Since August, athletes all through the CrossFit world have shared their ideas on the state of the game and on the current bulletins and statements made by CrossFit HQ.
In an effort to raised perceive the temper going into the 2025 CrossFit season, I made a decision to create two surveys to collect data from the highest athletes within the sport.
- Word: The group survey was public-facing and promoted on my @known_knowable Instagram web page and on the @MorningChalkUp Instagram web page. There have been over 1,000 responses to that survey, and the outcomes will probably be launched quickly.
To conduct the athlete survey, I contacted the highest 220 males and prime 220 girls on the CrossFit Video games 2024 Worldwide Rankings.
- I selected 220 to finally generate an inventory of 200 athletes for outreach (realizing that some wouldn’t be reachable through Instagram). I additionally famous the absence of some athletes who didn’t compete as a person within the 2024 season and, due to this fact, weren’t throughout the rankings. So, I added all athletes who competed as a person on the 2023 CrossFit Video games to the highest 220 ranked athletes.
This gave me a base of 232 girls and 221 males, or 453 athletes in complete.
- Of these 453, I used to be in a position to contact 443 athletes through Instagram direct messages. Based mostly on learn receipts from Instagram, I can see a “seen” standing for 383 athletes.
There have been 266 complete survey responses out of 443 messages, or a 60% response fee.
- Price noting: 70% of the athletes who “noticed” the message on Instagram responded, or 266 out of 383.
The survey is nameless, however some athletes responded to say that they had accomplished it, so I can confidently say that particular person and workforce podium athletes from the previous couple of seasons — in addition to some current regional winners — responded to the survey and are captured within the outcomes.
No direct data on the person respondents was captured within the outcomes except the athletes self-identified within the feedback portion of the survey.
- Particular person, single survey outcomes won’t be shared, and the feedback offered on the finish of the survey had been redacted under if identifiable data was offered.
The Scope of the Survey
The survey was despatched out on November 26, lower than every week after CrossFit HQ made two public statements and bulletins:
The survey introduction learn:
- “This survey is to gauge a temperature test particular to the High 200 Particular person Athletes and Video games Athletes on plans for the upcoming 2025 season, current bulletins by CrossFit LLC and suggestions on the CrossFit Video games and Video games workforce.”
The survey contained 5 sections:
- Demographics – “Your Aggressive Area for 2024 was…?”
- Preliminary Reactions – This part was launched with this assertion: “Understanding these bulletins had been simply made in the previous couple of days, it’s possible you’ll not have had the time it’s essential make a formalized opinion and particularly a choice. We are attempting to get an preliminary response and feeling from the elite athlete group on current bulletins concerning the Investigation of the loss of life of Lazar Ðukić and across the newly introduced season construction for the 2025 CrossFit Video games season.”
The questions on this part had been:
- General, what’s your confidence degree within the CrossFit Video games going into the 2025 season on a scale of 1 to five? A “3” being impartial.
- Preliminary Response: Are you happy with CrossFit HQ’s current replace on the Investigation into the loss of life of Lazar Ðukić and the following steps HQ has introduced? On a scale of 1 to five, with a “3” being impartial.
- Preliminary Response: On a scale of 1 to five, how would you fee the newly introduced season construction for 2025 of: Open → In-Affiliate Semifinals and/or In-Individual Qualifiers → Video games. Fee 1 to five, with a “3” being a impartial “wait and see.”
- Satisfaction On Particular Areas of CrossFit Video games – This part included the directions: “16 quickfire matters (ordered randomly) across the CrossFit Video games season and you’ll rating them on a scale of 1 to five. 1 = Very dissatisfied 5 = Very Happy 3 = Impartial. In the event you really feel the merchandise doesn’t apply otherwise you would favor to not reply, please choose N/A.”
The matters included:
- CrossFit Video games Management
- Season Construction (Open > Semis > Video games)
- Rationalization of Guidelines and Requirements
- Communication from HQ
- Investigation Response
- Judging (on-line)
- Judging (in-person)
- Media (CFHQ)
- CrossFit-operated Athlete Councils (AAC, DAC)
- Athlete Security
- Medical
- In-Individual Competitors Construction (In-Individual Qualifiers & Video games)
- On-line Qualifier Construction (Open, QF & On-line Semis)
- Prize Cash
- Divisional Video games Construction
- Eradicating Quarterfinals
- 2025 Season Plans – This part requested, “As of in the present day, are you planning to compete within the upcoming 2025 CrossFit Video games season? (CrossFit Occasions: Open, Semifinals, Video games, Masters, Teenagers, and so on.).”
