If you have been following the Dubai Fitness Championship Qualifier over the past few weeks, one name might have stood out – Natalie Newhart. The CrossFit Games veteran has returned to the sport CrossFit and has been competing in local and regional competitions this summer and fall.
Newhart also entered the Dubai Fitness Championship Online Qualifier. After the first two weeks, Newhart was in 16th with one week remaining. The top 30 would qualify to compete in Dubai this December.
As of last night, Newhart was sitting in 11th overall with some scores still coming in. While still unofficial (videos still being validated), it was almost guaranteed Newhart would finish inside the top 30.
However, this morning Newhart’s name was not on the leaderboard. We reached out to Newhart to find out happened.
According to Newhart, organizers of the Dubai Fitness Championship notified her via email that they were removing her scores because of her current CrossFit Games suspension, which runs through March 2018.
Throughout her suspension, Newhart has stayed up-to-date with CrossFit’s drug testing protocol and is in good standing with the CrossFit Games. Newhart has been updating her whereabouts with CrossFit, but has not been drug tested since her suspension.
Newhart told The Barbell Spin that she is frustrated with Dubai Fitness Championship’s decision, but understands why they removed her scores. Newhart plans to compete in local and regional functional fitness competitions during 2018 with the goal of making it back to the CrossFit Games in 2019.
Requests to the organizers of the Dubai Fitness Championships for comment regarding this have not been returned.
