General Manager of Sport and Education, Dave Castro spoke in a podcast interview many things related to the CrossFit Games and revealed that for the next 3 or 4 years, the Games will take place in the United States and not go abroad.
Dave Castro did a 40+ minute interview for Fitness På Tid Podcast, a Danish podcast that puts CrossFit at its core and everything related to the Sport. The host Nikolaj Rønnow asked Castro about a variety of topics regarding CrossFit, and at one point, when discussing about the new season schematics, the General Manager explained the decision behind giving away the CrossFit Games responsibilities of Masters, Teens and Adaptive athletes to other organisations.
“By pulling them out [age-group and adaptive divisions from CrossFit’s official responsibility] we are able to a few things. Hyper focus on individuals and teams, for their experience, for the fans, for the community. And have a requirement for facilities that is much less. So it kind of opens up where we can host the Games,” Castro said.
“Near term, it opens up hosting up locations in the U.S. Long-term, not even long-term, 3 or 4 years maybe, it opens up going overseas in different countries.”
“That is one of the big reasons that we made that decision. It kind of set us up for the future, to use a model that puts us on a path to take this to different places and specifically to take this overseas.”
Listen to it from minute 23:20 on Spotify.
What Did You Miss?
Back in September, CrossFit announced the CrossFit Games will move to Texas in 2024. The venue chosen was the Dickies Arena, a multi-event venue built in 2019 that had huge concerts such as Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton, but also other interesting events like Monster Truck and NCAA gymnastic championships.
Shortly after that, Dave Castro revealed a little bit more about the events that will take place during the CrossFit Games, claiming that “95% of the events are going to be inside the arena, cause it’s air-conditioned.”
At that time, nobody knew that CrossFit would overhaul the Games for adaptive athletes, as well as teens and masters. In October, in a press release, CrossFit unveiled three new partnerships across various divisions: WheelWOD Games (for adaptive), Pit Teen Throwdown (for 14-17 teens), and Legends Championship (for masters 35+ athletes).
Now we know that CrossFit made the decision to delegate the responsibilities to creating the CrossFit Games competition for those categories was to create this “model” that Dave Castro says to be able to take the Games overseas.
Source: Dickies Arena2024 CrossFit Season Official Dates
Although we might not know the exact locations of some of the tournaments for next year’s, CrossFit has revealed the dates athletes will be competing.
2024 CrossFit Open:
- All athletes must compete to advance throughout the season.
- Workout 24.1: Feb. 29 – March 3, 2024
- Workout 24.2: March 7 – 11, 2024
- Workout 24.3: March 14 – 18, 2024
2024 CrossFit Quarterfinals:
- Team Quarterfinal: April 3 – 8, 2024.
- Individual Quarterfinal: April 17 – 22, 2024.
- Age-Group Quarterfinal: April 17 – 22, 2024.
2024 CrossFit Semifinals
CrossFit has not revealed the venues, dates, and number of qualifying spots by region for the individual an team Semifinal competitions. This will be announced at a later date.
- Age-Group Semifinal: May 8 – 13, 2024.
- Adaptive CrossFit Semifinal by WheelWOD: May 8 – 13, 2024.
2024 CrossFit Games:
Individuals and teams will compete at Fort Worth, Texas from August 8-11 in 2024.
Teens, masters, and adaptive athletes will compete at separate, in-person championships. In a press release shared earlier, CrossFit mentioned the 3 partnerships across those divisions: WheelWOD Games (for adaptive), Pit Teen Throwdown (for 14-17 teens), and Legends Championship (for masters 35+ athletes).
- The top masters from the Age-Group Semifinal will advance to the Masters CrossFit Games by Legends. The location and competition dates will be announced at a later date.
- Masters Divisions will include:
- Men and Women 35-39 (40 men; 40 women)
- Men and Women 40-44 (40 men; 40 women)
- Men and Women 45-49 (40 men; 40 women)
- Men and Women 50-54 (30 men; 30 women)
- Men and Women 55-59 (30 men; 30 women)
- Men and Women 60-64 (20 men; 20 women)
- Men and Women 65+ (20 men; 20 women)
- The top 30 boys and 30 girls from the teenage divisions will advance from Semifinals to the Teenage CrossFit Games by Pit Teen Throwdown in Three Rivers, Michigan. The competition dates and exact location will be confirmed at a later date.
- Teenage Divisions will include:
- Boys and Girls 14-15
- Boys and Girls 16-17
Source: Photo courtesy of CrossFit Inc.The top 10 adaptive athletes from 15 divisions will advance from the Adaptive CrossFit Semifinal by WheelWOD to the Adaptive CrossFit Games by WheelWOD. The competition dates and location will be confirmed at a later date.
Adaptive Divisions will include:
- Upper Impairment 1 Point of Contact
- Upper Impairment 2 Points of Contact
- Lower Impairment Above Knee
- Lower Impairment Below Knee
- Lower Impairment Minor
- Seated Without Hip Function
- Seated With Hip Function
- Seated Quadriplegic
- Neuromuscular Major
- Neuromuscular Moderate
- Neuromuscular Minor
- Standing Diagnosed
- Visual Impairment
- Short Stature
- Intellectual
According to CrossFit, more than 320,000 athletes from 180 countries competed throughout the 2023 CrossFit Games season.
Read More: How Much Money Did Athletes Earn at the 2023 Rogue Invitational
Image Sources
- Dickies Arena DFW: Dickies Arena
- teen athletes queue up at CrossFit Games: Photo courtesy of CrossFit Inc.
- Dave Castro: Courtesy of CrossFit Inc.