HYROX has announced the season structure and qualification process for its Elite 15 Series in the 24/25 season. The Elite 15 series is the professional racing division in the sport of HYROX. The best 15 athletes during any season compete in different Elite 15 race formats, which, in the 24/25 season, includes Majors, A Last Chance Qualifier, and The HYROX World Championships. Titles, prize money and the opportunity to earn the HYROX World Champion title are up for grabs.
The 2024/25 HYROX Elite 15 Series will consist of:
- 4 Regional Major Races – Qualification to the Majors is earned via time placings or previous performances in a championship event. Top 3 at each Major qualify for the HYROX World Championships. If these athletes have already qualified, the slot will roll down to the next 3 athletes in line, so that at every Major 3 athletes will qualify for the Elite15 race at the World Championships. The Winner of each Major will qualify for all remaining Majors
- 1 Last Chance Qualifier – Open Field event at the end of the Major’s season schedule to fulfil the 3 spots still available for the HYROX World Championships
- The HYROX World Championship – The pinnacle of the HYROX race season
The only route of qualification to the World Championships is via placing at a Major race or the Last Chance Qualifier. There is no direct qualification to the World Championships via time in a regular season race.
What are the Majors?
The Majors are 4 regional events that provide the first opportunities for athletes to qualify for the World Championships. Each race will host a Male and a Female Elite 15 Event.
Qualification to these Major events occurs via a combination of auto qualification through:
- Auto Qualification via 23/24 Season Elite 15 results – All 2023/24 Major winners from Chicago, Stockholm, Vienna, Washington DC have automatically qualified.
1st, 2nd, 3rd from the World Championships also auto-qualify. This rolls down to 5th if a Major winner from 2023/24 is included in the top 3.
- Time Qualification – The remaining slots shall be awarded to individuals based on the average of their two best individual Pro times of the past 365 days, until 15 participants have been obtained. Times achieved in Major races, as well as Pro races, will be included for the purposes of calculating the average time. This will be a new dynamic, rolling basis ranking that HYROX will update after each race to always reflect the past 365 days from that particular event date. The ranking can be found on the HYROX website.
15 Male and 15 Female athletes will qualify to race at each Major, and each Major race shall qualify 3 athletes to the World Championship race (1st, 2nd and 3rd in the relevant Major).
If an athlete who has already qualified for the World Championships occupies a qualifying place in a subsequent Major race, qualification shall roll down until 3 athletes qualify from each Major race.
Each Major holds a total prize purse of $60,000 each ($30,000 Male and $30,000 female). All majors will be Grid Format races and will be livestreamed.
What is the Last Chance Qualifier?
Once 12 World Championship qualification slots have been assigned via placings in the Major races, the 3 remaining World Championship slots will be competed for at an open invite regular format race – the “Last Chance Qualifier”.
Anyone can compete by signing up to the Pro Category division at the race. This will be a regular Pro race – it is not in a Grid Format.
If an athlete drops out or can’t attend the Elite 15 Race at Worlds, roll downs will apply to the next LCQ athlete in line (4th, then 5th position).
Who Are the Automatic Qualifiers?
The athletes who have auto qualified for all Majors in the 24/24 season, due to their performances in the 23/24 season are:
Men
World Champion – Alexander Roncevic
2nd at World Championships – Michael Sandbach
3rd at World Championships – James Kelly
4th at World Championships (rolled down) – Pelayo Menendez Fernandez
Chicago 2023/24 Winner – Ryan Kent
Stockholm 2023/24 Winner – Hunter McIntyre
Vienna 2023/24 Winner – Alexander Roncevic
Washington DC 2023/24 Winner – Dylan Scott
Women
World Champion – Megan Jacoby
2nd at World Championships – Lauren Weeks
3rd at World Championships – Vivian Tafuto
4th at World Championships (rolled down) – Viola Oberländer
5th at World Championships (rolled down) – Linda Meier
Chicago 2023/24 Winner – Megan Jacoby
Stockholm 2023/24 Winner – Megan Jacoby
Vienna 2023/24 Winner – Lauren Weeks
Washington DC 2023/24 Winner – Lauren Weeks
Race Venues / Dates
HYROX 2024/2025 Major Races
Amsterdam, Netherlands – October 10th 2024
Hong Kong – November 22nd 2024
Las Vegas, USA – January 31st 2025
Glasgow, Scotland – March 13th 2025
HYROX 2024/2025 LCQ Race
Barcelona, Spain – 26th-27th April 2025
HYROX Major 2024/25 Cut Off Races
TBC – but will be 14-21 days in advance of the Major race
HYROX World Championships
Chicago, USA – June 12-15th, 2025 – more details here.
Prize Money
The Prize Purse is $60,000 – ie $30,000 for the Men’s race and $30,000 for the Women’s race. It will be awarded as follows for each race:
1st Place $7500
2nd Place $5000
3rd Place $3500
4th Place $3000
5th Place $2500
6th Place $2000
7th Place $1500
8th Place $1000
9th – 10th Place $750 each
11th – 15th Place $500 each
I got to discuss these changes in more depth with HYROX Co-Founder, Mo Fuerste. You can watch that discussion in the video below, or on the Rox Lyfe podcast…
