Why Lithuania Pulled Out of iF3 'Super Worlds'

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up premium subscriber edition.

In today’s edition:

  • Over the weekend, the Lithuanian team withdrew from the iF3 “Super Worlds” World Championship in Budapest, Hungary, citing violations of the “Neutral Flag Policy” and the handling of Russian athletes. Get the details below.

  • Finding a balance between “too restrictive” and “too loose” in your nutrition program is difficult. Today, Tracy Tucker from Training Think Tank offers five ways to make finding that balance easier.

  • The CrossFit Quarterfinals era is over, relegated to the dustbin of history in the sport of fitness. Before we enter into a period that will more closely resemble the Sanctional Era, we take a look back at Quarterfinals by the numbers.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Sports are supposed to be apolitical. We want people to come here and show what you can do, your sporting ability, and nothing else. There are very few places in the world where you can go and come out onto the field, and it comes down to my hard work, and my dedication and performance.” - Gretchen Kittelberger, iF3 President, on the importance of creating a neutral space for athletes to compete and perform. 

COMPETITIONS

Credit: @lithuanianfunctionalfitness /  Instagram

Lithuanian Team Exits 2024 iF3 Worlds Over Neutral Flag Policy, Handling of Russian Athletes

It was a busy few weeks leading up to the International Functional Fitness Federation (iF3) “Super Worlds” World Championship in Budapest, Hungary.

  • More than 800 athletes were scheduled to represent just under 40 countries. 

Athletes were packing bags, arranging accommodations, fitting in their final training sessions, and preparing to compete in the annual competition. 

Because this year's World Championship was a “Super Worlds,” all the divisions were scheduled to compete under one roof on one weekend. This included all the age-group divisions, teams, and the “Open” or “Senior” category, which many competitions label as “Elite Individuals.” 

In the days before the competition, the Lithuanian team began to notice violations by the iF3 regarding the “neutral flag policy." This policy allows athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport to compete in sporting events only under a neutral flag, with the demarcation of “AIN” or Independent Neutral Athletes. 

  • As rosters were being released electronically and “Fitcard” graphics were posted on social media, the Russian flag was displayed, as well as the country designation. 

This gave the Lithuanian team pause, and concern grew as to whether or not these violations would be addressed and remedied. 

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SPEED READS

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  • According to the post, there will be three divisions: “professionals,” “challengers,” and “competitors.” There will be league contracts, a pro card system, and a qualifying pathway to earn a card. While the details are still scarce, check out the post here.

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Credit: Frank Nguyen

5 Ways to Find Balance With Your Nutrition Goals as a “Regular” Person

Finding balance in your nutrition, especially when you are trying to make changes in your body composition and body weight, is arguably one of the hardest concepts for “general population” gym-goers (read: “not elite athletes”). 

  • There’s so much more to it than a few “black and white” guidelines—so many grey areas. 

If you’re a professional athlete or training to become one, this article is not for you. Instead, it’s to help people think about different ways to navigate their nutrition program to help them avoid feeling like they are being “so restrictive” or “too loose” with their food and fuel choices. 

The recommendations below may not apply to every situation, but they can be a great start to finding that balanced place with food.

CROSSFIT GAMES

Credit: @crossfitgames / Instagram

A Look Back – The CrossFit Quarterfinals Era By the Numbers

RIP CrossFit Quarterfinals, 2021-2024

In November, the CrossFit Games team released its first season update for 2025. 

  • In that announcement, we learned that while the Open, Semifinals, and Games remain generally the same from last season, we can say goodbye to the CrossFit Quarterfinals. 

Remind Me

Quarterfinals was the second stage of the CrossFit Games season from 2021 to 2024. 

In the first three iterations (2021-2023), the top 10 percent of athletes (Individual, Team, and Age Group) on the leaderboard after the three-week Open could advance to compete in online Quarterfinals, with a chance to advance further to the in-person Semifinal round. 

  • Those who qualified then took on four to five Quarterfinal workouts over a long weekend in April. 

In 2024, the “quarter” in “Quarterfinals” took on a new significance as 25 percent of the athletes in the Open qualified for the second stage. 

The Quarterfinals stage was also the point at which athletes from around the world were grouped into their competitive regions: North America East and West, Europe, Asia, Oceania, South America, and Africa, most recently. 

  • The qualification rules for Quarterfinals stipulated that it was not the top 10 percent globally who received an invitation but the top 10 percent — later 25 percent — from their region to ultimately qualify for their region’s in-person Semifinal.

If your goal was to make Quarterfinals, the change to 25 percent made it much easier, but you likely didn’t realize that was your last chance at the time. 

  • Now, with the end of Quarterfinals (and we believe competitive regions), only the top 1-2 percent worldwide, depending on division, make it to the next stage.

To mark the end of the CrossFit Quarterfinals era, we look back at the key stats and details from the past four seasons. 

HIGHLIGHTS

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  • 🎂Happy birthday to Haley Adams.

  • Congratulations to everyone who competed and podiumed this weekend at the Legends Championship.

  • Congratulations to all the athletes who competed and podiumed at the iF3 World Championship in Budapest, Hungary.

  • Way to go, Adaptive CrossFit Games athlete Jordan Cabrita, for completing his first Hyrox race.

  • 🇺🇸Congratulations to Dylan on winning the Marine Corps NROTC Scholarship.