When the season structure was announced for the 2025 CrossFit Games season last week, one of the biggest outstanding questions surrounded the “in-person qualifying events”.
First, I’m calling them Sanctionals…because everything points to these being similar to the Sanctionals in 2019/2020 seasons.
Second, these Sanctionals will be held between April through June. Most Sanctionals will qualify the top 2 men and women to the CrossFit Game. However, some will only receive one qualification spot.
And from what I have been able to gather since the announcement is no official contracts have been signed between potential Sanctional organizers and CrossFit.
With that said, it appears that Africa and South America are working towards having an official Sanctional event for the 2025 CrossFit Games season. In both cases the organizer is the same as last year’s Semifinal host. That is, the Renegade Games would run a Sanctional in Africa while Copa Sur would host a South American Sanctional.
In an Instagram post over the weekend, the Renegade Games shared that more details would be coming soon regarding the 2025 CrossFit Games season. In the comments, Tommo Cox added, “We will make announcements as soon as possible, currently the dates will be similar to last year.”
Copa Sur made a similar post this morning stating, “A new season is coming, with a new format, but the same excitement as always.” It continued, “Stay tuned for all the news from COPA SUR 2025!”
In both instances the organizers are pushing towards hosting a Sanctional for the 2025 CrossFit Games season. Both are in talks with CrossFit and working through the details and contract.
Of course, even once these are signed we are still left with the question of how athletes will qualify or register for these events. Will athletes from around the world be able to travel to Africa or Brazil to compete in these Sanctionals or will the field be limited to their specific region?
All of these questions will eventually be answered, but for now it appears that things are in the works with potential Sanctional organizers around the world…and that Africa and South America will be in the mix.
