The second Major of the 2024/2025 HYROX season wrapped up last month in Hong Kong, China, and did not disappoint as up-and-comers battled it out against seasoned veterans for six more spots at the 2025 HYROX World Championships.
Remind me: For the 2024/25 HYROX Elite 15 season, athletes can qualify for the World Championships at four different Major races or a last-chance qualifier in Barcelona, Spain.
- Each Major hosts a male and female Elite 15 race, where the top three finishers automatically qualify for the Majors. There are two more Majors for the season: Las Vegas, NV, and Glasgow, Scotland.
Women’s Elite 15
On the women’s side, it was a battle between seasoned athlete Lauren Weeks and Australian newcomer Joanna Wietrzyk, who had just made her debut at the Elite 15 race in October at the Amsterdam, Netherlands Major race.
Weeks was neck and neck with fellow U.S. athlete Lauren Griffith, but Wietrzyk pulled ahead during the sled push station.
Wietrzyk continued to extend her lead and finished sub-60 minutes, taking home first place. Weeks finished in second, and Kate Davey took third, securing her spot at the World Championships.
- Due to this season’s roll-down rule, the third-, fourth-, and fifth-place finishers qualified for the World Championship.
- Davey took third, Ida Mathilde Steensgaard took fourth, and Lauren Griffith took fifth.
Wietrzyk told Red Bull, a HYROX sponsor, that she didn’t expect to finish on top in the stacked field of athletes.
- “During the race, I always had that mentality that I knew I could do it. I just had to trust that my training block from Amsterdam to here would pay off,” she told Red Bull during a post-race interview.
Men’s Elite 15
The race for the top spots on the men’s side was equally as exciting. The reigning world champion, Alexander Roncevic, was among the ranks, alongside highly competitive rivals like Tim Wenisch and James Kelly.
- Kelly set the pace with an incredibly fast 1km time of 3:36 to start the race, but his competitors didn’t let up and made him work throughout the first half of the race.
Kelly started to gain and by the final station, he had built a significant lead on his competition and took home first place.
- Of the podium finishers, Kelly was the only one to qualify for the World Championships; therefore, second, third, and fourth place all qualified out of the Hong Kong Major.
Wenisch took second, Graham Halliday took third, and Pelayo Menendez Fernandez took fourth — all of them are now heading to the World Championship final.
- “It’s been amazing the last six months, especially being a part of the Aussie HYROX community. It’s just getting started Down Under, and there are a lot more athletes to come in this elite space as well. It’s really exciting,” Kelly told Red Bull during a post-race interview.
One last thing: The next Major will be in Las Vegas, NV, in early February. The event is currently sold out and waitlist only.
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Featured image: Red Bull
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