The alternatives and follow-up questions had been as follows:
- Sure
- No
- In the event you answered ‘No’ to the query above on competing within the 2025 CrossFit Video games season, please present why utilizing one of many decisions under.
- Medical cause (damage, maternity, surgical procedure, and so on)
- Retiring from CrossFit Video games and/or health competitors basically
- Abstaining from CrossFit Video games season till additional motion by CrossFit
- Utterly Carried out – with CrossFit and the CrossFit Video games however not completed with Health Competitions
- Favor To not Say At This Time
- Different (write in reply)
- Possibly
- In the event you answered ‘Possibly’ to the query above on competing within the 2025 CrossFit Video games season, if doable, please present extra readability utilizing one of many decisions under
- Medical cause (might not compete resulting from a medical cause however TBD for now)
- Considering Retirement – from CrossFit Video games and/or health competitors basically
- Considering Abstaining – from CrossFit Video games season till additional motion by CrossFit
- Considering being Utterly Carried out – with CrossFit and the CrossFit Video games however not completed with Health Competitions
- Favor To not Say At This Time
- Different (write in reply)
- Extra Suggestions
The survey ran from the morning of November 26 till the night of December 11, with a reminder communication despatched out every week earlier than the survey closed.
The Survey Outcomes
Area/Demographic Questions
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The date from this response usually falls consistent with what we’ve got seen so far as regional breakdown for competing athletes. Europe and North America East have the biggest parts, adopted intently by North America West, then Oceania, South America, Asia, and Africa.
Preliminary Reactions
The typical general consequence for this query was 2.20.
- As you will note later, that is from athletes, the place a majority said they do plan to compete within the 2025 season.
Ninety of the 266 complete submissions gave a “2” as their response. 5 responses gave a “5.”
The typical general consequence for this query was 1.72.
- 100 and fifty-five of the 266 complete submissions gave a “1” as their response.
5 respondents gave a “5.”
- Word: These 5 are usually not the identical because the athletes who gave a ‘5’ on the earlier query.
The typical general consequence for this query was 1.81.
- 100 and twenty-eight of the 266 complete submissions gave a ‘1’ as their response.
No respondent gave a 5.
Fifty-five of the submissions gave a “3,” which was the impartial “wait and see” earlier than judging the season response.
16 Quickfire Matters On the CrossFit Video games Season
Right here is how this part was introduced to the athletes:
“Okay, pause and suppose again over the past season you participated in and what was simply introduced. With that in thoughts, we’re going to offer you 16 quickfire matters (ordered randomly) in regards to the CrossFit Video games season and you’ll rating them on a scale of 1 to five.”
- “1 = Very dissatisfied, 5 = Very Happy, 3 = Impartial. In the event you really feel the merchandise doesn’t apply otherwise you would favor to not reply, please choose N/A”
The outcomes will probably be listed with their common and what number of votes they acquired for every possibility.
