One of the big questions coming out of last week’s 2024 CrossFit Games announcements was how the spots to the CrossFit Games from each Semifinal would be awarded. The original press release was said details would be coming later, but with the Semifinals field in North America and Europe shrinking to just 40 it begged the question if the worldwide rankings would be scrapped.
Last night, however, Adrian Bozman, Competition Director at CrossFit, joined the Spin Rundown and shared that worldwide rankings would stay in place for the 2024 CrossFit Games season. “We’re going to use the same system that we last season,” said Bozman. “That’s one of those things that when you start something, especially as broad as that, giving it more than a season to marinate is generally a good idea.”
CrossFit Games Allocation Refresher
For those who aren’t familiar with or don’t remember how last year’s qualification to the CrossFit Games worked, a new worldwide ranking system was implemented at the beginning of the 2023 CrossFit Games season. Each region was then given a minimum allocation of qualifying spots to the Games and the remaining 17 unallocated spots were distributed to the regions via the D’Hondt method.
The calculations resulted in all of the unallocated spots going to the big three regions – North America East, North America West and Europe. However, those allocations varied between regions and between the men and women. The breakdown of Games spots in 2023 were as follows:
 | Men | Women |
North America East | 12 | 11 |
North America West | 9 | 10 |
Europe | 11 | 11 |
Oceania | 3 | 3 |
Asia | 2 | 2 |
South America | 2 | 2 |
Africa | 1 | 1 |
How are Worldwide Rankings Calculated?
Following the 2023 CrossFit Games, updated worldwide rankings were published. Atop the rankings were the 2023 CrossFit Games champions Jeff Adler and Laura Horvath.
The worldwide rankings are based on a two-year rolling calendar. That is, as the 2023 CrossFit Games was completed, points from the 2021 CrossFit Games were removed from the worldwide ranking. And when the 2024 Open points are added, the 2022 Open points are removed.

So when it is time after the 2024 Quarterfinals to officially calculate the Games allocations for Semifinals, the worldwide rankings will include points from 2022 Semifinals through the 2024 Quarterfinals.
Potential 2024 CrossFit Games Allocations
Because there is such little variation in points awarded to the top athletes in the Open and Quarterfinals (essentially all of the top 100 athletes earn the same number of points), we can begin to estimate how many Games spots will be allocated to each region right now. This estimate can vary from the actual amount awarded due to region exemptions, athletes not competing in Quarterfinals or going team (which kicks them out of the worldwide rankings) or athletes moving back into the individual division.
However, the likelihood that the estimates are off by more than one allocation is very slim.
So let’s take a look at the current top 100 today, make some adjustments based on what we know about athletes sitting out, going team, etc. and to get an early look at how many spots to the Games each Semifinal could get in 2024.
WOMEN
Region | Athletes in Top 100 |
North America East | 25 |
North America West | 28 |
Europe | 34 |
Oceania | 4 |
Asia | 3 |
South America | 3 |
Africa | 3 |
The table above is based on the regions the athletes competed under in 2023. It does not include Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, Haley Adams or Lucy Campbell, all athletes who did not sign up for the individual Quarterfinals in 2023.
But once they register for the 2024 Quarterfinals, they will be added back to the worldwide rankings.
Additionally, Oihana Moya is ranked #46 on the list, but she was just recently sanctioned for violating CrossFit’s drug testing policy.
Assumptions
Because we know some athletes, like Moya, will be removed and some will be added back – Toomey-Orr, we need to make some adjustments to the top 100 before applying the D’Hondt method to estimate the 2024 allocations.
Here is what I changed…
- Added Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, Haley Adams and Lucy Campbell back into the Top 100.
- Added Kelly Baker to Top 100. She did not compete in Individual Quarterfinals in 2022 so she will add another ~1,980 points to her worldwide ranking, moving her well into the Top 100.
- Removed Annie Thorisdottir (pregnant) and Oihana Moya (sanctioned) from the rankings.
- Dropped Julie Hougard Nielsen Valentina Rangel from the Top 100 rankings (since I added a net two athletes to the top 100 above).
