Dutch Athlete Ilse Boevink Banned Four Years for Altered Open Video

A week ago, Ilse Boevink had the second fastest time in the world on CrossFit Open 26.3. That all changed when her score was adjusted to zero and Andrew Hiller published a video showing evidence she had edited her submission. The fallout since has been swift and final: CrossFit has handed the Dutch athlete a four-year sanction, effective February 26, 2026 through February 26, 2030.

CrossFit cited Boevink for "violating the CrossFit Games rulebook," specifically the clause governing video submissions: "Ensure submitted videos are unedited and not altered in any way." In an email posted to Boevink's own Instagram account, CrossFit stated she edited her submission to "gain a competitive advantage" and used different equipment than what was shown in her video when asked to verify the weights. CrossFit concluded the decision is final and cannot be appealed.

The competitive consequence was brutal. The zeroed score effectively, and barely, eliminated Boevink from advancing to Quarterfinals. Even after the adjustment, she ranked 26,878th in the world, while the top 26,490 women received invitations to compete at Quarterfinals. She missed the cutline by 388 places.

The investigation that surfaced the manipulation was driven largely by Andrew Hiller. CrossFit had initially zeroed out Boevink's 26.3 score on Friday, not for editing her video, but for failing to follow video submission requirements, such as showing the weights used. Within hours, Hiller published his first video walking through Boevink's submissions for the 2026 CrossFit Open, showing evidence she did not use proper weights or the correct bar, and presenting what he described as overwhelming evidence she spliced the clock to speed up her workout.

Hiller then went live two more times. The admission came during the second stream. Boevink and her coach joined Hiller on that Monday live show, where Boevink admitted to splicing the video and ramping up the speed of her workout. The sequence from leaderboard contender to public confession played out across less than a week.

Before her score was pulled, Boevink had posted a time of 13:28 on the thruster, clean, and burpee workout, finishing just two seconds behind eventual winner Afroditi Grigoriadi. That time had placed her second globally and made her one of the more closely watched athletes in the women's field during the final week of the Open. The sanction now erases that result entirely and bars her from CrossFit competition through February 26, 2030.