Hyrox: How fitness sport became the latest viral craze
2025-01-20
Category: sports

Hyrox is in a strange place. While not known to many in the general public, it is popular enough that UK events have had to introduce ticket lotteries.Part sport, part race, part fitness craze, it has become a social media sensation since being founded eight years ago and those who have fallen in love are, in their own words, "evangelists".Since the first event in Hamburg attracted 650 participants, the sport has seen rapid growth. According to the sport's official website,, external there were more than 40 global races in 2023, attracting over 90,000 athletes and 50,000 spectators.So, as we mark Blue Monday, a day when people are often said to give up their new year's fitness resolutions, could this be a sport to consider taking up?
What is Hyrox?
Founded in 2017 primarily as an indoor discipline, athletes take part in eight legs, each a one-kilometre run, followed by a fitness exercise.The exercises competitors are put through are 1km on a standing ski machine, 50m of sled push, 50m sled pull, 80m burpee jumps, 1km indoor rowing, carrying a kettlebell 200m, 100m lunges carrying a sandbag, and finally 100 throws and catches of a medicine ball off a wall. World championships are held every year, with contestants taking part in singles and doubles races. The 2024 worlds in France featured a new relay event by nationality.The sport is closely related to CrossFit, but has different, simpler exercises and prioritises endurance over raw strength.The popularity of Hyrox is primarily put down to two things: accessibility, and visibility. It has been designed with the intention of going viral, whether by giving contestants patches instead of medals to wear on their gym bags, or by pushing "Training Club Tuesdays", getting people to tag gyms that offer classes."It's challenging and it's never going to be easy, but it's accessible at the same time," three-time world champion Lauren Weeks tells BBC Sport. "There's a sense of pride that you could bring someone off the street and train for a few months to be able to complete."They treat every single athlete as if they were a pro. If you go to an amateur event, they have a hype person, they have a walk-in tunnel. There's always a DJ playing upbeat music."You have a timing chip and you know your exact splits for everything you're doing. They just do so many things right."
'I'm a bit of a Hyrox evangelist'
Weeks was a trainee nurse when she was introduced to Hyrox by a friend in 2019 and now competes full-time. She became women's world champion in 2020 and also triumphed in 2021 and 2023, the latter 10 months after giving birth, having competed in 2022 while seven months pregnant."As a kid, I had dreams of being a professional athlete, but that was just a child's dream" she says. "It just seems wild that that it actually happened."Away from elite competition, Hyrox is thriving at amateur level, particularly in the UK.Lucy Gabriel has worked as a personal trainer since 2019, and was "peer pressured" into taking part in a Hyrox event by a friend.She has since taken part in multiple amateur competitions, made her pro debut last year and has two more events planned for 2025. She has also become a certified Hyrox coach and judge."I wouldn't call it a competition really, unless you're in the elite," she tells BBC Sport. "I'd compare it more to a marathon where it's a mass participation event. It's something you're doing for yourself to beat your personal best."I'm a bit of an evangelist. When I see other women on the track I'm like, 'oh wow, she's so fast', she's my inspiration rather than competition."
Is Hyrox growing too fast for its own good?
The biggest concern for Weeks and Gabriel is whether Hyrox is growing too quickly for its own good and risks losing elements of its accessibility."Events were originally only selling out in the UK," says Weeks. "Now they're selling out everywhere, and in the UK it is so popular that they have to have a lottery to get a ticket."I think people in the UK need to be willing to travel, even over to Germany or Italy, because the chances of getting into those UK races is super small."The way it's done right now, some people are getting multiple tickets into a race and other people are missing out every single time.""I think one of the problems with events is there's lots of FOMO [fear of missing out]," adds Gabriel. "So people will buy tickets and it'll sell out really quickly then, as you get closer to the event, there's people selling their tickets. That's quite a big thing at the moment."