CrossFit skips in-competition drug testing for Masters semifinal athletes

The decision matters because CrossFit itself pays for and coordinates drug testing, not the third-party Semifinal organizers. Testing a large Masters field is costly, and that cost rises fast when every in-person qualifier is sending athletes to the 2026 CrossFit Games. CrossFit’s schedule awards 28 qualifying Masters spots at Legends Championship, Magic City Games, French Throwdown, Torian Pro and LatAM Masters, turning every stop on the route into both a competition and a compliance exercise.

But the absence of on-floor testing at one Semifinal is not a clean bill of health. CrossFit’s drug-testing policy says all registered CrossFit Games athletes can be tested at any time during the year, including directed, unannounced out-of-competition testing. Athletes must consent to testing to participate in a CrossFit Games event, and refusal can bar participation. CrossFit says out-of-competition samples are collected by Drug Free Sport International and analyzed at the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory or the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory under the full WADA out-of-competition panel.

That background explains why Masters remains under a brighter microscope than most age-group divisions. Over the last two years of sanctions for failed drug tests, more than half have involved Masters athletes. In 2024 alone, CrossFit announced sanctions for Jonathan Edel, the Men’s 40-44 winner at the Masters CrossFit Games, Jamie McGarva, the Men’s 50-54 runner-up, Shawn Ramirez, who finished third in that same division, and Cristiano Damasceno, who placed fourth in Men’s 45-49. Edel, McGarva and Damasceno each received four-year bans, while Ramirez received a lifetime sanction after his appeal was denied.