| Subject/Space | Common | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | N/A |
| Investigation Response | 1.61 | 155 | 64 | 34 | 7 | 2 | 4 |
| Communication from HQ | 1.76 | 128 | 88 | 36 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
| Judging (on-line) | 1.77 | 127 | 92 | 31 | 9 | 6 | 1 |
| CrossFit Video games Management | 1.86 | 110 | 92 | 47 | 10 | 2 | 5 |
| Eradicating Quarterfinals | 1.93 | 130 | 60 | 46 | 18 | 10 | 2 |
| Athlete Security | 1.97 | 103 | 90 | 50 | 16 | 4 | 3 |
| On-line Qualifier Construction (Open, QF & On-line Semis) | 1.99 | 113 | 76 | 49 | 19 | 8 | 1 |
| Media (CFHQ) | 2.03 | 91 | 93 | 60 | 13 | 5 | 4 |
| CrossFit-operated Athlete Councils (AAC, DAC) | 2.09 | 83 | 68 | 81 | 11 | 1 | 22 |
| Divisional Video games Construction | 2.30 | 62 | 73 | 72 | 18 | 8 | 33 |
| Season Construction (Open > Semis > Video games) | 2.31 | 88 | 78 | 38 | 41 | 17 | 4 |
| Rationalization of Guidelines and Requirements | 2.42 | 58 | 93 | 69 | 33 | 11 | 2 |
| Medical | 2.44 | 69 | 60 | 81 | 27 | 15 | 14 |
| Prize Cash | 2.45 | 58 | 72 | 81 | 27 | 12 | 16 |
| In-Individual Competitors Construction (In-Individual Qualifiers & Video games) | 3.00 | 43 | 41 | 79 | 59 | 34 | 10 |
| Judging (in-person) | 3.03 | 29 | 57 | 75 | 65 | 30 | 10 |
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2025 CrossFit Video games Season Plans
Right here is how this part was introduced to the athletes:
“That is ‘as of in the present day,’ one thing might change tomorrow or subsequent week or subsequent month. The next questions are to get a pulse on present emotions from the group on plans for collaborating within the CrossFit Video games season in February subsequent yr.”
The query: “As of in the present day, are you planning to compete within the upcoming 2025 CrossFit Video games season? (CrossFit Occasions: Open, Semifinals, Video games, Masters, Teenagers and so on)”
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The biggest portion of the 266 surveyed athletes said “Sure” they do plan to compete within the 2025 CrossFit Video games season with 39.1% of the respondents, 104 of the 266 solutions complete.
- The smallest proportion was “No” with 25.6% (68 of the 266), and “Possibly” was simply behind “Sure” at 35.3% (94 of the 266).
If the athlete answered “Sure,” there have been no additional questions on this matter, however they got an space to offer extra suggestions. That part is proven additional under.
For athletes who answered “No” or “Possibly,” we needed to get an additional understanding of the place they stood and why.
- It’s doable, as we’ve got seen in some current bulletins, that athletes might have already deliberate retirement, sustained a current damage, or it might should do with current bulletins and management route, and we needed to get extra than simply “I could or might not do the following season.”
So for each “No” and “Possibly,” a further query was requested that gave a number of decisions for responding that fall into one in every of these classes:
Those that answered “No” then specified:
- Medical cause (damage, maternity, surgical procedure, and so on)
- Retiring from CrossFit Video games and/or health competitors basically
- Abstaining from CrossFit Video games season till additional motion by CrossFit
- Utterly completed – With CrossFit and the CrossFit Video games, however not completed with Health Competitions
- Favor to not say at the moment
- Different (write in reply)
36.8% of these athletes who stated “No” to competing within the 2025 CrossFit Video games season said they had been “Utterly Carried out with CrossFit and the CrossFit Video games season however not completed with Health Competitions.” (Twenty-five of the 68 “No” responses.)
- The subsequent largest grouping was “Abstaining from CrossFit Video games season till additional motion by CrossFit,” 35.3%. (Twenty-four of the 68 responses.)
11.8% gave different causes for stating “No” that didn’t fall into one in every of these classes, or the athlete selected to offer extra suggestions past these different classes.
Solely 5 athletes said a medical cause as their cause for not competing, and 4 athletes said they had been retiring from competing in CrossFit Video games. Two athletes selected “Favor To not Say At This Time.”
Those that answered “Possibly” then specified:
- Medical Purpose (might not compete resulting from a medical cause however TBD for now)
- Considering Retirement – From CrossFit Video games and/or health competitors basically
- Considering Abstaining – From CrossFit Video games season till additional motion by CrossFit
- Considering Being Utterly Carried out – With CrossFit and the CrossFit Video games however not completed with Health Competitions
- Favor To not Say At This Time
- Different (write in reply)
Of the 94 “Possibly” responses, 29.8% said they’re “Considering being Utterly Carried out with CrossFit and the CrossFit Video games however not completed with Health Competitions.”
- Some athletes have mentioned publicly competing solely at low season competitions like TYR Wodapalooza, Dubai Health Championship, and Rogue Invitational, and we’re beginning to hear extra in regards to the World Fitness Project.
