The North American Open Championships took place on the 11th Feb 2023 at the Chicago Navy Pier, and featured the second of three elite races in the HYROX calendar for the season, with a highly competitive field of global athletes taking to the floor.
Athletes had the opportunity to earn a World Championship Elite race slot if they finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in this race; in an interesting dynamic, 3 of the male and 3 of the female elite athletes had already qualified for the WC following the Elite races in Maastricht at the European Championships, just 3 weeks prior.
Qualification for the Elite 15 this season has been incredibly competitive; to qualify, athletes must have registered one of the 15 fastest times of the season. The standards to break into the Elite 15 now require a male athlete to run under 59:53 and a female athlete to run under 1:06:37. What’s more, days before the race, the current World Champion, Hunter McIntyre, confirmed he would be racing again this season, having previously said he’d not take part in HYROX due to a focus on other sporting endeavours. Therefore, places in the Elite races at the World Championships for the guys could be a little harder to come by than they were prior to that announcement!Â
Spots in the elite race are by invitation only. If an athlete does not accept their invitation, it passes on to the next fastest qualifying time. Invites do not extend beyond the top 30 times of the season; the minimum times for the top 30 now sit at 1:01:48 for males and 1:09:44 for females (Note –Â Qualification for the top 30 and invites to North American Championships cut off before the most recent race in Stuttgart).
In January, the standard of elite racing was set in Maastricht at the European Championships, where Lauren Weeks (USA) firmly entrenched her return to the top flight with a dominant performance. Meanwhile, Alexander Roncevich (AUT), one of the most consistent HYROX athletes of all time, sealed his first major title following a breakneck race with eventual third-place athlete Michael Sandbach.
Women’s Race
The Women’s Elite race in Chicago was packed with names familiar to the HYROX fans including the top 3 from Maastricht; Lauren Weeks, Mikaela Norman and Megan Jacoby.
From the start, the 3 favourites distanced themselves from the chasing pack. Norman, who fell early in the race, made up time to stay in the leading athlete group and chipped away with consistent sub 4 min run times alongside fast workouts. Weeks started strong winning the first run (3.45) and the ski erg (4.14) as well as fast sled push (2.55) and burpees (3.00) to enter the second half of the race in a comfortable lead.
Norman, having recovered from her early fall, began to close the gap with ultra-consistent run times and relentless pressure in the workouts, including the farmers carry (1.55) and lunges (3.15) that saw her take the lead. Meanwhile, Jacoby quietly moved into 2nd with a strong second-half showing, reeling in Weeks and setting her sights on Norman. Despite a faster lunge station (3.11) in the penultimate workout, Jacoby wasn’t able to close on the final run and entered the wall balls over 30s behind Norman.
Finishing the wall balls unbroken, Norman crossed the finish line in 1.02.04, 40 seconds ahead of Jacoby, to claim 1st place and the American Open Champion title, an impressive performance following a disappointing race for her in Maastricht. Lauren Weeks, who had won the Elite race in Maastricht, came in third, just over a minute behind Jacoby.
Linda Meier (GER), former world record holder and consistent figure in the elite circles of HYROX, did race having not featured in the race in Maastricht due to illness. However, she was never truly in contention for the podium spots throughout, and ended up in 10th positions.
Home fan favourites, Alandra Greenlee (USA) and Terra Jackson (USA) both put in impressive times in Maastricht, having made the long commute for the race, and both again performed well in Chicago, finishing 4th and 6th respectively. Splitting them was another American, Vivian Tafuto. Last year’s winner at the 2022 HYROX World Championships, Kris Rugloski, did also feature, but was only able to finish in 11th position.
The final standings were as follows:
Shortly after the race, Lauren Weeks was back out on the course again, competing in the Womens Doubles with CrossFit Games on-field reporter Niki Brazier, wearing a weighted GoRuck weighted vest! Amazing!
Chalk Buckets
In a (reasonably minor) point of controversy, as Mikaela Norman entered the Farmers Carry Station, she picked up one of the chalk buckets, ran with it as she chalked her hands on her way to her lane, then dropped it to the floor. This meant that Lauren Weeks, a short distance behind her at the time, had to stop and pick up the bucket to chalk her hands, which likely cost her a few seconds, and Megan Jacoby had to find a different bucket to use. I dont think this, in any way, affected the outcome of the race, but it probably is a rule that now needs to be added to the HYROX rulebook. Athletes shoudn’t, in my opinion, be allowed to run with a chalk bucket. If this happened in a normal event, with hundreds of athletes, it would be chaotic, and even in the Elite events it doesn’t seem fair that the athletes who follow cost themselves seconds by finding an alternative chalk bucket to use.
