World Fitness Tour Roster Now Complete

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• With the additions of Laura Horvath and Jeffrey Adler, the World Fitness Tour has now announced its full men’s and women’s Pro rosters for the inaugural 2025 season. Get the details.

• Check out nine lessons from the hit AppleTV show Ted Lasso that can help affiliate owners.

• CrossFit’s “Transgender Policy,” which originated in the 2019 Games rulebook and was there every year through 2024, was not included in the 2025 edition. It was replaced with a “Gender Classification Policy.” Learn more below.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“This is the right thing to do. CrossFit believes in the potential, capacity, and dignity of every athlete. We are proud of our LGBT community, including our transgender athletes, and we want you here with us.” - CrossFit Founder and CEO (at the time), Greg Glassman, August 3, 2018, introducing the “Transgender Policy” that would be added to the 2019 CrossFit Games rulebook.

COMPETITIONS

Jeffrey Adler and Laura Horvath Complete World Fitness Tour 2025 Pro Roster

On Monday, the final name was added to the World Fitness Tour Pro roster, as Laura Horvath joins fellow 2023 CrossFit Games champion Jeff Adler along with 38 other athletes set to compete in the new league this season. 

Remind me: As the full roster was still trickling out at the end of December 2024, the World Fitness Project had shared dates of the upcoming Tour Events, the team behind the organization, and the details on how it all works.

Forty elite athletes have signed on as World Fitness Project “Pro” competitors, meaning they will earn a salary regardless of their placing at any of the three live events. 

Additionally, there will be online qualifiers for “Challengers” — these are athletes who want to compete but have not been signed. 

• The top “Challengers” fill 10 spots on the men’s side and 10 on the women’s side as they compete alongside the “Pros” and vie for a “Pro Card” in 2026. 

Ultimately, each live event will see 30 women and 30 men throwing down in the “Pro Division,” a combination of “Pros” and “Challengers.” There will also be other divisions featured at each event.

• The World Fitness Project team has scheduled dates for their events so athletes can choose to also compete in the CrossFit season.

A MESSAGE FROM VICTORY GRIPS

Get the Edge: Competition-Approved Grips for the 2025 CrossFit Season

CrossFit’s latest rulebook update is here — don’t let banned grips hold you back! Stay ahead of the game with leather and synthetic leather grips, the only styles approved for in-person competition at the 2025 CrossFit Semifinals and Games.

✅ Approved for In-Person Competition (Semifinals, Games, etc.):
✔️ Leather and Synthetic Leather Grips → Shop Now

🚫 NOT Approved for In-Person Competition, but 💡 Still Allowed in the Open and Everyday Training!
❌ Rubber-Based Grips → Shop Now

Important Note: Rubber-based grips are only banned for in-person competitions. However, they’re still a great choice for training, the Open, and non-sanctioned events. They're perfect for the 'whiteboard warriors' pushing for their first muscle-up, unbroken reps, or new PRs in the 2025 Open!

SPEED READS

🚨🚨 The CrossFit Open is Coming: The 2025 CrossFit Open will take place February 27-March 17, so get signed up now!

• Bundle and save on 2025 CrossFit Open shirts and Judges course registration here.

🏳️‍🌈💪Out in the Open: Launched in 2018, “Out in the Open” is the OUT Foundation’s all-gender, 100% inclusive fitness leaderboard for the LGBTQ+ community and allies. Learn more here and register now.

🏆🦁 TFX Invitational Qualifiers: Congratulations to all TFX Championship podium athletes. In the Pro Divisions, podium athletes also earned a ticket into the TFX Invitational, one of the 10 Qualifying Events in the 2025 CrossFit Games season.

• Earning a spot in the Invitational on the men’s side were Casey Strong, Jacob Marlow, and Matt Brady. On the women’s side, it was Katelynn Sanders, Hannah Black, and Tracy Johnson.

• The TFX Invitational will take place May 16-18, 2025, in Austin, TX. Two men and two women will earn 2025 CrossFit Games tickets there.

🌎🏆 2025 World Fitness Tour Roster: The highly anticipated competitive fitness tour announced its final two pro card athletes — Games champs and megastars Jeff Adler and Laura Horvath. We’ll break down the full 20-man and 20-woman rosters this week. In the meantime, the Online Challenger Qualifier I is now live! Register here.

ICYMI: The Open Report is back for week two. Check out Known and Knowable’s Open registration insights into the age demographics in the CrossFit Open.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

9 Lessons a CrossFit Affiliate Owner Can Take from Ted Lasso

Running a CrossFit affiliate is hard. Really hard. Some days, it feels like no matter how much you pour your heart and soul into the members, the affiliate, and your coaches, it's just not enough.

• That feeling of not measuring up? I get it. I've been there. So, if you're looking for the secret to success, I'll tell you right now – it's to be more like Ted Lasso.

In all seriousness, though, we can learn powerful lessons from the fictional TV character that we can apply directly to being a better affiliate owner. 

Here are nine of them.

Be curious, not judgmental.

When you first found CrossFit, it was easy to be skeptical.

• Combining weightlifting, gymnastics, and cardio all in one workout? Sounds crazy.

But rather than writing it off, you got curious. You tried to understand it. And that open-mindedness is what led you to fall in love with it.

Bring that same curious attitude to your members, coaches, and affiliate. Rather than quickly judging ideas as good or bad, get curious and seek to understand them better first.

CROSSFIT GAMES

CrossFit Reverses Longstanding Gender Policy – Athletes Must Compete According to “Gender Assigned at Birth”

When the 2025 CrossFit Season Rulebook was released last month, one of the many changes, buried near the end, included a new “Gender Classification Policy” that requires athletes to compete according to their gender assigned at birth.

Although it was not described as a replacement for CrossFit’s longstanding “Transgender Policy,” that policy is no longer in the rulebook.

• Specifically, “Section 9.01 - Gender Classification Policy” of the 2025 CrossFit Games Rulebook states: “All athletes are welcome to participate in CrossFit Games events. However, to maintain fairness and the integrity of the competition, athletes must compete in the division corresponding to their gender assigned at birth.” (Emphasis in the original.)

• “Section 9.02 - Participation in All Stage of Competition” clarifies further that “Athletes must register and compete in the gender division corresponding to their gender assigned at birth for all stages of the CrossFit Games, including the Open, Community Cup, Semifinals, In-Person Qualifying Events, and Finals.”

This rule is in stark contrast to the “Transgender Policy” that has existed in the CrossFit Games Rulebook every year since 2019.

The new policy for 2025 does not use the word “transgender.” Section 9.02 goes on to state, “This policy applies universally, and no exceptions will be granted based on legal, medical (except as noted below), or personal documentation that reflects a gender other than the athlete’s gender assigned at birth.”

• The medical exception noted above in Section 9.02 of the 2025 CrossFit Games Rulebook provides that “In the rare case of a disorder of sex development (DSD; also referred to as an intersex condition) determinations will be made on an individual basis and may include classification for competition in a division other than the gender assigned at birth.” For more on DSDs, see this article from the Cleveland Clinic’s Health Library.

Finally, “Section 9.03 - Challenges to an Athlete’s Gender Classification” states that “ Any athlete may confidentially challenge the eligibility of another athlete under this policy by submitting a written request to [email protected].”

• Additionally, the rule notes that “CrossFit reserves the right to request verification of an athlete’s gender assigned at birth to ensure compliance with this policy” and that all challenges will be reviewed and resolved “in a manner that prioritizes athlete privacy.”

HIGHLIGHTS

Celebrating a PR, hosting a fundraiser, this, that, or otherwise? Send us a tip.

• 🎂Happy birthday to Paige Powers.

• ICYMI, check out this 140-kilo/230-pound snatch from Hannah Black last weekend at The Fittest Experience.

• Ukrainian weightlifter Iryna Dombrovska reps out three thrusters at 80 kilos/176 pounds. What’s your three-rep?

• 🍼Congratulations to Sammy Moniz, who completed a Hyrox with partner Preslie Hirsch, while being pregnant with her and Mat Fraser’s baby number two.

• 👟Congratulations to Noah Ohlsen, who, less than a week after winning TYR Wodapalooza, took on the Miami Marathon, finishing with a time of 3:50.

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