These athletes within the “Possibly” class could also be different choices earlier than saying a choice.
- There are different issues, too, as Pat Vellner famous on Talking Elite Fitness—sponsorship bonuses might have contingencies on placement at CrossFit and low season competitions.
The subsequent group contains the 27.7% of athletes considering “Abstaining from CrossFit Video games season till additional motion by CrossFit.”
The same-sized group – simply two fewer responses at 26 vs 28 – said they had been ‘Considering being utterly completed.”
- Subsequent once more is “Different causes given,” through which athletes offered extra suggestions on their particular cause.
In some circumstances the rationale said aligned with contemplation on being completed or abstaining, however the response is separated to not misalign the athlete’s response, together with one athlete writing in “the entire above.”
11.7% of the respondents said that they would favor to not say at the moment, 10.6% offered that they’re working via a medical cause, and seven.4% (7 complete responses) said they’re enthusiastic about retiring from the game of CrossFit.
The ultimate part of the survey was a suggestion to offer extra suggestions and/or feedback that in any other case weren’t coated within the survey.
- We selected to not share any data that may determine an athlete. In the event that they select to share their responses and the feedback elsewhere, that’s as much as them.
The athletes had been informed that the data shared right here would stay nameless however could possibly be utilized in social media posts and articles unattributed to them.
Fifty-six complete responses had been offered.
Here’s a pattern:
- “I’m working exhausting each day as a result of I need to be the fittest. But when tomorrow there may be an different organisation that enables us to compete towards the most effective in one other health organisation, I’ll go there. If there may be not. I must do the CrossFit season totally with CrossFit.”
- “I actually need the Video games to go forward and folks to compete, however with the current bulletins, I feel they’ve utterly shot themself within the foot and this could possibly be the top for lots of people.”
- “As an athlete, if you wish to earn your cash with it, it’s completely annoying and really traumatic when the construction adjustments yearly…I like CrossFit, I like the group, the game and the coaching. Please make it nice once more.”
- “I don’t like Dave.”
- “I need to compete in individual and evaluate myself to the most effective. I’ll go wherever it’s doable to take action, irrespective of the competitors.”
- “As a result of fixed adjustments over a number of years, I’ve determined this will probably be my final yr competing within the CrossFit area. I now not really feel that HQ is offering progress of the game and due to this fact this will probably be it for me.”
- “I really feel like, general, I have to see extra data to find out what my future holds. I really feel as if there isn’t sufficient data given by way of the season to have me decide if I’m going to tackle the common season or not or simply take part in some form of different CrossFit qualifiers much like TYR Wodapalooza. HYROX is at the moment on my radar.”
- “I had contemplated retirement put up final season. The current announcement solidifies that and makes me assured in my determination to now not revolve my life round an ever-changing sport. I like health and understanding, however I’m completed laying all of it out for an enormous model with little return.”
- “CrossFit HQ must do higher by way of honesty (communication), accountability (tragedy), equity (on-line and so on) and their angle altogether.”
- “I’ll compete in regardless of the season is, this season, however solely as a result of I like CrossFit. Not as a result of I like the alternatives they’ve made. I’m younger and need to keep within the recreation since I’ve a whole lot of competing forward of me however I don’t agree with the brand new season format nor do I agree with CFHQ management.”
- “I’d nonetheless require extra details about in-person Sanctionals, the investigation, a response to the PFAA to take part within the season. I will probably be trying to different health competitions within the meantime. IF3 seems to be fascinating.”
- “I’m considering not competing because of the new construction, not due to the investigation or lack thereof. The brand new construction is boring, and there’s no approach they’re getting the appropriate individuals to the Video games on-line.”
- “It’s very complicated for me as an athlete that lives for CrossFit and likes to compete and hate the way in which CrossFit treats us.”
- “The dearth of transparency from CF HQ in so many areas is a bit that’s exhausting to swallow.”
- “Honestly, simply discovered among the different competitions extra thrilling than Semifinals, and since I work full time and do that for enjoyable, I don’t need competitions to really feel like a drag. I need them to be effectively programmed, difficult but additionally enjoyable occasions.”
- “They made me drained of chasing my dream.”
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