11/03/2021
This week, the CrossFit Open will kick off the 2021 season of the new-look sport of functional fitness.
CrossFit is entering its first full competition cycle under the guidance of new CEO Eric Roza, and the widely popular Open is the first step of the regime's efforts to make the sport more inclusive and accessible to all comers. The all-online event, which has always provided an entryway for everyday CrossFitters to measure their fitness against the pro class of the sport, is even more, well, open, than ever, with new workout variations and divisions for different types of entrants and new divisions for adaptive athletes.
Athletes can take on the competition Rx'd (CrossFit parlance for its standard, Games-level workouts), scaled (adjusted for people who can't complete the Rx'd workouts), foundations (for newcomers to the sport), and, in a nod to the adjusted workouts many people used to make due amidst gym closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, an equipment free category.
For 2021, the Open has been shortened from five weeks of WOD challenges to three. More athletes will be able to qualify for the next round of competition to make the cut for the CrossFit Games. But one wrinkle in the Open structure that CrossFit has carried on from years past: athletes won't know the exact details of their WOD of the week ahead of time.