2026 CrossFit Quarterfinals: What You Need to Know

What Quarterfinals Is

Quarterfinals is the second stage of the CrossFit Games season. It is where the field gets serious. The Open lets anyone in. Quarterfinals is for the athletes who finished in the top 25% of their division worldwide and want to find out how far they can actually go.

It is not a live event. You do the workouts at your own affiliate over five days, film your attempts, and submit your scores online before the deadline. The workouts are harder than the Open. The standards are stricter. And the athletes around you on the leaderboard are all the ones who survived the first cut.

How It Works

Quarterfinals runs from March 26 to March 30. You have the full five days to complete the workouts. You can do them at any point during that window, which means you can choose your day based on how your body feels, how your schedule looks, and how much time you want to spend reviewing movement standards before you go.

Scores must be submitted online at games.crossfit.com before the deadline. Video submission is required. Every rep counts and the judges are not lenient at this level. Know the standards before you start.

What's at Stake

The top 2,000 men and the top 2,000 women from Quarterfinals will advance to Semifinals. Semifinals are live events held around the world between April and June, with a final Online Semifinals running June 11 to 15 for athletes who want one more shot.

From Semifinals, the top athletes earn spots at the 2026 CrossFit Games, which takes place July 24 to 26 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. That is where the top 30 men and top 30 women in the world compete to be crowned Fittest on Earth.

For most athletes who qualified for Quarterfinals, the Games are not the target. Advancing to Semifinals is. And even finishing Quarterfinals, seeing where you land on a worldwide leaderboard of the fittest athletes on the planet, is a result worth chasing.

Age Groups: Same Weekend, Same Opportunity

The Age-Group Quarterfinals run on the exact same dates as the Individual Quarterfinals: March 26 to 30. If you qualified in both an individual division and an age-group division, you can compete in both and you only pay one registration fee. The programming overlaps, so you are not doing double the work.

The top 25% of each age group advance from the Open to Quarterfinals. After Quarterfinals, the following athletes advance to Age-Group Semifinals:

Age-group Semifinals run online from May 7 to 11. Top finishers advance to the Masters CrossFit Games (July 21 to 23) or the Teenage CrossFit Games (July 24 to 26), both in San Jose.

The Full 2026 Season at a Glance

How to Approach the Next Five Days

Quarterfinals workouts are more demanding than the Open in every way. The movements are harder, the loads are heavier, and the rep schemes are less forgiving. Here is how to give yourself the best shot:

Read the movement standards twice before you train. Watch the demo videos if they are available. One no-rep on a chest-to-bar pull-up or a missed depth call on a squat can cost you a significant number of reps on your final score. At this level, the margin between advancing and not is small.

Pick your days wisely. You have five days. Use the first to assess the workouts and decide your order. Prioritise the movements you are most confident in while you are still fresh. Leave yourself at least one day to repeat a workout if you think you can do better.

Film from the right angle. The camera needs to show your full body throughout every rep. If a judge cannot see your lockout, your depth, or your chin over the bar, that rep does not count. Film a test clip before you start and check it.