Male Race
With four male American athletes qualifying for this race, the home crowd were hoping for a strong performance from their native talent, and they weren’t disappointed.
Dylan Scott enterered the race as the top seeded American, following his performance in Chicago earlier in the season. There were also big American hopes for Ryan Kent, reigning North American champion and 2nd place in last years World Championship, who had a point to prove after failing to automatically qualify for the Elite race in Maastricht. Kent went blow for blow last year with world champion Hunter McIntyre in a memorable series of races and is a formidable competitor, on his day, capable of challenging anyone.
The race started with a familiar story; Michael Sandbach (UK) leading early with a strong first 4 stations in which he managed to separate himself from Ryan Kent (USA), Dylan Scott (USA) and David Magida (USA), who formed the chasing pack.
A steady rise up the placings left Scott and Magida in second and third as they closed the gap on Sandbach, who held the lead into the row. Magida, who put in impressive performances in the sleds (3.18 Push, 3.49 Pull) to push himself up the placings, made his move in the farmer’s carry, where he caught and surpassed Sandbach.
Leading into the lunges, Magida built enough of a gap for a stop at the water table before entering the station 6 to 7 paces ahead of Scott and Sandbach. Sandbach’s early effort to break the field appeared to cost him here, he lost 10s to both Scott and Magida, and his chances at the title, Scott looking determined, battled hard to stay in contention, reaching the final station only 10 seconds after Magida.
The Wall Ball station, the final challenge of a HYROX proved the differentiator between the 3 athletes, Magida produced an impressive 3:55 split, more than 20s faster than his competitors and more than enough to earn him his win and his qualification to the World Championships in a time of 59:11m. Magida had only managed to finish 8th in Maastricht 3 weeks earlier, so this win perhaps came as a surprise to some. Dylan Scott finished in second place, 45 seconds behind Magida, and Michael Sandbach finished in 3rd. Ryan Kent could only manage 7th position, over 3 minutes behind Magida.
Magida sent us these comments after the race:
The winner from Maastricht, and one of the most consistent performers in the history of HYROX, Alexander Roncevic, finished in 4th. That is, of course, far from anything to be ashamed of but I suspect the fact he raced 3 weeks prior in Maastricht, followed by a Doubles race in Manchester a week later, combined with the jet lag / travel to Chicago, all added up and meant Alex wasn’t quite at his best on the day.
Jonathan Wynn (AUS) and Florian Gast (GER) who both had qualifying times under 59 minutes, gave a good account of themselves but were never in contention for the podium spots, and finished in 11th and 9th positions respectively, with Wynn running an extra lap in error towards the end of the race which cost him valuable time. You can watch / listen to a chat I had with Wynn here, where he talks about overcoming alcohol addicition, and his time in the Australian Special Forces, to now becoming part of the HYROX elite.
The final standings were as follows:
World Record
It wasn’t just the Elite races that took place on the day though. In the Mixed Doubles, we saw a new world record time set in the 50-59 age group, by the ever-impressive Sabine and Peter Lechner. Their time of 01:05:05 was the 3rd fastest mixed doubles time of everyone on the day, and shaved 18 seconds off of their existing world record.
Women’s Open
The winner of the Women’s Open division was Laurie Winkelman in a time of 01:05:45. She was followed by Sally Thompson in 01:06:20, and Calypso Sheridan in 01:06:42.
Men’s Open
Fastest of the day in the Men’s Open was Pelayo Menendez in a time of 59:27. Second was Marcus Funken in 59:39, and third was Eric Hinman in 01:00:18.
Doubles
The Men’s doubles was won by Rich Ryan and Brakken Kraker in a very quick 51:17. That’s the 4th fastest Mens Doubles time ever!
The fastest Women’s doubles pairing of the day were Morgan Schulz and Caroline Schweikhart, who won in a fantastic time of 00:58:17.
Mixed doubles were won by David Carta and Hannah Carta in 01:04:00.
Footage of the event was shown on YouTube by The OCR Report (you can watch it here). If you were at the event in Chicago, let us know in the comments what you thought of the day!
To read more on the most recent HYROX Chicago event, click here.Â
Here are some photos of the event:
