HYROX went to Australia for the first time on 12th August 2023 at the Sydney Showground.  Over 1500 athletes competed on the day, and an impressive 43 nations were represented!  In a great example of how HYROX is for everyone, the youngest athlete on the day was just 16, and the oldest was age 64.

A few well-known, top level, athletes were in attendance and racing in the Pro division.  These included CrossFitters James Newbury, Ricky Garard (3rd in the 2022 CrossFit Games), Benny Garard, and Katelin van Zyl, as well as more established, experienced HYROX athletes such as James Kelly and Chris Wooley.

Here’s how the day panned out…

Men’s Pro

The Men’s Pro race started out very fast, with both James Kelly and Ricky Garard setting the pace (James showing his strength on the runs, Ricky showing his abilities on the stations).  Ultimately the race was won by James Kelly in a time of 00:59:18. James’ previous HYROX race was at the 2022/23 World Championships in May when he impressively finished 8th in the Elite 15, despite only having had 30 minutes notice that he was to compete! He’ll be very pleased with this dominant showing to kick off his 2023/24 season against a strong field.  

Second place was taken by Ricky Garard in his much-hyped first HYROX competition, finishing in a time of 01:02:21. He came into the final station in 3rd place, but completed 100 wall balls unbroken (very rare in the Men’s Pro division), and managed to overtake Chris Woolley who finished 3rd in a time of 01:03:37.

James Newbury (you can watch my interview with him here) finished in 5th.

All in all, some amazing rookie performances in the Men’s Pro race.  James Kelly, the winner of the race, shared his thoughts in the below video, and addressed the meaning behind his comment of “Where’s CrossFit?” when on the rower, during the race, and in post race comments…

Women’s Pro

The Women’s Pro race was won by Olivia Leonard in a time of 01:10:39 (hear from her in the below video). Second place was taken by CrossFit Games athlete Katelin van Zyl in 01:15:51, and third was Kim Mercer in 01:18:09.

Men’s Open

The Men’s Open was won by Ed Womersley in 01:04:29. A very close second was Ryan Jenkins in a time of 01:04:44. Third place was taken by Paul Stevenson in 01:07:04.

Women’s Open

The winner of the Women’s Open was Ella Boudakin in 01:05:42. Second place was taken by Jessica Short in a time of 01:06:52. Third was Kirran Mowbray in 01:08:37.

Doubles

The Men’s Doubles was won by Jonathan Vuarnier and Tanguy Cruz in a time of 00:56:10. 

The Women’s Doubles was won by Eleanor Sullivan and Jessica Sullivan in 01:08:04.

The Mixed Doubles was won by Lucy Clark and Bertrand Venall in 01:02:57.

All in all a very successful first event for HYROX Australia.  The next event was held in Melbourne on 26th August 2023.

Here are some photos of the Sydney 2023 event: