What is going on with the World Fitness Project Trials? For those who are unfamiliar with the WFP Trials, it is an online qualifier for teams to qualify for the World Fitness Project Finals in December.
In addition to the Pro and Challenger individual athletes at the Finals, the WFP is also hosting team divisions of Teams of 4 (Elite, Intermediate & Scaled) and Duos (Masters 35-49 MM & FF, Masters 50+ MM & FF, Next Gen 14-16 MM & FF and Next Gen 17-19 MM & FF).
For these teams, the top 3 from Tour Stop 1 and 2 receive an automatic invite to compete at the WFP Finals in Copenhagen. That is if there were even three teams competing at one of the Tour Stops.
The WFP Trials are the other way for teams to qualify for Copenhagen. The Trials are a three-week online qualifier with two workouts announced each week. Athletes from teams and duos complete the workouts independently and their scores (times?) are added together.
This, however, is where it gets odd…
The leaderboard has not been published. The number of qualifying spots have never been announced. Three of the four workouts are identical or very similar to previous Challenger Qualifier workouts. Weights are the same for Elite Teams and 14-16 year-old teenagers. Registration is still open despite first week of scores being closed.Â
No Leaderboard
That’s right. The leaderboard tab on Competition is no where to be found.
The Leaderboard tab would normally be to the right of Workouts.
But, if you type in the URL of the results page, it shows that the leaderboard is set to be made public on December 18, the first day of the WFP Finals.
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If the WFP wanted to keep scores hidden until a certain time, there is a way to blur out the scores on the leaderboard. The WFP actually did this for the Challenger Qualifier 2 so that athletes could input their scores early without giving away how well they did.
Scores for Week 1 were due last night and yet nothing has changed. Still missing. Why?
Why would the WFP not publish the leaderboard, especially after the Week 1 score submission window closed? Wouldn’t teams and athletes want to see where they stack up?
Could it be that the number of athletes who registered is low?
Number of Qualifying Spots?
How many teams and duos will compete in Copenhagen? We don’t know as it’s never been announced.
When the WFP Trials registration opened on September 10, the caption read, “Teams and duos battle for the remaining spots to earn their spot in Copenhagen. We will announce the available spots soon.”
Since that post, nothing.Â
In their most recent Instagram post promoting Week 2 of the WFP Trials, one person asked in the comments, “Awesome! But where’s the leaderboard? And how many spots will qualify?”
No response from WFP.
I checked the rulebook (the updated one). No mention of how many teams or duos will compete in Copenhagen.
I went all the way back through the WFP’s Instagram posts and finally found this…
Back on February 26, the WFP shared that Tour Stop 1 would feature 10 spots for age group duos and 30 spots for each Teams of 4 division.
Of course, the number of teams that actually competed in Indianapolis was much, much lower than the spots available. In Mesa, only teams from three divisions actually competed. And one division featured one team.
So how many teams and duos are doing the WFP Trials? And how many will qualify?
I dunno.
Repeat Workouts?
Workout 1 of the WFP Trials was almost an identical workout as Mesa Qualifier Workout 1. There were two differences…
First, the WFP Trials only had 40 GHD Sit-ups while the Mesa Challenger Qualifier had 50 reps.
Second, the dumbbell weight for the Mesa Challengers was 70/50 pounds whereas the WFP Trials weight was 50/35 pounds.
Luckily, WFP Trials Workout 2 was new…although it is eerily similar to Mesa Qualifier Workout 2.
WFP Trials Workout 3 uses the same rep scheme as Mesa Qualifier Workout 3, but subs box jump overs for shuttle runs and lowers the thruster weight to 95/65 from 135/95. The trials time cap is also extended to 10 minutes.
And WFP Trials Workout 4 is almost the same as Indy Qualifier Workout 1. Same movements and time cap, just lowered the number of reps per movement each round.
Now, some will say that the athletes doing the Challenger Qualifier is a different athlete than that who will do the WFP Trials. Maybe, maybe not. There is still an Elite Team of 4 division that could easily feature Challenger-level athletes.
If nothing else, why not create new workouts just to keep it fun and interesting.
Same Weights for All Divisions?
The WFP Trials is for elite teams down to teenagers as young as 14 years old. However, the weights are the same for all divisions.
Why is an elite team athlete doing the same weight as a 14-year old? Joshua Al-Chamaa did the Elite Team of 4 competition in Mesa. Why is he doing the same weight as a scaled division athlete, let alone a 14 year old?
Seems lazy to me.
Registration Still Open?
The score submission window for the Week 1 workouts Sunday night, October 12. Typically, online qualifiers allow athletes to register up to the close of the first submission window. However, the rulebook states that registration was to close October 9.
Either way, Competition Corner is still allowing athletes and teams to register as of Monday morning, October 13.
Does this mean that not enough teams signed up and they will accept teams who don’t do all three weeks of the workouts?
Of course, we have no idea since the leaderboard is still hidden.
