crossfit Industry News Parent Topic: Strength Exercise Sport: CrossFit

25% of Top 200 CrossFit Athletes Say ‘No’ to 2025 CrossFit Games Season in Recent Survey

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Since August, athletes throughout the CrossFit world have shared their thoughts on the state of the sport and on the recent announcements and statements made by CrossFit HQ.

In an effort to better understand the mood going into the 2025 CrossFit season, I decided to create two surveys to gather information from the top athletes in the sport.

Note: The community survey was public-facing and promoted on my @known_knowable Instagram page and on the @MorningChalkUp Instagram page. There were over 1,000 responses to that survey, and the results will be released soon.

To conduct the athlete survey, I contacted the top 220 men and top 220 women on the CrossFit Games 2024 Worldwide Rankings.

I chose 220 to ultimately generate a list of 200 athletes for outreach (knowing that some would not be reachable via Instagram). I also noted the absence of some athletes who didn’t compete as an individual in the 2024 season and, therefore, were not within the rankings. So, I added all athletes who competed as an individual at the 2023 CrossFit Games to the top 220 ranked athletes.

This gave me a base of 232 women and 221 men, or 453 athletes in total.

Of those 453, I was able to contact 443 athletes via Instagram direct messages. Based on read receipts from Instagram, I can see a “seen” status for 383 athletes.

There were 266 total survey responses out of 443 messages, or a 60% response rate.

Worth noting: 70% of the athletes who “saw” the message on Instagram responded, or 266 out of 383.

The survey is anonymous, but some athletes responded to say they had completed it, so I can confidently say that individual and team podium athletes from the last few seasons — as well as some recent regional winners — responded to the survey and are captured in the results.

No direct information on the individual respondents was captured in the results unless the athletes self-identified in the comments portion of the survey.

Individual, single survey results will not be shared, and the comments provided at the end of the survey were redacted below if identifiable information was provided.

The Scope of the Survey

The survey was sent out on November 26, less than a week after CrossFit HQ made two public statements and announcements:

Safety and Procedural Changes After the 2024 CrossFit Games (11/20/24)
Get Ready for the 2025 CrossFit Games Season (11/22/24)

The survey introduction read:

“This survey is to gauge a temperature check specific to the Top 200 Individual Athletes and Games Athletes on plans for the upcoming 2025 season, recent announcements by CrossFit LLC and feedback on the CrossFit Games and Games team.”

The survey contained five sections:

Demographics – “Your Competitive Region for 2024 was…?”

Initial Reactions – This section was introduced with this statement: “Understanding these announcements were just made in the last few days, you may not have had the time you need to make a formalized opinion and especially a decision. We are trying to get an initial reaction and feeling from the elite athlete community on recent announcements regarding the Investigation of the death of Lazar Ðukić and around the newly announced season structure for the 2025 CrossFit Games season.”

The questions in this section were:

Overall, what’s your confidence level in the CrossFit Games going into the 2025 season on a scale of 1 to 5? A “3” being neutral.
Initial Reaction: Are you satisfied with CrossFit HQ’s recent update on the Investigation into the death of Lazar Ðukić and the next steps HQ has announced? On a scale of 1 to 5, with a “3” being neutral.
Initial Reaction: On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the newly announced season structure for 2025 of: Open → In-Affiliate Semifinals and/or In-Person Qualifiers → Games. Rate 1 to 5, with a “3” being a neutral “wait and see.”

Satisfaction On Specific Areas of CrossFit Games – This section included the instructions: “16 quickfire topics (ordered randomly) around the CrossFit Games season and you will score them on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 = Very dissatisfied 5 = Very Satisfied 3 = Neutral. If you feel the item does not apply or you would prefer not to answer, please select N/A.”

The topics included:

CrossFit Games Leadership
Season Structure (Open > Semis > Games)
Explanation of Rules and Standards
Communication from HQ
Investigation Response
Judging (online)
Judging (in-person)
Media (CFHQ)
CrossFit-operated Athlete Councils (AAC, DAC)
Athlete Safety
Medical
In-Person Competition Structure (In-Person Qualifiers & Games)
Online Qualifier Structure (Open, QF & Online Semis)
Prize Money
Divisional Games Structure
Removing Quarterfinals

2025 Season Plans – This section asked, “As of today, are you planning to compete in the upcoming 2025 CrossFit Games season? (CrossFit Events: Open, Semifinals, Games, Masters, Teens, etc.).”

The choices and follow-up questions were as follows:

If you answered ‘No’ to the question above on competing in the 2025 CrossFit Games season, please provide why using one of the choices below.

