World Triathlon and HYROX Partner in Bid for Olympic Recognition for Hybrid Racing

World Triathlon and fitness racing organizer HYROX have formed a partnership aimed at securing Olympic and Paralympic recognition for hybrid racing, the two groups said on Wednesday.

Under the agreement, hybrid racing, which combines running with functional fitness exercises, is recognized as an official discipline under the World Triathlon umbrella, according to Reuters.

Hybrid racing will be contested in three formats, Ultimate, Fast and Ultra, each governed by World Triathlon and jointly developed with HYROX. HYROX will run the official world, continental and national championships for elite athletes in the Ultimate format, Reuters reported.

How hybrid racing works

A HYROX race pairs running with workout stations. The standard format is eight 1-kilometer runs, each followed by a different functional exercise, for 8 kilometers of running in total. The stations, in order, are the SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmer’s carry, sandbag lunges and wall balls.

The format is the same at every event, so a finish time in one city can be compared directly with a time in another. HYROX was founded in Hamburg, Germany, in 2017 by Christian Toetzke and former Olympic field hockey champion Moritz Furste, and its first event was held there in April 2018.

What the partnership changes

World Triathlon’s national federations will be able to organize hybrid racing events and age-group national championships, extending the sport through the federation’s global network, according to Reuters.

HYROX co-founder and chief executive Christian Toetzke said he hoped the partnership would pave the way toward the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Reuters reported. Recognition is a step toward that goal, but the agreement itself does not place hybrid racing on the Olympic program, and no Games date for the sport was announced.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters.