The 2021 CrossFit Games was the 15th edition of the CrossFit Games held from July 27 to August 1, 2021. Justin Medeiros won the men's competition, Tia-Clair Toomey the women's, and CrossFit Mayhem the team's.
The qualification process for the Games is similar to that used before it was changed for the previous two seasons, but with the introduction of quarterfinals between the Open and the semifinal, and a last-chance qualifier. The Affiliate Cup returned as the team competition with Games qualification based on gym affiliation and a new adaptive athlete division was introduced this season.
This is the first season sponsored by NoBull after the Reebok sponsorship ended in 2020. The total prize purse increased to $2.5 million with the individual winners each receiving $310,000.
Justin Medeiros won the men's competition and became the youngest man to win the CrossFit Games. Tia-Clair Toomey won the women's competition for the fifth time, equaling Mat Fraser's record. Toomey also broke Fraser's record for the most number of cumulative event wins by bringing her total to 33.
Qualification
The qualification system was revamped again this season, returning to the system whereby the number of participants get winnowed down in series of stages starting with the Open, but with the addition of a quarterfinal stage for individual and teams where the participants were grouped by continent. The Games also returned the team format to an affiliate-based qualification system with the return of the Affiliate Cup, and a new adaptive athlete division was also added.
Open
The Open returned to its previous role as the starting point of a series of qualification events. The national champion from the Open qualification was removed so that there will be a smaller field of invitees to the Games. The date of the Open was moved back to March, but reduced from five weeks to three starting March 11 with only four workouts held. The number of athletes who registered for the Open increased to over 263,500 after two years of decline. This year prize money was awarded to the overall winners of the Open for the first time in addition to those awarded for individual workout wins, with each overall winner receiving $15,000. Jeffrey Adler and Tia-Clair Toomey were the respective male and female winners of the Open.
Quarterfinals
Participants in the Open were separated on a continental basis and only the top 10% on each continent from the Open can qualify for the Quarterfinals before they can move on to the sanctioned Semifinals. The new quarterfinals were held online like the Open and similar to those previously used for age-group qualifiers. The Quarterfinals for individuals started on April 8, around a week and a half after the Open had finished. The athletes were required to complete five workouts over three consecutive days after the workouts were released, and submit their results for specific workouts daily from April 9 to April 11. Competitors were ranked by continents; the top 120 men and women and 80 teams from the quarterfinals in North America qualified for the semifinals, while the top 60 men and women and 40 teams in Europe, and the top 30 men and women and 20 teams from each of the continents of Asia, Africa, South America, and Oceania also qualified.
Team quarterfinals for the top 25% teams were held from April 22 to April 25. For teens aged 14-17 and masters aged 35 and over, the Age Group Online Qualifier was used as in previous years, but the number of qualifiers from the Open was fixed at 10% instead of 200 athletes. Age Group Online Qualifier took place from May 6 to 9, with the top 20 men and 20 women of each age-group qualifying directly for the Games.
Semifinals
The revamped Semifinals this season were a mix of the Regionals and Sanctionals; the participants competed in their own regions (continents), but each individual Semifinal was organized independently and responsible for its own programming, apart from those held online where all followed the same standardized programming arranged by CrossFit. A few athletes who cannot return to compete in their own continent due to travel restrictions were placed in Semifinals closer to where they lived or where they can compete online. The prize purse was returned to 2018 level with a standardized $5,000 for the winners of each Semifinal with the top-paying Sanctionals of previous two seasons such as Wodapalooza, Dubai CrossFit Championship and the Rogue Invitational opting out of the Crossfit season.