Medical reason (injury, maternity, surgery, etc)
Retiring from CrossFit Games and/or fitness competition in general
Abstaining from CrossFit Games season until further action by CrossFit
Completely Done – with CrossFit and the CrossFit Games but not done with Fitness Competitions
Prefer Not to Say At This Time
Other (write in answer)
Maybe

If you answered ‘Maybe’ to the question above on competing in the 2025 CrossFit Games season, if possible, please provide additional clarity using one of the choices below
1. Medical reason (may not compete due to a medical reason but TBD for now)
2. Contemplating Retirement – from CrossFit Games and/or fitness competition in general
3. Contemplating Abstaining – from CrossFit Games season until further action by CrossFit
4. Contemplating being Completely Done – with CrossFit and the CrossFit Games but not done with Fitness Competitions
5. Prefer Not to Say At This Time
6. Other (write in answer)

Additional Feedback

The survey ran from the morning of November 26 until the evening of December 11, with a reminder communication sent out a week before the survey closed.

The Survey Results

Region/Demographic Question

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The date from this response generally falls in line with what we have seen as far as regional breakdown for competing athletes. Europe and North America East have the largest portions, followed closely by North America West, then Oceania, South America, Asia, and Africa.

Initial Reactions

The average overall result for this question was 2.20.

As you will see later, this is from athletes, where a majority stated they do plan to compete in the 2025 season.

Ninety of the 266 total submissions gave a “2” as their response. Five responses gave a “5.”

The average overall result for this question was 1.72.

One hundred and fifty-five of the 266 total submissions gave a “1” as their response.

Five respondents gave a “5.”

Note: Those five are not the same as the athletes who gave a ‘5’ on the previous question.

The average overall result for this question was 1.81.

One hundred and twenty-eight of the 266 total submissions gave a ‘1’ as their response.

No respondent gave a 5.

Fifty-five of the submissions gave a “3,” which was the neutral “wait and see” before judging the season response.

16 Quickfire Topics On the CrossFit Games Season

Here is how this section was presented to the athletes:

“Okay, pause and think back over the last season you participated in and what was just announced. With that in mind, we are going to give you 16 quickfire topics (ordered randomly) about the CrossFit Games season and you will score them on a scale of 1 to 5.”

“1 = Very dissatisfied, 5 = Very Satisfied, 3 = Neutral. If you feel the item does not apply or you would prefer not to answer, please select N/A”

The results will be listed with their average and how many votes they received for each option.

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2025 CrossFit Games Season Plans

Here is how this section was presented to the athletes:

“This is ‘as of today,’ something could change tomorrow or next week or next month. The following questions are to get a pulse on current feelings from the community on plans for participating in the CrossFit Games season in February next year.”

The question: “As of today, are you planning to compete in the upcoming 2025 CrossFit Games season? (CrossFit Events: Open, Semifinals, Games, Masters, Teens etc)”

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The largest portion of the 266 surveyed athletes stated “Yes” they do plan to compete in the 2025 CrossFit Games season with 39.1% of the respondents, 104 of the 266 answers total.

The smallest percentage was “No” with 25.6% (68 of the 266), and “Maybe” was just behind “Yes” at 35.3% (94 of the 266).

If the athlete answered “Yes,” there were no further questions on this topic, but they were given an area to provide additional feedback. That section is shown further below.

For athletes who answered “No” or “Maybe,” we wanted to get a further understanding of where they stood and why.

It’s possible, as we have seen in some recent announcements, that athletes may have already planned retirement, sustained a recent injury, or it may have to do with recent announcements and leadership direction, and we wanted to get more than just “I may or may not do the next season.”

So for both “No” and “Maybe,” an additional question was asked that gave multiple choices for responding that fall into one of these categories:

Those who answered “No” then specified:

Medical reason (injury, maternity, surgery, etc)
Retiring from CrossFit Games and/or fitness competition in general
Abstaining from CrossFit Games season until further action by CrossFit
Completely done – With CrossFit and the CrossFit Games, but not done with Fitness Competitions
Prefer not to say at this time
Other (write in answer)

36.8% of those athletes who said “No” to competing in the 2025 CrossFit Games season stated they were “Completely Done with CrossFit and the CrossFit Games season but not done with Fitness Competitions.” (Twenty-five of the 68 “No” responses.)

The next largest grouping was “Abstaining from CrossFit Games season until further action by CrossFit,” 35.3%. (Twenty-four of the 68 responses.)

11.8% gave other reasons for stating “No” that did not fall into one of these categories, or the athlete chose to provide additional feedback beyond these other categories.

