CrossFit released its schedule for the 2022 season and there's a few clues as to how things will shake down next year.

The only two scheduled in-person events to take place before the CrossFit Open (Feb. 24 for 22.1) is going to be the Dubai CrossFit Championship. 

Dubai (Dec. 16-18) is going to be interesting for two reasons. One, formerly banned CrossFitter Ricky Garard will be returning to the competition floor after four years. Two, it looks like Iceland's Sara Sigmundsdottir is planning her return to competition in the United Arab Emirates after knee surgery. 

Then at the start of the year you will have Wodapalooza in Miami January 13-16 where you will get a sneak peek as to which elites are in the best shape heading into the Open. Of course the Open is less important under the new CrossFit rules in terms of qualifying for the CrossFit Games but you will still see some statements from athletes looking to make a name for themselves (think Jeffrey Adler in 2021).

The Open finishes March 14 with 22.3 but you can bet CrossFit mastermind Dave Castro will be looking to add in a workout at the end to throw competitors for a loop like he did last season, and then we head into the quarterfinals.

CrossFit's website has the quarterfinals from March 24-27 and then four weeks of individual semifinals spanning from May 20 to June 12. This is the biggest question mark so far in the competition schedule as it remains to be seen how many of the semifinals will be in person. You can bet the North American ones will all be in person, as well as the European ones, but Asia, which includes Australia, remains a question mark.

Also, will CrossFit look to add to its repertoire and make the Last Chance Qualifier an in-person competition sometime down the road, or is that asking too much in a post pandemic world?

Zero Covid-19 strategies this side of the Pacific Ocean mean opening back up for Asia and Oceania have been slower and more arduous, however one would hope by next summer the pandemic will be in our rear view mirror, however that's been said before without the expected results in kind.