On Monday evening, the 2021 CrossFit Games Open Qualifier will officially be in the books. This was quite a unique season, for the Open. With much of the world still experiencing some level of restriction on businesses and public gatherings, HQ was challenged to create on Open competition that was as challenging as years past, while still being accessible to as many CrossFitters as possible.
In the first week, we had a movement that had never been seen in the Open before, or any level of CrossFit Games competition, for that matter. Wall walks were an interesting choice. A deceptively simple movement, which most people can do, yet still very challenging for anyone to perform at high reps.
Week two brought us the repeat workout. Each year, starting with the second year of the Open, we’ve seen a workout repeated from a previous year. This year’s repeat workout was 17.1, one of the most notoriously brutal workouts in Open history. A great choice, since its simple movement selection includes equipment most folks have in their home gym. Four years later this is still am incredibly challenging workout, and one that most feel for days after.
The final week of the Open brought out the barbells and the pull-up bars. Workout 21.3 was a great combination of gymnastic shoulder strength and endurance, combined with lower body strength endurance. In the immediately following 21.4, athletes were challenged to see what type of strength they could muster in an already fatigued state. I expect to see this workout again, in a future CrossFit Games Open.
With 21.3 and 21.4 in the books, the first round of qualification is over, but there’s still more fun to come. In an effort to deal with restrictions, and make the qualifying process more accessible to as many athletes as possible, HQ is doing a second round of online qualification for all athletes.
The top 10% of athletes from each continent will receive an invitation to participate in the online quarterfinal round of competition, the second weekend of April. After that, there’s also the Age Group online qualifiers, which will be the second weekend of May, and have also been extended to the top 10% of each age group, for this year.
We have multiple athletes at CrossFit Bethesda with a good chance to make the cut for these events, so stay tuned for more news about the next round of CrossFit Games qualification.
