New Rule Changes for the 2014 CrossFit Season

The 2014 CrossFit season gets underway later this month when registration begins for the 2014 CrossFit Open.

Just like 2013, there will be a few rule changes this year with stricter regulations for athletes. Some of the big changes include spot drug testing, wild card entries to the CrossFit Games, and new Master’s Qualifiers. Here is a closer look at some of the changes in 2014:

Wild Card Spots

Wild Card spots could be handed out to athletes for the Games this year. HQ has revealed that if it chooses to, wild card spots will be awarded to athletes who performed the best relative to all other Regional competitors during the 2014 CrossFit Season. The number of wild card spots will be announced after the CrossFit Regionals.

In addition, only 43 men and women will be awarded spots to the 2014 CrossFit Games at the Regionals. That means that even if a former champion qualifies, additional spots will not open up. So a fourth or fifth place finisher at Regional Events will not qualify unless they are handed a wild card spot by CrossFit.

Tighter Drug Testing

Drug testing will be even stricter during the 2014 CrossFit Season. CrossFit has announced that ‘unannounced’ drug testing will be held this year. This means that any registered athlete in the 2014 CrossFit Games Open could be drug tested at any time during the season for whatever reason.

New Video Requirements for Regional Qualifiers

Athletes hoping to compete at the Regional Events will now also need to videotape all their workouts. They can still have their workouts validated by an affiliate manager, but if they finish in the top 60 men or women in their Region, they will be required to submit at least one complete video of one of the Open workouts.

Athletes will not be told which video they will need to submit until after the final workout has closed. The required video will then be verified by CrossFit Games staff prior to sending out Regional invitations for individuals and teams.

Masters Qualifier

Qualifying for the Masters Division at the 2014 CrossFit Games will now be a longer process with the introduction of a ‘Masters Qualifier’.

Once the 2014 CrossFit Open is complete, the top 200 Masters athletes in each age category will be invited to perform four additional workouts. These workouts will be released on Thursday, April 17 at 5PM (Pacific Time) and athletes will have until Monday, April 21 at 5 p.m. PT, to submit their scores or video submissions.

In addition, Masters athletes will need to videotape these workouts as they may also be asked to submit one to four of these videos for review.

To find out more about the rule changes for the 2014 CrossFit Season, you can check out the 2014 Rulebook and 2014 Drug Testing Policy.