The 2026 World Fitness Tour is upon us! Just like in its inaugural season, the Tour will feature three online qualifiers, two Tour Stops, and the World Fitness Finals.
The season starts with the Tour Stop 1 Qualifier running from February 18-25 and will serve as a filtering process into the first Tour Stop, which will take place in Mexico City from May 1-3.
Tour Stop 2 Qualifier will run from July 1-8 and will allow athletes to qualify for Tour Stop 2, which will be hosted at Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana from August 28-30.
The first two qualifiers will be for individual men, individual women, and elite teams.
Each Tour Stop will host a Pro Men and Pro Women’s field of 50 (including the 20 Signed Pros for 2026), and an Elite Team field of 20.
Director of Sport Will Moorad explains some of the changes to the Tour Stops, including the selection of Mexico City, the expansion of opportunities for the Elite Teams, and the larger sizes for the individual Pro fields (as opposed to having both Pro and Challenger divisions):
Two of the three Stops on the Tour are the same as 2025, but a major competition is going to be debuting in Mexico for the first time at Tour Stop 1, how is this in line with the overall mission for the WFP?
“The sport is global and the World Fitness Project needs to feel global in practice, not just in name. Expanding the tour to new markets allows us to serve athletes, fans and partners who are already deeply invested in the sport while strengthening the competitive depth of the season.”
There is a much bigger presence and opportunity for Elite Teams throughout the World Fitness Tour this year, how did that come about?
“Teams have become one of the most engaging and accessible parts of the WFP season. Expanding the elite team field allows more high quality athletes the opportunity to compete on the biggest stages and it strengthens the connection between competition and community. It’s a natural evolution of WFP.”
Why have the Challenger divisions been removed and the Pro divisions gotten bigger at Tour Stops?
“For 2026, our focus is on sharpening the core product. Rather than stretching competition across multiple competitive tiers we chose to double down on the elite season and the pathways that feed into it. This allows us to deliver a more clean, compelling experience for athletes, fans, and partners while we continue to evaluate how best to support emerging competitors long term.
The last online stage for 2026 is the World Fitness Finals Qualifier, which will run from September 23-30. This qualifier will be for Elite teams, as well as Masters and Next Gen divisions. It will be a direct qualifier for the World Fitness Finals.
For the second year in a row World Fitness Champions will be crowned at Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark. The World Fitness Finals will feature fields of 30 for Pro Men and Pro Women, a field of 20 for Elite Teams, and fields of 10 for all Masters and Next Gen divisions.
For the 2026 season, Masters divisions will be 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, and 55+. The Next Gen divisions at the World Fitness Finals will be 14-15 and 16-17.
Qualification paths to the Finals will be different for different divisions.
Next Gen’s will only have one path to the Finals, which will be through the qualifier in September. The top 10 in each Next Gen division will advance to the World Fitness Finals.
Masters athletes will have two paths to the Finals. Winners of their respective divisions at select partner competitions will earn a direct invite to the World Fitness Finals. The remainder of the fields of 10 will be filled through the qualifier in September.
Elite Teams who finish in the top 5 at each Tour Stop will qualify to the Finals. The remaining 10 spots will be filled by winners of partner competitions and the qualifier in September.
Similarly to 2025, the top 30 athletes in the Pro Men and Women’s fields will compete at the World Fitness Finals in December. However, the Signed Pros are not guaranteed invites this year. Regardless of status (Signed Pro or 2026 Challenger) the top 30 points earners will get the Finals spots.
Another change to the 2026 World Fitness Tour is the scoring system for the Pro divisions. At both Tour Stops and the Finals, athletes will earn and retain the actual points they earn in competition.
For example, if an athlete accumulates 550 points at Tour Stop 1, and 490 points at Tour Stop 2, that athlete will start the Finals with 1040 points (550+490). If the same athlete goes on to earn 710 points at the World Fitness Finals, their total for the season will be 1750 points.
Tour Stop winners will be the athletes who earn the most points at that Tour Stop. The World Fitness Champions will be the male and female athletes who have the highest cumulative point total from Tour Stop 1, Tour Stop 2, and the World Fitness Finals.
Will Moorad also weighed in on the changes to the scoring system for 2026:
What was the thought process behind the evolution of the season long scoring system going into year 2?
“The points system needed to better reflect what the season is actually about, consistency and head-to-head competition. The updated system rewards athletes who show up across the season and perform under pressure. It’s a refinement that aligns the standings with the story we want the season to tell.”
One final piece of the World Fitness Tour this year will be the Project 1 initiative. At both Tour Stops, and the Finals, there will be both community and competitive divisions for Project 1. Ultimately, top finishers in the competitive division will qualify to compete at the World Fitness Finals. There will be both singles and doubles divisions for Project 1.
The 2026 Season features increase to the prize purses at Tour Stops and the season long pay out at the World Fitness Finals.
This year both Tour Stops will have a total of $414,000 allocated to the Pro divisions payouts ($207,000 per division), distributed from 1st to 30th place:
At the World Fitness Finals, a total of $1,138,000 will be allocated to the Pro divisions ($569,000 per division) paying out all 30 athletes who qualify to the Finals based on their season long point totals:
These increases provide an additional $48,000 to each Tour Stop, an additional $372,000 to the Finals. It brings the total payout for the season to $1,966,000 - an additional $420,000 for the season overall, which is an increase of just over 21%.
