2025/26 Elite 15 series Update

HYROX has announced the season structure and qualification process for its Elite 15 Series in the 25/26 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 25/26 season, includes 4 Majors, 3 Regional Championships, and the HYROX World Championships. Titles, prize money and the opportunity to earn the HYROX World Champion title are up for grabs.

The 2025/26 HYROX Elite 15 Series will consist of:

4 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.

3 Regional Championships races – Qualification to the Regional Championships is earned via time placings. The winner of each regional championship race will qualify for the HYROX World Championships. Athletes must hold a passport from a country in the relevant location in order to compete (Americas, APAC, EMEA – see the HYROX rulebooks for more information). If these athletes have already qualified, the slot will roll down to the next athlete in line, so that at every Regional Championship 1 athlete (or 1 pair in case of Elite Doubles) will qualify for the Elite15 race at the World Championships.

The HYROX World Championship – The only route of qualification to the World Championships is via placing at a Major race or winning one of the regional championships. 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 opportunities for athletes to qualify for the World Championships. Each race will host a Male and a Female Elite 15 Event for both Singles and Doubles.

Qualification to these Major events occurs as follows:

SINGLES

Auto Qualification via 24/25 Season Elite 15 results – All 2024/25 Major winners from Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Las Vegas and Glasgow have automatically qualified (see below for the list of auto-qualifiers).

1st, 2nd, 3rd from the World Championships also auto-qualify. This rolls down to 5th if a Major winner from 2024/25 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. As per last season, this is a dynamic, rolling basis ranking that HYROX will update after each race to always reflect the past 365 days from that event date. The ranking can be found on the here 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.

DOUBLES

There is no auto qualification.

Time Qualification – all slots will be awarded to doubles teams based on their best Pro Doubles time 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 qualification. The qualifying pair must remain unchanged – substitutions are not permitted for Elite 15 Doubles qualification.

All majors will be Grid Format races and will be livestreamed.

What are the Regional Championships?

The 3 remaining World Championship slots will be competed for at 3 “Regional Championships” races – with the winner of each obtaining qualification to the World Championships.

There is however a twist – you can only compete in the Regional Championships in the region for which you hold a passport. This excludes temporary visa holders such as tourists, students, or other non-resident classifications. Racers who hold dual or multiple citizenships are only eligible to qualify in one Regional Championship; if they participate in more than one Regional Championship, only the time from their first race will be considered for qualification purposes.

Americas Regional Championships (Washington DC) – Americas passport required

EMEA Regional Championships (London) – EMEA passport required

APAC Regional Championships (Brisbane) – APAC passport required

Please check the rulebook here if you are unsure which region your passport falls under.

These will be Elite 15 style races with the top 15 athletes based on time (as per the Majors) from that region qualifying for the race.

Who Are the Automatic Qualifiers?

The athletes who have auto qualified for all Majors in the 25/26 season, due to their performances in the 24/25 season are:

Men

World Champion – Tim Wenisch

2nd at World Championships – Hunter McIntyre

3rd at World Championships – Dylan Scott

Amsterdam 2024/25 Winner – Alexander Roncevic

Hong Kong 2024/25 Winner – James Kelly

Las Vegas 2024/25 Winner – Dylan Scott

Glasgow 2024/25 Winner – James Kelly

Roll Downs (to 5th place at 2024/25 world championships only):

4th at World Championships – James Kelly

5th at World Championships – Jon Wynn

Women

World Champion – Linda Meier

2nd at World Championships – Joanna Wietrzyk

3rd at World Championships – Lauren Weeks

Amsterdam 2024/25 Winner – Lauren Weeks

Hong Kong 2024/25 Winner – Joanna Wietrzyk

Las Vegas 2024/25 Winner – Lauren Weeks

Glasgow 2024/25 Winner – Lauren Weeks

Roll Downs (to 5th place at 2024/25 world championships only):

4th at World Championships – Sinead Bent

5th at World Championships – Lucy Procter

Rolldowns

If an athlete qualifies for the Elite 15 at the world championships, and then has to withdraw (due to injury, for example), their place will be offered to the next placed person from the race at which that athlete qualified.