There are phases of the season that are quickly understood and others that completely change the tone of the competition.
The Quarterfinals belong to the second group.
Because when the Open ends, the conversation stops revolving solely around participating, comparing results, or closing a good overall performance. From here, the feeling is different. The group narrows, the demand rises, and each workout starts to weigh more.
That's why this week has real interest. The Quarterfinals take place from March 26 to 30, their workouts are already published, and they have their own leaderboard space within the official season.
When are the Quarterfinals
The Quarterfinals are held from March 26 to 30. It's not a long phase or a window open for weeks. Precisely for this reason, it concentrates so much interest in a few days: everything happens quickly, and following the leaderboard becomes very important from the start.
This also changes the way the competition is followed. Here, it doesn't make much sense to arrive late. It's a phase to watch during the week, review movements in the ranking, and understand how athletes respond when the calendar really tightens.
Why this phase is followed differently
The Open has a very clear logic: breadth, participation, and massive comparison.
Quarterfinals change that logic.
Here, it's no longer just about completing workouts. It's about doing so within a much more selective phase, where the margin for error weighs more and where reading the leaderboard starts to matter in a different way. It's no longer just about who is in first place. It's also about who makes the cut, who falls, who rises, and which performances withstand the pressure as the week progresses.
That's why Quarterfinals generate so much attention in tan few days. It's not just a phase after the Open. It's the point where the season starts to get really serious.
Quarterfinals workouts: what has been published already
The workouts are already published in the official Quarterfinals section. On the workouts page, the 2026 edition, the Individuals category, and the four workouts of this phase appear.
One of the published workouts is this:
Workout 1
For time:
10 shuttle runs of 50 feet
20 overhead squats
30 burpees over the bar
1 minute rest
30 burpees over the bar
20 overhead squats
10 shuttle runs of 50 feet
Time cap: 12 minutes
Load: 80 lb for women and 115 lb for men.
Just with this first example, it is quite well understood what kind of phase this is.
There is not a single dominant demand. It is not a pure motor workout nor one of isolated weightlifting. What appears here is a mix that forces you to control several things at once: movement, overhead stability, the ability to maintain pace, burpees under fatigue, and effort management after a forced rest.
The interesting thing is not just the workout, but what it exposes
From the outside, Quarterfinals are often summarized as “a phase with tougher workouts”.
It falls short.
The interesting thing is not just that the workouts demand more. The interesting thing is that they expose more. They bring to light errors that in other phases go more unnoticed: slow transitions, loss of pace, technical doubts, poorly measured pauses, or small decisions that in an open phase are less noticeable.
This makes Quarterfinals have a different type of interest. It not only shows who is strong. It shows who competes better.
Where to follow the Quarterfinals leaderboard
The Quarterfinals phase has its own official section of leaderboard within the competition site. In the Quarterfinals navigation, it appears alongside Overview, Schedule, and Workouts, making it the main reference for following rankings and movements during these days.
And here is an important point: in such a phase, it is not advisable to look at the leaderboard only once.
It is advisable to follow it.
Because one of the things that makes this week interesting is precisely that: seeing how the ranking moves, which athletes consolidate, which suffer more than expected, and how the weekend's outlook changes as more scores come in.
How to follow Quarterfinals without missing out
If you want to follow this phase effectively, it's not enough to enter the leaderboard once and see who is leading. It's more worthwhile to focus on this:
- which workouts are making more differences
- which names are quickly rising in the ranking
- which areas of the leaderboard are tighter
- which profiles seem more solid as the week progresses
That provides a much more interesting insight than just looking at the first place.
Because Quarterfinals are not well understood if followed as a simple list of results. It's better understood as a week where each workout refines the filter and the leaderboard gradually shows who withstands that process better.
What questions does this phase answer
Quarterfinals are interesting because they answer questions that the Open does not fully address.
For example:
- who maintains their level when the phase becomes more selective
- which athletes not only perform but also execute well
- what type of profile fits better in a short and demanding week
- which workouts create more real separation between athletes
That's why this phase also works very well at the content level. You don't need to compete to follow it with interest. You just need to understand that here the season changes tone.
Frequently asked questions about Quarterfinals
When are the Quarterfinals
They are held from March 26 to 30.
The workouts are already published
Yes. The official Quarterfinals section shows the workouts for the 2026 edition within the individual category.
What does Workout 1 include
It includes shuttle runs, overhead squats, burpees over the bar, one minute of rest, and a time cap of 12 minutes.
Where to follow the ranking
In the official leaderboard section of Quarterfinals within the season's website.
Quarterfinals are not just a continuation of the Open.
It is the moment when the season stops feeling broad and starts feeling selective. That's why this week draws so much attention: there are clear dates, workouts already published, and a leaderboard that becomes a central part of the follow-up.
If you want to understand what's happening these days, that's the combination that matters: when the competition is, what's being asked in the workouts, and how the leaderboard moves.