Only five athletes stated a medical reason as their reason for not competing, and four athletes stated they were retiring from competing in CrossFit Games. Two athletes chose “Prefer Not to Say At This Time.”

Those who answered “Maybe” then specified:

Medical Reason (may not compete due to a medical reason but TBD for now)
Contemplating Retirement – From CrossFit Games and/or fitness competition in general
Contemplating Abstaining – From CrossFit Games season until further action by CrossFit
Contemplating Being Completely Done – With CrossFit and the CrossFit Games but not done with Fitness Competitions
Prefer Not to Say At This Time
Other (write in answer)

Of the 94 “Maybe” responses, 29.8% stated they are “Contemplating being Completely Done with CrossFit and the CrossFit Games but not done with Fitness Competitions.”

Some athletes have discussed publicly competing only at off-season competitions like TYR Wodapalooza, Dubai Fitness Championship, and Rogue Invitational, and we are starting to hear more about the World Fitness Project.

These athletes in the “Maybe” category may be looking at other options before announcing a decision.

There are other considerations, too, as Pat Vellner noted on Talking Elite Fitness—sponsorship bonuses may have contingencies on placement at CrossFit and off-season competitions.

The next group includes the 27.7% of athletes contemplating “Abstaining from CrossFit Games season until further action by CrossFit.”

A similar-sized group – just two fewer responses at 26 vs 28 – stated they were ‘Contemplating being completely done.”

Next again is “Other reasons given,” in which athletes provided additional feedback on their specific reason.

In some circumstances the reason stated aligned with contemplation on being done or abstaining, but the response is separated to not misalign the athlete’s response, including one athlete writing in “all of the above.”

11.7% of the respondents stated that they would prefer not to say at this time, 10.6% provided that they are working through a medical reason, and 7.4% (7 total responses) stated they are thinking about retiring from the sport of CrossFit.

Additional Comments

The final section of the survey was an offer to provide additional feedback and/or comments that otherwise weren’t covered in the survey.

We chose not to share any information that might identify an athlete. If they choose to share their responses and the comments elsewhere, that is up to them.

The athletes were told that the information shared here would remain anonymous but could be used in social media posts and articles unattributed to them.

Fifty-six total responses were provided.

Here is a sample:

“I am working hard every day because I want to be the fittest. But if tomorrow there is an other organisation that allows us to compete against the best in another fitness organisation, I will go there. If there is not. I will have to do the CrossFit season entirely with CrossFit.”

“I really want the Games to go ahead and people to compete, but with the recent announcements, I think they have completely shot themself in the foot and this could be the end for a lot of people.”

“As an athlete, if you want to earn your money with it, it is absolutely annoying and very stressful when the structure changes every year…I love CrossFit, I love the community, the sport and the training. Please make it great again.”

“I don’t like Dave.”
“I want to compete in person and compare myself to the best. I will go wherever it’s possible to do so, no matter the competition.”

“Due to the constant changes over several years, I have decided this will be my last year competing in the CrossFit space. I no longer feel that HQ is providing growth of the sport and therefore this will be it for me.”

“I feel like, overall, I need to see more information to determine what my future holds. I feel as if there isn’t enough information given in terms of the season to have me determine if I am going to take on the regular season or not or just participate in some sort of other CrossFit qualifiers similar to TYR Wodapalooza. HYROX is currently on my radar.”

“I had contemplated retirement post last season. The recent announcement solidifies that and makes me confident in my decision to no longer revolve my life around an ever-changing sport. I love fitness and working out, but I’m done laying it all out for a big brand with little return.”

“CrossFit HQ needs to do better in terms of honesty (communication), accountability (tragedy), fairness (online etc) and their attitude altogether.”

“I will compete in whatever the season is, this season, but only because I love CrossFit. Not because I love the choices they have made. I am young and want to stay in the game since I have a lot of competing ahead of me but I don’t agree with the new season format nor do I agree with CFHQ leadership.”

“I would still require additional information about in-person Sanctionals, the investigation, a response to the PFAA to participate in the season. I will be looking to other fitness competitions in the meantime. IF3 looks interesting.”

“I’m contemplating not competing due to the new structure, not because of the investigation or lack thereof. The new structure is boring, and there is no way they are getting the right people to the Games online.”

“It’s very confusing for me as an athlete that lives for CrossFit and loves to compete and hate the way CrossFit treats us.”

“The lack of transparency from CF HQ in so many areas is a piece that is hard to swallow.”

“Truthfully, just found some of the other competitions more exciting than Semifinals, and since I work full time and do this for fun, I don’t want competitions to feel like a drag. I want them to be well programmed, challenging but also fun events.”