- Changed Ellie Turner’s region to North America West and Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr’s region to North America East. Turner’s application was denied in 2023 but it should be approved in 2024 due to being in the United States for two years. Toomey-Orr has previously indicated that she would prefer to stay in the United States to compete if given the option.
Results
After making the adjustments listed above, the Top 100 by region is estimated to be:
Region | Athletes in Top 100 |
North America East | 27 |
North America West | 30 |
Europe | 31 |
Oceania | 3 |
Asia | 3 |
South America | 3 |
Africa | 3 |
When applying the D’Hondt method based on this projected Top 100 breakdown, the allocation between the three big regions is similar, but not the same as last year.
Region | 2024 (projected) | 2023 |
North America East | 10 | 11 |
North America West | 11 | 10 |
Europe | 11 | 11 |
Oceania | 3 | 3 |
Asia | 2 | 2 |
South America | 2 | 2 |
Africa | 1 | 1 |
Interestingly, despite Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr and Haley Adams being added to North America East, that region potentially loses a spot to the Games while it is picked up by North America West. None of the four smaller regions receive an additional spot beyond their minimum guarantee amount.
But What If…
Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr and Ellie Turner decide to stay and compete out of Oceania in 2024. Well, Oceania would end up getting a 4th spot to the CrossFit Games and North America West would remain at 10 allocations. If only one stays in Oceania, it’s not enough to get that extra spot.
MEN
Region | Athletes in Top 100 |
North America East | 33 |
North America West | 26 |
Europe | 27 |
Oceania | 4 |
Asia | 3 |
South America | 4 |
Africa | 3 |
On the men’s side, the North America East Semifinal will be stacked with 33 of the Top 100 men coming from that region. Oceania and South America both now have four athletes in the Top 100, but, as you will see, both regions will be one athlete short of earning an additional qualifying spot to the Games.
Assumptions
I did make a couple adjustments to the men’s field within the Top 100, but not to the extent as the women. Let’s take a look:
- Removed Jason Smith from the rankings following his failed drug test (although he has yet to be formally sanctioned).
- Removed Willy Georges as he will likely go team this year, and if so, will probably not do the individual Quarterfinals.
- Added 2023 CrossFit Games rookie Michael Wesolowski to the Top 100. He is currently ranked 294th, but he did not compete in 2022. So he will add to his point total in 2024, thereby moving him into the Top 100.
- Added Nikita Yundov to replace Georges.
I did not remove Noah Ohlsen or Chandler Smith from the Top 100. While both are rumored to go team in 2024, I can see them doing the individual Quarterfinals workouts for “fun”. This would keep them in the Top 100 while not advancing to Semifinals.
Results
After making the adjustments listed above, the Top 100 by region is estimated to be:
Region | Athletes in Top 100 |
North America East | 33 |
North America West | 26 |
Europe | 28 |
Oceania | 4 |
Asia | 3 |
South America | 4 |
Africa | 2 |
When applying the D’Hondt method based on this projected Top 100 breakdown, North America West recaptures a 10th qualifying spot while Europe ends up giving one back. Like the women, none of the smaller regions earns an extra spot.
Region | 2024 (projected) | 2023 |
North America East | 12 | 12 |
North America West | 10 | 9 |
Europe | 10 | 11 |
Oceania | 3 | 3 |
Asia | 2 | 2 |
South America | 2 | 2 |
Africa | 1 | 1 |
SUMMARY
Based on what information we have right now, the distribution of Games spots to each Semifinal will be very similar to what it was last year. Unless Toomey-Orr and Turner remain in Oceania the smaller regions will stay at their minimum allocation and the additional allocations will just shuffle between the “Big 3”.
The closest region to gain an extra spot is South America, with four men in the Top 100. But I still don’t see a path until possibly next year with the perfect scenario where they can get five athletes into the Top 100 to trigger the D’Hondt method in their favor.
So with that, here are the number of Games spots from each region that I anticipate to see next year:
Region | Men | Women |
North America East | 12 | 10 |
North America West | 10 | 11 |
Europe | 10 | 11 |
Oceania | 3 | 3 |
Asia | 2 | 2 |
South America | 2 | 2 |
Africa | 1 | 1 |