The World Fitness Project Tour Stop 2 begins on Friday. It is the second opportunity for the Pro and Challenger athletes to earn points for the 2025 season with the ultimate goal to earn a Pro Card for the 2026 season.
The top 20 men and women at the end of the 2025 season will get a Pro Card for next year. For the current Pros, that means retaining it. For the Challengers, it means taking one of the Pro Cards away from a signed athlete.
The first step is to qualify for the WFP Finals in December. All of the signed Pros are automatically entered into the Finals. That leaves 10 spots for the Challengers to round out the field of 30 athletes. (Note: for the women, Bethany Flores will not compete due to pregnancy and for the sake of this analysis I have assumed Emma McQuaid will not return to competition).
So because of how the point system is structured between the Pro and Challenger divisions, there are some Challenger athletes who have already qualified for the WFP Finals…even if they take last place in Mesa.
In fact, there are two men and three women who will compete in Copenhagen this December regardless of where they finish.
Already Qualified for WFP Finals
- Colten Mertens
- Nick Mathew
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- Fee Saghafi
- Oda Lundekvam
- Anikha Greer
It does not matter where they athletes finish in Mesa. They step onto the competition floor, they qualify for the WFP Finals.
Up For Grabs
Men
Of the remaining five spots in the men’s division, there are seven who can actually qualify for the WFP. The five athletes below can guarantee their spot at the WFP Finals if their finish at Tour Stop 2 meets or exceeds the place listed:
- Aniol Ekai (26th or better)
- Nate Ackermann (25th or better)
- Colin Bosshard (23rd or better)
- Dani Camacho (18th or better)
- Tudor Magda (15th or better)
- Ty Jenkins (15th or better)
- Jack Farlow (14th or better)
- Julius Kieser (11th or better)
If one or two of the athletes above fail to finish at or above the place listed, it opens the door for Tola Morakinyo. He is competing in the Challenger division and will need to take 1st or 2nd in Mesa to even have a shot at qualifying.
- Tola Morakinyo (Challenger Division in Mesa)
The rest of the guys competing this weekend in Mesa cannot qualify for Copenhagen, even if they win the Challenger division. Maybe next year…
Women
The women’s side is a little more up in the air for two reasons. First, there likely 12 spots available to Challengers. Second, backfills in both Indianapolis and Mesa have given more women an opportunity to earn points.
The following nine women can secure their spot to the WFP Finals if they finish at or better than what is listed below:
- Var Thurmann-Moe (29th or better)
- Sydney Michalyshen (25th or better)
- Linda Keesman (24th or better)
- Andrea Solberg (23rd or better)
- Lydia Fish (21st or better)
- Ella Wilkinson (19th or better)
- Jennifer Muir (14th or better)
- Hannah Black (13th or better)
- Elena Carratala (10th or better)
Just like the men, if one or more of the women do not meet the placement listed, it opens up the door for these women…
- Lexy Neely (Challenger division in Mesa)
- Emily Rethwill (Challenger division in Mesa)
Both Neely and Rethwill earned critical points in the Pro division in Indianapolis. However, both only qualified for the Challenger division in Mesa.
Neely can technically finish last in the Challenger division and still qualify for Copenhagen. It would require either Hannah Black or Elena Carratala to finish near last place in the Pro division. Obviously, if Neely does better than last place this weekend, it improves her odds, but she still must have one of the nine women fall.
Rethwill finished 29th in the Pro division in Indianapolis and will need a great weekend to stay in the hunt. Rethwill need to finish 7th or better to even have a shot at qualifying.
Outside of these women, no one else can qualify for the WFP Finals.
2026 Pro Card
There are also three athletes who cannot retain their Pro card for the 2026 season. Bethany Flores will lose her Pro Card after announcing she would not compete the remainder of the season due to pregnancy.
The other two athletes are Emma McQuaid and Haley Adams. Both will have not competed in the first two Tour Stops and even if they competed in Copenhagen and won, they would not have enough points to finish 20th in season points.
How Many Points Are Needed for 2026 Pro Card?
There is not an absolute number required as it will depend on how the athletes actually finish. However, it appears that it will require at least 1,260 points, maybe upwards of 1,300 to finish in the top 20 in season points.
This is important for athletes like Alex Gazan and Jeff Adler who competed in Indianapolis, but won’t in Mesa.
By this math, Gazan would need to finish 10th or better at the WFP Finals to give herself a shot at retaining her Pro Card. For Adler, that would be 8th or better.
Of course, these are only estimates and could change. However, it does place an emphasis on competing at every competition to make it much easier to keep that Pro Card.
