Hyrox is a fitness-racing group business which runs standardized fitness competitions that combine of running with 8 functional workout stations.
Contestants alternate between running and functional exercises. It bills itself as "The World Series of Fitness Racing" and "A Sport for Everybody".
A Hyrox competition is made up of eight runs each followed by one of eight different functional workout stations. The events are standardized across all locations, allowing athletes to compare results globally.
Hyrox was launched by Christian Toetzke and Moritz Fürste. The first Hyrox event was held in Hamburg, Germany, in April 2018.
History Originally called Curox, Hyrox was founded by Olympic field hockey champion Moritz Fürste and Christian Toetzke, and first introduced in Hamburg, Germany in 2017. With the idea of developing a program that would appeal to gym-goers and avid Strava users, Fürste and Toetzke designed a race of "eight 1km runs with a workout station in between each 1km – in no particular order." It would also motivate gym users to move past losing weight and checking their body status.
The first Hyrox event had 650 participants. According to Fürste, the original brief was "to create an event that is a €200,000 production that looks like a €2,000,000 production".
The competition has since expanded worldwide, with 24,000 people taking part in Hyrox events in London alone in 2023. In total, 65 races were held around the world in 2023, with 175,000 competitors taking part.
Hyrox affiliates A network of Hyrox-affiliated gyms has been established, and gyms pay a yearly affiliation fee to become a Hyrox affiliate. There are three tiers of affiliation: Hyrox Performance Centers, Hyrox Training Clubs, and Hyrox Performance Academy. Hyrox365 is responsible for the training and education side of Hyrox. The number of Hyrox-affiliated gyms grew rapidly, and reached 5,000 by the end of 2024.
Sponsorship and prize money
By season 3 of Hyrox (2020–2021) it had attracted investments from Infront Sports & Media Group and sponsorships by global brands Red Bull and Puma. Prize money for the elite event has grown year on year. Other major events have received prize payouts in addition to the World Championships. For the 2023–2024 Hyrox World Championship, the total prize purse was $150,000 split between the male and female elite fields, with the winner receiving $25,000.
In 2024, Hyrox announced a relay event with representatives from 20 different countries as captains, with the freedom to pick their teams from any athlete of that country. At the World Championships in Nice, France, the relay will take place as the final event with the winning team taking home $20,000 in prize money ($5,000 per athlete).
Format Hyrox combines running with functional exercise stations, where participants run , followed by one functional exercise station, repeated eight times. Each race is hosted indoors in exhibition halls or convention centers. Occasional events have been hosted outdoors, including Miami in 2023. The world's first fully equipped outdoor HYROX Gym was built at Club La Santa in Lanzarote, Spain, in May 2024.
This race format remains consistent across the globe, enabling global leaderboards and a cumulative World Championships at the end of each race season. At the event's functional exercise stations, participants are required to complete the following:
1 kilometer of running into 1 kilometer of SkiErg 1 kilometer of running into 50 meters of sled push 1 kilometer of running into 50 meters of sled pull 1 kilometer of running into 80 meters of burpee broad jump 1 kilometer of running into 1 kilometer of rowing 1 kilometer of running into 200 meters of kettlebell farmer carry 1 kilometer of running into 100 meters of sandbag walking lunge 1 kilometer of running into 100 wall balls
All participants complete the running and stations. Station weights and repetitions can differ based on the division.
Hyrox workouts Athletes preparing for Hyrox competitions usually train either at home, in Hyrox-affiliated gyms or other functional fitness gyms such as CrossFit boxes that provide access to specialized equipment such as SkiErgs, RowErgs, Kettlebells, Sandbags, sleds, wall balls, and dumbbells. These pieces of equipment help simulate the strength, endurance, and conditioning challenges athletes face during the actual Hyrox race. Since the event combines functional movements with endurance running, training sessions often blend high-intensity cardio with strength-based exercises to build total-body performance.
A typical Hyrox-style workout begins with what's known as a "buy-in" exercise — a foundational movement or endurance component that sets the tone for the rest of the session. This is followed by three or four additional exercises, performed in multiple rounds to build stamina and test recovery under fatigue. The goal is to maintain consistent effort while managing heart rate and proper form throughout the workout.
Examples of Hyrox-style workouts include:
Buy-in: 1000-meter row Then: 3 rounds of 10 wall balls, 10 kettlebell swings, and 20-meter sled pushes. Buy-in: 800-meter run Then: 4 rounds of 10 sandbag lunges, 10 burpee broad jumps, and 15-calorie SkiErg. Buy-in: 500-meter SkiErg Then: 3 rounds of 20 air squats, 10 push-ups, and a 100-meter farmer's carry.
These workouts not only mirror the physical demands of Hyrox but also help athletes develop mental toughness, pacing awareness, and efficient transitions between movements—key elements for achieving faster race times and stronger overall performance.
Hyrox competitions Many Hyrox competitions are held around the world every year, and no qualification is required for athletes to join these competitions. Competitors may compete as a single, or in doubles as a two-person team, or in a team relay. There are four divisions: women, women pro, men, and men pro. For doubles, there are doubles women, doubles men and doubles mixed.
Some of the larger weekend events are extended to two- or three-day affairs. The largest single-day event took place in Birmingham, UK, with 5,032 total finishers. The only event with more participants was the two-day event in London in 2022 that had 6,270 participants.
A number of important championships are held every year, including the European Championships and the North America Championships, but the most important one is the Hyrox World Championships.
World Championships Elite qualification system
Competitors can qualify for the World Championships by becoming one of the Elite 15 in Individual Pro races. Those with the best time in the Pro division in a global leaderboard receive an invitation to the Elite race series such as the European Championships and the North America Championships. The podium finishers in these competitions qualify for the elite races in the World Championship.
