnessing also broke down the data into more graphs such as the Open average of Semifinal athletes and the average Quarterfinal finish. You can check it out below.
Although data tells us that much of which Semifinal has the fittest athletes, it is not directly related to which Semifinal might pose the most difficult path to the Games. For that, you need to take into account the number of athletes that receive an invitation to go the Games, which is different depending on the Semifinal.
Who Will Go Through to The CrossFit Games?
According to CrossFit’s rulebook, only a handful of athletes will qualify for the CrossFit Games based on their placement at each respective Semifinal competition:
- North America: athletes who finished 1st – 5th
- Europe: athletes who finished 1st – 5th
- Oceania: athletes who finished 1st – 3rd
- Asia: athletes who finished 1st and 2nd
- South America: athletes who finished 1st and 2nd
- Africa: only the top athlete
However, athletes who finished up to 2 placements below the cut line to get an invitation to the CrossFit Games in Madison will have their final go at the Last-Chance Qualifier.
Putting all into perspective – the fittest index according to Quarterfinals placement and the #GamesBound according to Semifinal event – we could conclude that:
- Torian Pro is arguably the hardest path for individual athletes to get to the Games
On the women side, we have Tia-Clair Toomey and Kara Saunders probably snatching 1st and 2nd placement at the event and, therefore, leaving little chance for other competitions such as Ellie Turner and Jamie Simmonds.
We see something similar on the men’s side, with Ricky Garard poised to make his Games comeback. The battle is tough with big names on the field such as Jay Crouch, James Newbury, Royce Dunne, and Bayden Brown.
- Strength in Depth Semifinal in the UK will gather some of the fittest male European athletes
In a competition that only 5 athletes go through, it is hard to pick favourites at the Strength in Depth. We will see a head-to-head battle with André Houdet, Jonne Koski, Willy Georges, Zack George, PD Savage, Henrik Haapalainen, PD Savage and Reggie Fasa.
CrossFit Semifinals Dates
There are 10 Semifinals events spread worldwide. Four in North America, two in Europe, and one in Africa, South America, Oceania and Asia. Unlike last year, this time all Semifinals are in-person.
Here are the details for the upcoming Semifinals:
| Date | Competition | Location |
| May 20-22 | Syndicate Crown | Tennessee (U.S.) |
| May 20-22 | CrossFit Lowlands Throwdown | Amsterdam (Netherlands) |
| May 20-22 | Torian Pro | Brisbane (Australia) |
| May 27-29 | Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge | Tennessee (U.S.) |
| May 27-29 | CrossFit Fittest in Cape Town | Stellenbosch (South Africa) |
| June 3-5 | Far East Throwdown | Busan (South Korea) |
| June 3-5 | Granite Games | Minnesota (U.S.) |
| June 10-12 | CrossFit Atlas Games | Québec (Canada) |
| June 10-12 | CrossFit Strength in Depth | England (U.K.) |
| June 10-12 | CrossFit Copa Sur | Vitória (Brazil) |
The Last-Chance Qualifier is an online competition that takes place from June 29th to July 1st.
The Games will take place on August 3-7 in Madison, Wisconsin, United States.
CrossFit has previously announced that Semifinals will have the same 2 events for all athletes.
Image Sources
- Lowlands Throwdown: Photo Courtesy of CrossFit Inc.
- Fittest in Cape Town Semifinals Podium: Photo Courtesy of CrossFit Inc.