diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/GlobalCheckpointTracker.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/GlobalCheckpointTracker.java
index 416d6abdcb4cd..ee1f2d7c8715a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/GlobalCheckpointTracker.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/GlobalCheckpointTracker.java
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ private static long inSyncCheckpointStates(
                                 .stream()
                                 .filter(cps -> cps.inSync)
                                 .mapToLong(function)
-                                .filter(v -> v != SequenceNumbers.UNASSIGNED_SEQ_NO));
+                                .filter(v -> v != SequenceNumbersService.PRE_60_NODE_CHECKPOINT && v != SequenceNumbers.UNASSIGNED_SEQ_NO));
         return value.isPresent() ? value.getAsLong() : SequenceNumbers.UNASSIGNED_SEQ_NO;
     }