The first Hyrox World Championships was held in Oberhausen, Germany, in 2019, with over 600 participants. For season 1 in 2019, the World Championships Elite race was determined solely by the fastest times of the season up to that point.
The season 2 races in 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The official World Championships for that season had a condensed field that included the top 5 times of each gender plus one wild card invite of each gender. The wild card invites were from sport adjacent athletes and included Samantha Briggs (2013 CrossFit Games Champion) and Adam Klink (first male to squat 500-lbs and run a sub-5 minute mile in the same day).
For seasons 3, 4, and 5 (2021–2023), athletes qualified by placing top 3 at either the U.S. Championships or the European Championships. The remaining slots were filled in by the top times of the season.
In season 6 (2023–2024), in order to qualify for the World Championships, athletes needed to place top 3 in one of four "Major Championships" where roll-down slots would happen for athletes who already qualified but never passed 5th place. All remaining spots are filled in by two "Last Chance Qualifier" events, where the first one chronologically will have less available spots than the later one. Qualification for the four major events is based on automatic qualifiers from previous seasons (U.S. Champion, European Champion, Top 3 at World Championships) and the remaining spots are filled in based on time from Pro Division events.
The average finishing time for the men in the Pro division was 1 hour and 22 minutes in 2025.
In the 2024–2025 season, Hyrox introduced Elite 15 divisions for Men's and Women's Pro Doubles for the first time. Similar to the individual Elite 15 format, the top-performing doubles teams from the Pro division leaderboard, along with qualifiers from major championship events, were invited to compete in a final championship heat at the World Championships. Mixed Doubles did not feature an Elite 15 division in this season; champions were determined by overall fastest time.
Champions by year The World Champions of each season are listed here:
Pro/Elite men and women +World ChampionsSeasonYearLocationFemale championFemale winning time (h:mm:ss)Male championMale winning time (h:mm:ss)12018–2019Oberhausen, Germany Imke Salander1:08:08 (WR) Lukas Storath0:59:0722019–2020*Hamburg, Germany Lauren Weeks1:09:47 Hunter McIntyre1:00:0432021Leipzig, Germany Lauren Weeks (x2)1:03:43 (WR) Tobias Lautwein1:00:0042021–2022Las Vegas, USA Kris Rugloski1:07:21 Hunter McIntyre (x2)0:58:0552022–2023Manchester, UK Lauren Weeks (x3)0:59:51 Hunter McIntyre (x3)0:56:4062023–2024Nice, France Megan Jacoby0:59:59 Alexander Roncevic0:56:2172024–2025Chicago, USA Linda Meier0:58:56 Tim Wenisch0:53:5382025-2026Stockholm, Sweden Alyssa McElheny 0:56:59 Dylan Scott0:53:47 • 2020 was run on Assault Fitness AirRunners due to COVID-19 restrictions
Pro/Elite doubles (men's, women's and mixed) SeasonYearLocationWomens doubles championsWomens doubles winning time (h:mm:ss)Mens doubles championsMens doubles winning time (h:mm:ss)Mixed doubles championsMixed doubles winning Time (h:mm:ss)12018–2019Oberhausen, Germany Manuela Staelberg Marisa Staelberg1:04:07 Johannes Neusser Martin Dambauer0:56:15 Julien Hagel Claudia Wipfler0:56:5622019–2020*No Doubles Race was held due to COVID-19 Restrictions32021Leipzig, Germany Bente Pries Agnes Schulz1:04:19 Christoph Uhl Holger Körner0:51:03 Julien Hagel (x2)Claudia Wipfler (x2)0:57:4642021–2022Las Vegas, U.S. Aileen McCann Tahlia Britton1:01:25 Clemens Scherbel Christopher von Stelzer0:51:26 Lauren Rantala Marc Howe0:57:1352022–2023Manchester, UK Rebecca Naether Mirjam Von Rohr1:00:36 Taylor Haney Colin Stiefer0:54:29 Jacqueline Lippenmeyer Florian Lippenmeyer0:55:5162023–2024Nice, France Kate Davey Zara Piergianni0:57:59 Jake Dearden Marc Dean0:52:34 Fabien Eisenlauer Jennifer Nikolaus0:53:0872024–2025**Chicago, USA Lauren Griffith Lauren Weeks0:54:58 Tim Wenisch Jannik Czapla0:50:24 Mévéna Pingliez Quentin Pingliez**0:54:068 2025-2026Stockholm, Sweden Lauren Weeks Vivian Tafuto0:53:31 Alexander Roncevic Tim Wenisch0:48:57 2020 was canceled for doubles due to COVID-19 Restrictions
The 2024–2025 season was the first to feature Elite 15 Men's and Women's Doubles races at the World Championships. Mixed Doubles did not feature an Elite 15 race; champions listed are the overall fastest team from the Age Group races. +U.S. and North American ChampionshipsSeasonYearLocationFemale championFemale winning time (h:mm:ss)Male championMale winning time (h:mm:ss)32021Chicago, U.S. Lauren Weeks1:05:18 (WR) Hunter McIntyre1:01:0142022Chicago, U.S. Lauren Weeks1:07:03 Ryan Kent0:57:4552023Chicago, U.S. Mikaela Norman1:02:04 David Magida0:59:1162024Washington, D.C., U.S. Lauren Weeks1:01:20 Dylan Scott0:56:377*2025Washington, D.C., U.S. Lauren Weeks0:55:38* Dylan Scott0:53:42*82026Washington, D.C., U.S. Lauren Weeks56:27 Cole Learn53:37