HYROX returned to Hannover for the last German event of the 2022/23 season on 6th May 2023 at the Deutsche Messe AG.
Men’s Pro
In the Men’s Pro race, several well-known, experienced HYROX competitors were racing, many hoping to secure a time fast enough to qualify them for the Elite races at the upcoming 2023 HYROX World Championships. Ultimately it was won by Graham Halliday who finished in a PB of 57:35, which is one of the faster times we’ve seen this season, and strengthened his own age group World Record in the Men’s Pro 25-29 age group. This was a third Men’s Pro race win of the season for Graham, after his successes in Manchester and Glasgow.
Second was Peter Schiller who also finished with a PB in a time of 58:21. That puts him into the Elite 15, pushing out Tom Hogan, just 3 weeks before the World Championships. There’s now only the Hong Kong event left for people to set a time that can qualify them for the Elite races. After the race Peter shared his comments with us:
“The hall was really great – a big glass front made the hall filled with sunlight! I’m very happy with my race. I hoped to be faster at the wall balls but the tank was empty in the end. 😅
To be honest I hadn’t really thought much about a Elite15 spot but yes it was the very far away goal. The near goal was to do a new PB and prepare for the WC (when I realized that the Elite15 spot will be very very hard to reach I set a new goal to win the age group WC.)
I changed my training a lot after Munich. I built a very stump plan where I can increase the weight, distance sets or reduce the rests week after week so that it’s really easy to see if there is an improvement. Especially in the running and strength-endurance part (like a 5×5 strength program).
So I’m very happy that my own created plan paid off. I noticed everything about the last weeks, that my clients will soon be able to enjoy this program.
My plan was also in the last 12 weeks instead of training to loose some weight. 2kg to improve my running.
Further more I want to say thank you to everyone who supported me to this time. 🙏🏽
So now I hope the time is enough and I stay healthy that I can race this year with the best athletes over the world. At the last WC in Las Vegas I also qualified for the Elite but couldn’t race because of Covid a few weeks before the race.“
Third was Ruben Patino Vieites in 59:04 (also a PB). In fact, there were 6 men who broke the 60 minute barrier in what seems to have been a particular fast race.
Women’s Pro
There was a blisering performance from Janne Thomsen in the Women’s Pro division, setting a winning time of 01:04:31. This was enough to put her back into the Elite 15 qualifying positions, and actually makes her the 10th fastest female athlete of the season so far. She finished over 4 minutes ahead of Petra Arvela who was second in 01:08:51, and Sabrina Rothig, who was part of the Elite races at the 2022 World Championships, was third in 01:09:38.
Fast Course?
With some very fast times, including world records and several PB’s being set on the day, I looked into whether the data overall supports that Hannover may have been a particularly fast course. And it does seem to suggest that was the case. The median time in the Men’s Open was 01:24:30, which is over 2 minutes faster than the European average for the season, 2.5 minutes quicker than the most recent German event, Cologne, which was held just 3 weeks prior, and 6 minutes faster than the slowest German race we’ve seen this season which was in Munich.
Men’s Open
Fastest in the Men’s Open was Robert Maire in an impressive 00:58:54.
Robert Steincke was second with a time of 00:59:18, and third was Bjorn Arendt in 01:00:56.
Women’s Open
A very closely contested Women’s Open race was won by Laura Wittman in 01:06:23. Just 11 seconds behind her was Jessica Pennings in second, and Stefanie Krist was third in 01:07:19.
Doubles
The fastest Mens Doubles time was set by Luca Dozio and Luca Cavicchiolo in an impressive 56:41.
The Mixed Doubles was won by Carina Bungard and ex Men’s Pro World Record holder Lukas Storath in 00:55:03.
The Women’s Doubles was won by Ulrike Wendt and Beata Marx in Emma Holm and Jesse Clarke in a time of 01:00:00 which set a new World Record in the 40-49 Mixed Doubles age group.
Special mention in the Mens Doubles should also go to Bernd Wegener and Andreas Bruns who set a new world record in the 60-69 age group with a time of 01:14:56.
If you competed in Hannover please leave us a comment below!
Here are some photos of the event:
