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Stockholm
- Hyrox mixes eight 1km runs with strength stations — ski-erg, rowing, sled push and pull, burpees, lunges, kettlebell carries and medicine-ball throws. A respectable time is about 90 minutes; the fittest finish in under an hour.
- From 650 people at the first race in Hamburg in 2017, the organiser expects more than 2m competitors across six continents in the 2026-27 season, with 12 cities including Athens, Mumbai and Washington in September alone.
- Growth is driven by gym culture, social competition and travel, but costs — tickets upwards of £150 plus travel and gym fees — and whether the craze lasts remain open questions.
Inside Strawberry Arena, a cavernous stadium in Stockholm, thousands of chiselled men and women are puffing and slick with sweat. A few are the colour of the fruit. Hyrox — believed to be a portmanteau of “hybrid” and “rock star” — asks them to run a kilometre, cover the same distance on a ski-training machine, then run again, repeating that pattern between rows, lunges, burpees, kettlebell carries, sled pushes and pulls, and medicine-ball throws.
Racers at first Hyrox, Hamburg 2017
Expected competitors, 2026-27 season
Views for #hyrox on Instagram and TikTok
What Hyrox is and how a race works
This cross between a relay race and high-intensity interval training may sound nauseating to the unathletic. But Hyrox claims to be the “fastest-growing mass-participation fitness concept in the world”, and the numbers show rapid scale. After Hamburg in 2017, the format will run on six continents in 2026-27, with September alone featuring events in 12 cities, including Athens, Mumbai and Washington.
The format has set pulses racing beyond the arena. Peloton, the home-exercise firm, offers Hyrox training classes. Later this year a four-day European cruise will allow athletes to train at sea, with tickets for a cabin starting at a bracing £2,200 ($3,000). There is a Hyrox dating app and bank card. “Hyrox is not just a race or an event,” one acolyte proclaims online. “Hyrox is a lifestyle.”
Why the hybrid format is taking off
The hype is partly explained by a boom in gym culture: men and women are pumping iron more than they used to. Across America, Britain and Europe, fitness-club memberships have reached a record high. Isabella Helm, a 25-year-old trainee accountant who trains six days a week in London, says: “You get addicted to feeling fitter and stronger.”
Hyrox adds a social element to what is generally a solitary pursuit. There is also the adrenalin rush that comes with competition. Leaderboards foster friendly rivalry. Athletes can race solo, in pairs or teams; friends can pay to watch from the stands.
Who is competing — and where they race
Participants often turn races into mini-holidays. As the format spreads across the globe, there is no shortage of new destinations to visit. Danny and Zoe Rae are British influencers who, like a number of couples, combine races with recreation and doing “something nice”. “It’s a great way to travel,” Mr Rae says.
The sport attracts racers of all ages. The average age of participants is 36, but the oldest at the world championships in Stockholm was 75. Laura Hitt, who trains several older people at her gym in Exeter in south-west England, says that “it’s one of the most accessible sports I’ve been part of.”
Hyrox is kinder on the body than other fitness races — such as CrossFit, which peaked in popularity in the 2010s — because it does not require complex weightlifting. That may explain why it appeals to retired athletes as well as hobbyists.
Can it keep running?
Will Hyrox run out of breath? Some grumble that tickets are scarce and cost upwards of £150 — even without accounting for travel, hotels and months of gym fees.
But Moritz Fürste, the co-founder of Hyrox and an Olympic-medal-winning hockey player, believes the format has room to grow, and hopes it will be included in the Olympics in 2032. He concedes that it is expensive, but that demand is still far exceeding supply. “It’s like tennis and golf,” he observes: “Once it becomes your sport, you’ll keep coming back.”
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