This week in Dave Castro’s Week in Review, Dave shared three new things coming to the 2027 CrossFit Games season. CrossFit will be adding a Pairs division to the Open, creating intramural functionality within the Games registration system and licensing National Championship competitions to organizers around the world.
All of these items will be explained in more detail at a later date, but here is what we understand of each currently:
PAIRS DIVISION
The 2027 CrossFit Open will be adding a new pairs division. Details will be coming soon, but Dave explained it such that these pairs would split the work of an Open workout. It was unclear if the Pairs division would do the exact same workout as individuals (only split via ‘you go, I go’) or if it would be a modified workout to account for two athletes as a pair.
He said he envisioned this as a way to encourage someone who might be new to the Open or concerned about trying to tackle a workout on their own. This seems a bit odd given the Scaled and Foundations options available, but we will have to see how it plays out.
INTRAMURAL FUNCTIONALITY
Affiliate owners who have run “Intramural” or team competitions for the Open within their gym have had to utilize spreadsheets or other ways of tracking their teams within the gym.
This year, CrossFit will be providing “a [registration] system within the Open to facilitate and host intramurals.”
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The other thing that Dave said CrossFit is working on is working with event organizers to host National Championship competitions outside the official CrossFit Games season stages (Open, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Games).
According to Dave, CrossFit has been inundated with requests to host a Semifinal to qualify athletes to the CrossFit Games. Dave continued by saying that they have had to turn down a lot of these requests, especially those outside the United States.
However, CrossFit is going to license to outside organizers the ability to host an official CrossFit National Championship in their country. These National Championship competitions would be “independent” of the CrossFit Games.
CrossFit already crowns national champions each year, but it is based on the athlete who advances the furthest (with the best finish) in the season.
This sounds like this in-person National Championship would replace the process of determining the national champion in countries where a National Championship exists.
For example, James Sprague was crowned the United States’ national champion because he won the 2026 CrossFit Games. If the United States hosts a National Championship competition, Sprague would have to compete in that to be named the U.S. national champ.
Dave added that he is excited about this new addition and thinks there is room for it to grow in the future.
