INside Strawberry Arena, a cavernous stadium in Stockholm, thousands of chiselled men and women are puffing and slick with sweat. A few are the colour of the fruit. And little wonder: they have run a kilometre, covered the same distance on a ski-training machine, then run again. Between laps of the stadium they have also rowed, lunged, done burpees, carried kettlebells, pushed and pulled a sled and lobbed a medicine ball. A respectable race time is about 90 minutes; the fittest strive to finish in under an hour.
This cross between a relay race and high-intensity interval training is called Hyrox. (The name is believed to be a portmanteau of “hybrid”—a reference to its mix of cardio and strength exercises—and “rock star”, to make it seem cool.) To the unathletic, it may all sound nauseating. But Hyrox claims to be the “fastest-growing mass-participation fitness concept in the world”. At the first race, in Hamburg in 2017, some 650 people took part. In the 2026-27 season more than 2m will compete across six continents. September alone features events in 12 cities, including Athens, Mumbai and Washington.
The format has certainly set pulses racing. The hashtag #hyrox has been viewed more than 500m times on Instagram and TikTok. Peloton, a home-exercise firm, offers Hyrox training classes. Later this year a four-day European cruise will allow athletes to train at sea, with tickets for a cabin starting at a bracing £2,200 ($3,000). There is a Hyrox dating app and bank card. “Hyrox is not just a race or an event,” one acolyte proclaims online. “Hyrox is a lifestyle.”
The hype is partly explained by a boom in gym culture: men and women are pumping iron more than they used to. Across America, Britain and Europe, fitness-club memberships have reached a record high. Isabella Helm, a 25-year-old trainee accountant, loves Hyrox and trains six days a week in London: “You get addicted to feeling fitter and stronger.”
Hyrox adds a social element to what is generally a solitary pursuit. There is also the adrenalin rush that comes with competition. Leaderboards foster friendly rivalry. Athletes can race solo, in pairs or teams; friends can pay to watch on in comfort from the stands.
Participants often turn races into mini-holidays. As the format spreads, there is no shortage of new destinations to visit. Danny and Zoe Rae are British influencers who, like a number of couples, combine races with recreation and doing “something nice”. “It’s a great way to travel,” Mr Rae avers.
The sport attracts racers of all ages. The average age of participants is 36, but the oldest at the world championships in Stockholm was 75. Laura Hitt trains several older people at her gym in Exeter, in south-west England. She says that “it’s one of the most accessible sports I’ve been part of.” Hyrox is kinder on the body than other fitness races—such as CrossFit, which peaked in popularity in the 2010s—because it does not require complex weightlifting. This may explain why it appeals to retired athletes as well as hobbyists.
Will Hyrox run out of breath? Some grumble that tickets are scarce and cost upwards of £150—even without accounting for travel, hotels and months of gym fees. But Moritz Fürste, the co-founder of Hyrox (and an Olympic-medal-winning hockey player), believes the format has room to grow, and hopes it will be included in the Olympics in 2032. He concedes that it is expensive, but that demand is still far exceeding supply. “It’s like tennis and golf,” he observes: “Once it becomes your sport, you’ll keep coming back.”
