Worldwide Ranking Points Tables for 2023 CrossFit Semifinals

Earlier this week, CrossFit released its updated Worldwide Rankings. The update included points earned from the Semifinals that just wrapped up earlier this month. The publication of the rankings was just that, however. It only included the Top 100 men and women with the ‘by competition’ breakdown of points and the comprehensive ranking of all Quarterfinals athletes.

While the rankings have been released, CrossFit never published the points tables that outlines how many points are assigned to each finish within the Semifinals.

When CrossFit originally published the points system, it was based on the Semifinals structure from 2021 and 2022 where all fields were 30 athletes deep with a set number of qualifying spots. Also, CrossFit removed the points tables shortly after publication and replaced them with a high-level overview.

Luckily, I was able to save those and published the Semifinals Worldwide Ranking points tables in an article back in January.

The problem is that with the larger 60-athlete fields in North America and Europe, combined with the fact that these Semifinals sent a different number of athletes to the Games (i.e. North America West men qualified 9 while North America East men qualified 12).

In that original article by CrossFit, they stated the following:

“For the 2023 season, updated points tables for all Semifinals will be based on the final number of Games-qualifying positions at each competition. In addition, the North America and Europe Semifinals points tables will reflect the larger, 60-athlete fields present at those competitions. Semifinals with a higher number of qualifying positions/larger field of athletes will have a more gradual decline in points per placement.”

But those points tables were never published. Not before the competition. And now not even after the rankings were updated.

So we decided to calculate the Semifinals points tables and publish them for all to see.

Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America

The Semifinals points tables for the smaller regions did not change from 2021/2022. The same number of athletes qualified to the Games as previous years and the fields remained at 30 athletes.

North America and Europe

Here is where the points tables changed. The points are now spread out across the 60-athlete field and are slightly adjusted for the number of qualifying spots. By slightly, I mean that the top 10 does not change regardless of whether 9 athletes qualify or 12. The variations between the points tables all occur beginning in 11th place and trickle down from there.

Takeaways

In looking at the points tables, there is very little difference in the points earned across the larger North American and European Semifinals, even when the number of qualifying positions varies rather significantly. 

With it being more difficult to qualify out of North America East in the men’s field, taking the 12th and final qualifying spot earns an athlete 1,590 points. However, in the “easier” North America West men’s field, the last qualifying spot (9th place) earns 2,000 points. This is the same number of points as 9th place in North America East.

And when comparing 12th place in both North America East and North America West, the points awarded are 1,590 and 1,450, respectively. The difference is almost immaterial and the worldwide ranking will ultimately be based on their finish at the CrossFit Games.

Of course, this doesn’t really matter because all that matters is that an athlete be in the Top 100 to count towards their Semifinals’ D’Hondt calculation. This means that those bubble athletes around the top 100 are what matters…and those point differentials are even smaller.

At the end of the day, this system appears to be what will be used going forward. Let’s just hope there is a little more transparency and the points tables are published in advance of the competition in the future.