What’s the deal with cuts and scoring for the 2019 CrossFit Games?
- Rule changes for the Games are most definitely going to make for an exciting competition in Madison, Wisconsin
- Making cuts and wheelhouse events late in the competition could prove fruitful for certain competitors
From the inclusion of national champions, to the birth of Sanctionals, or to the fact that the season began before the rules were all known. Regardless, we are now staring down a CrossFit Games that is more uncertain than any Games in nearly a decade. Information is at a premium, but slowly CrossFit has been letting more and more be known through unpublicised means.
Without a major announcement of any kind (other than their Twitter account), the scoring system for the 2019 Games was released on July 19, less than two weeks before the start. Here’s a breakdown of how it will all play out:
For the individual competition, there will be six cuts, the first after event one. When the others will occur is still unknown. The field will be cut down to 75, then 50, then 40, 30, 20, and finally 10 athletes, while points will be awarded for all events. The maximum number of points that can be earned in any one event will always be 100.
As the field shrinks in size, the gap in points between subsequent placements increases. For example: fifth place in the first three rounds is worth 92 points, but then it goes down to 88, 84, 80, and finally 60 points when there are only 10 athletes remaining. The biggest jump is in the final cut. At that point there is a full 10-point gap between every place on the leaderboard (with 20 athletes every placement is worth 5 less points).
In a field of only 14 teams, there will be four cuts over the course of competition. The cuts will take the field from 14, to 11, then nine, seven, and finally five teams, but when those cuts will occur is unknown and points will be awarded for all events. The maximum number is always 100, but like the individuals it’s a sliding scale from there depending on the size of the field. Third place at the start of the competition earns 86 points, but as the field gets smaller it drops to 80, 76, 68, and eventually 50 points once the field is down to only five teams.