The first ever HYROX event was held in Hamburg in April 2018. Since then (for context this article is being written in June 2022), the sport has grown a huge amount (despite being disrupted by Covid), and there have been some truly memorable moments. Here’s a few that sprung to mind for me (or were suggested by our Instagram followers), in no particular order…
Hunter’s World Record
Of course, all world records are amazing. Someone has achieved something that has never been done before. It’s incredible. But for me, Hunter McIntyre’s world record in the Men’s Pro division stands out. It is a simply incredible time. After McIntyre had been beaten by Ryan Kent in the North American championships in Chicago, people may have been starting to wonder if Hunter’s dominance of the sport of HYROX was over. Was there really a new sheriff in town? Hunter answered that question in no uncertain terms on 9th April 2022 in Dallas where he finished in a time 55:09m, breaking the previous world record – which was held by Tobias Lautwein – by a total of 1:43m.
Lauren Weeks Competing 7 Months Pregnant
Talking of world record holders, Lauren Weeks – who has the fastest ever time (at the time of writing) in the Women’s Pro division – competed in the Elite race at the 2022 World Championships whilst 7 months pregnant. And she managed to finish 9th! An astonishing achievement.
Adaptive Athlete Crushes HYROX
Tyler Saunders, a personal trainer, inspired so many people when HYROX arrived in the UK, by competing in the race despite only have one leg. He is now a HYROX UK ambassador, and his achievements will be helping to encourage more and more adaptive athletes to take part in the sport, whilst showing everyone just what is possible with the right mindset. You can watch our interview with him on the Rox Lyfe podcast here.
United Nations / Opening Ceremony
The 2022 HYROX World Championships in Las Vegas was a huge success. From speaking to anyone who was there, the opening ceremony, on the night before the racing, was something to remember. Athletes representing 22 different countries were brought together and introduced at the ceremony along with their countrymen/women.
HYROX is still in its infancy as a sport, but that opening ceremony, with so many athletes representing so many countries, showed it is already global. What’s more, a total of 14 countries were represented on the (unofficial) medals table (which you can see here).
Kris Rugloski Crowned Champion
At the 2022 World Championships, Kris Rugloski took the win in the Women’s Elite race. Of course, those who follow the OCR world know that Kris is a seriously good competitor, but she hadn’t been heavily fancied for the win prior to the race, having just the 12th fastest qualifying time of the elite 15 racers, over 5 mins slower than the fastest time of the year. But she performed on the day and crossed the line 36 seconds ahead of Linda Meier. She left it late in the race too having been sitting around 5th position after the rowing station. And the best part was that her smiling, happy face throughout made it look easy!
Biggest Yet
I may be biased on this one because I’m from the UK, and I was at the event, but London ’22 was the biggest HYROX event yet and really had the feeling that it had been taken up a notch from previous events.
The venue was huge, there were bleachers around the wall balls, crossing the running track was much easier than normal, there was more space for those competing and spectators and everything just felt bigger and better.
Around 4000 people were there on the day, and, at the time, it was the biggest indoor fitness event ever. And as ever, it was flawlessly run. I think it will be remembered as the event where HYROX went to the next level.
The Happy Couple
Another one from the Las Vegas World Championships, but this time something a little different…
As Kersten Koehler and Mark Kranjc crossed the finishing line, having competed in the Mixed Doubles, Mark dropped to one knee and proposed to his girlfriend Kersten. Apparently, she needed 3 or 4 breaths before she was able to respond, but luckily for Mark it was a “Yes!”. Congratulations to the happy couple!
Mr Consistency Scores a Hattrick
Alexander Roncevic finished 3rd in the Men’s Elite was at the 2022 World Championships. That is, in itself, of course, an impressive achievement. But what’s more is that was his third World Championship podium finish, something nobody else has been able to achieve. He finished 2nd in Leipzig in 2001, and 2nd in the 2019 World Championships, and certainly has a claim for being the highest performing, most consistent, and probably underrated, athlete in the short history of HYROX.
And of course, we can’t forget…
I’ve no idea who he is, or what he could have been talking about (phoning for help?!) but I love this video of a guy on his phone mid-race. A HYROX legend! (thanks to @hyroxdaily and @coachmatzengym for the video)
I hope you enjoyed this review. Since writing we have added an article that looks at the most memorable moments from the 2022/23 HYROX season – you can read that here.
Photo credits to sportograf.com and Erik Wittkpopf
