The 2025 Italian Showdown revolutionizes the traditional category system to make the competition even more open to all fitness levels
Over the years, the number of CrossFit enthusiasts has grown across the entire population, bringing many people of all age ranges closer to competitions, even those who have not yet developed their ability. At the same time, the skills of more advanced athletes have grown enormously, opening the performance gap between experts and beginners.
Therefore, we have implemented a revision of the traditional category system, with the aim of defining new ability levels that are as close as possible to the capabilities and age of actual participants. Thus, from the 2025 edition, the skill requirements will be calibrated on the most common characteristics of those who attend the classes, rather than on an ideal “Regional Level” athlete.
The target of this revolution is to satisfy the growing demand for participation from beginners and, at the same time, encourage the transition to the higher category for all those athletes who have already had some experience in local competitions. In practice, we want to make the first entry level to the race even more accessible and, at the same time, bring the intermediate and upper levels closer to those who want to test themselves with new accessible challenges.
Divisions for all fitness levels
To allow all participants to compare themselves with their peers, in terms of age and skill level, and to tackle challenging workouts in competition but which are always sustainable and fun, after having analyzed the performances recorded in the latest editions, we have decided to base the divisions of the competition on the same ability levels adopted by CrossFit in the workout of the day.
- Beginner – The first fitness level is for athletes who have little or no competition experience, who are not yet familiar with all the skills and perform scaled workouts in class. For them, the competition will be based on scaled versions of standard movements and the workouts will be aimed at measuring work capacity with reduced loads and volumes, but always at high intensity.
- Intermediate – The second fitness level corresponds to athletes who already have some competition experience, who are familiar with almost all the skills and often perform Rx workouts in class (or almost). For them, the competition will be based on standard movements and the workouts will be aimed at measuring work capacity and main skills, possibly with reduced loads.
- Rx – The third level identifies athletes who have competition experience, who are familiar with all the skills and always perform Rx workouts in class. For them the competition will be based on advanced movements and the workouts will be aimed at measuring work capacity, skills and strength in any domain.
Age Group up to 60 years and over
The other big innovation of the 2025 edition is the introduction of age groups in all divisions. This means that even Master athletes will finally be able to choose a division that reflects the fitness level best suited to their abilities. In practice, instead of the previous Master categories, there will be 7 Age Groups for each male and female division:
- From 18 to 34 years – Beginner, Intermediate, Rx
- From 35 to 39 years – Beginner, Intermediate, Rx
- From 40 to 44 years – Beginner, Intermediate, Rx
- From 45 to 49 years – Beginner, Intermediate, Rx
- From 50 to 54 years – Beginner, Intermediate, Rx
- From 55 to 59 years – Beginner, Intermediate, Rx
- From 60 years and over – Beginner, Intermediate, Rx
Thus, each athlete will be able to compare himself on the leaderboard with competitors in his own age range but also globally with all other athletes of the same ability level, according to the same principle as the CrossFit Open leaderboard. This way, in addition to competing for the division podium, the winners of each age range will be named “Age Group Champion”.
All details on division requirements and age groups are on the How to Compete page and in the 2025 Rulebook on the official website.