With yesterday’s announcement that the 2020 Spartan World Championships will take place in Abu Dhabi on December 4-5, 2020, let’s take a closer look at how you can qualify for a spot.

Spartan Race recently announced updated qualification standards for anyone looking to compete in the Spartan World Championships for 2020. This year there will not be invites issued and every athlete will need to qualify. Spartan also has changed how the “rolldown” week works featuring one global rolldown week.

Per Spartan:

Elite spots are scarce with just 1,200 total Elite spots available (600 men/600 women). There are only 4,500 spots for Age Group racers (225 per age group).

Racers can qualify in 2 main ways:

1. By ranking high enough at a National/Regional Series: See the chart below for the number of spots allocated per series. If a racer does not register during the 7-day rolldown week following the last race of each series, they will forfeit their spot and the next racer on the list will have the chance to register. This will continue until all spots allocated to that series are taken.
2. By ranking high enough at a Regional Championship (eg. North American, European): If you place high enough in a Regional Championship, you will also earn a spot at the World Championship. See the chart below for the number of spots allocated to each Championship.
3. In 2020, there will no longer be automatic invites. All athletes will need to qualify.

Rolldown Week

The 2020 rolldown system features major modifications to the 2019 Elite and Age Group roll down the process for World Championship qualification. In 2020, one global rolldown for World Championship qualification will occur during a designated period called “World Championship Rolldown Week”.

1. Spartan World Championship Rolldown Week will begin Monday, October 26th, 2020 at 12 pm EDT (New York, GMT-4). At this time, emails with a qualifying code for entry to the World Championship will be sent by Spartan HQ to qualifying Elite and Age Group athletes. All qualified athletes will be able to then complete registration for the 2020 World Championship.
2. On Monday, October 26th, 2020 at 12 pm EDT, all Elite and Age Group leaderboards (as they stand on this date) for all global National & Regional Series, and each of the 5 Championships, will be used to determine qualifying spots for the World Championship.
3. Spartan World Championship Rolldown Week will conclude on Sunday, November 1st, 2020 at 11:59 pm EDT (New York, GMT-4).
4. National & Regional Series that are not complete by Monday, October 26th, 2020 at 12 pm EDT may continue until the end of the 2020 calendar year. The incomplete series leaderboards will be used to determine which athletes qualify for the World Championship.

Spartan also has clarified the qualification for the regional/national championships.

Per Spartan:

To qualify for one of the 6 gated Championships, you must be a top 10 Elite or Age Group finisher (male or female) at any regular-season race (as well as all National / Regional Series events). A roll down mechanism for elite and age group competitors applies in 2020.

The 2020 Championship events are as follows:

Latin American Championship

North American Championship

European Championships

APAC Championships

Middle East & Africa Championships

New Zealand Championship (New in 2020)

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