CrossFit hands out four sanctions for video editing, birthdate falsification

CrossFit’s 2026 Open leaderboard did not close the book on the season. It triggered four sanctions that cut straight to the sport’s core rules: two four-year bans for video editing and two one-year bans for falsifying birthdates, a disciplinary wave that can still shape qualification paths and athlete status long after the workouts ended.

The sanctions were confirmed in CrossFit Athlete Council meeting notes dated April 9, 2026, which said HQ had already reported the four punishments internally. Two of the cases involved edited video submissions, including Ilse Boevink and Angelo Di Milo, while two others involved athletes who lied about their age during Open registration. CrossFit did not name the birthdate violators because both were minors.

The consequences are not cosmetic. In the 2026 rulebook, the Open is the first stage of the CrossFit Games season, and performances are judged, validated and ranked on the leaderboard. The top 25 percent of individual and age-group athletes move on to Quarterfinals, which means a manipulated video or false registration detail can change who advances and who gets left behind. CrossFit also says athletes may not adjust or resubmit scores once the submission window closes at 5 p.m. PT on Monday, so validation problems can land after the fact but still rewrite the official picture.

That is why the video rules carry real weight. CrossFit’s support guidance says submissions must be publicly viewable on YouTube and can be accepted, modified or invalidated at CrossFit’s sole discretion. Videos also have to stay viewable for the entire Open, and they can be rejected for poor camera angles, obstruction, fisheye distortion, incorrect movement standards, improper attire or miscounted reps. In other words, the leaderboard is not a suggestion. It is a verification process.

Boevink’s athlete profile showed her 2026 Open result at 26,878th worldwide among women, a reminder that a score can look official before scrutiny catches up. Di Milo’s profile showed prior Open history in the 45-49 division before the 50-54 category referenced in the sanctions report, suggesting a veteran age-group competitor rather than a one-off case. The birthdate sanctions carried their own warning too: CrossFit’s rulebook says parents or guardians who help a minor falsify a birth date can be barred from registering for any CrossFit Games events for one year.

For CrossFit, the message is blunt. The Open is no longer just about posted scores, but about whether those scores survive review. In a season that funnels athletes from Open to Quarterfinals and beyond, enforcement is now part of the competitive story.