Hyrox Hong Kong Major Preview

The second Major of the Hyrox 24-25 season is almost upon us, and by the looks of both line-ups - the Elite 15 races are guaranteed to be more competitive than ever!

Thirty athletes will take the centre stage in Hong Kong on Friday, 22 November. While most will be battling it out for the three World Championship qualifying spots available per race, there are a total of five athletes competing across both the Women and Men’s fields who already have their ticket to Chicago next year. This means that even sixth place could potentially qualify for this season’s World Championships Elite 15 race.

Starting with the women, the legendary Lauren Weeks from USA is back to retain her number one podium spot following her epic win at the Amsterdam Major in October. Lauren came away with the gold for the first Major of the season where she was up against her long-time competitor and reigning World Champion, Meg Jacoby. Fortunately for Lauren, Meg won’t be competing in Hong Kong. Could this mean an easy win for Lauren Weeks?

Despite Meg not competing in the second Hyrox Major, there are plenty of familiar names in the Women’s line-up who are sure to stir up the competition. German athletes Viola Oberlander and Linda Meier are back following illnesses that took them out of the Amsterdam race. Both Viola and Linda placed in the top 5 in the 23-24 World Championships in Nice earlier this year. Hyrox Pro Mikaela Norman from Sweden is also back in action following a rough 12 months of illness and injury. If Mikaela is in the right form on the day, we very well could see her swiping one of the qualifying spots for this season.

Meanwhile, athletes such as Kate Davey (UK), Lauren Griffith (USA), Jess Pettrow (AUS) and Zara Piergianni (UK) are also back in full force following their incredible results in Amsterdam where Kate, Jess and Zara all achieved a personal best times on the grid.

In terms of newcomers, the Aussie sensation Joanna Wietrzyk has proved she is not one to be overlooked. Having already gained her World Champs qualifying spot after placing third in her first ever Major race in Amsterdam, Joanna is ready to take on the elite field yet again and see where she stacks up now that Viola, Linda and Mikaela have returned to the competition. Other newcomers to watch out for include Ida Mathile Steensgaard from Denmark and Lena Putters from Belgium who both raced recently in Hamburg and are sure to keep the other ladies on their toes throughout the race.

Moving onto the men’s, both Alexander Roncevic from Austria and James Kelly from down under Australia are back following their touch and go race in Amsterdam that resulted in reigning World Champ Roncevic beating JK by less than 30 seconds. We have no doubt that both athletes will be at the top of their game again in Hong Kong, and with British hero Michael Sandbach back in the mix - we believe this race could really go one of three ways.

Rylan Schadegg from USA will also be returning to Hong Kong following his surprise third place win in Amsterdam. Despite his health issues, Rylan has already proved he is just as fast and can not be discounted this season. Much like Roncevic and JK, Rylan already has his qualifying spot for this season’s World Championships following the Amsterdam race. This means the qualifying spots for Hong Kong could potentially rolldown to sixth place. Although we’re predicting a full sweep of the podium from Roncevic, JK and Sandy, there are plenty of other elite males in the field that are bound to give the lads a run for their money.

Pelayo Menendez Fernandez is back for the first time this season following his incredible performance at the Nice World Championships where he finished fourth after receiving a last minute rolldown spot. Both Beau Wils from New Zealand and Jon Wynn from Australia have also proved they are at the top of their game following the Amsterdam. Another one to watch is Graham Halliday from Scotland who recently raced a personal best of 56:33 in Stuttgart. And we can’t overlook Jake Dearden from the UK who despite placing 11th in Amsterdam, finished less than a minute behind fourth place Jannik Czapla from Germany.

There was only 60 seconds between fourth and 13th place in the Elite 15 Men’s Amsterdam race, so really anything could happen. If there’s one thing we know it’s that Hong Kong is going to feel the shake up this Friday night!

Click here for the full line-up announcement on Hyrox World.

Click here to listen to our full preview episode for the Hong Kong Major or search Hybrid Sport Media on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.