HYROX combines both running & functional workout stations, where participants run 1km, followed by 1 functional workout station, repeated eight times.
Published: September 12, 2023•POSTED by Dave WarfelUpdated: September 23, 2023
Date: September 23, 2023
Location: IFEMA Madrid, Spain
Almost two years after the first ever HYROX event in Spain, we are coming back to the city where it all started for one of the first events of the 2023/24 season. Once again, IFEMA exhibition center will host this new edition of HYROX MAD on September 23rd.
Who’s Competing?
The Rox Lyfe Instagram has put together a nice overview of the athletes taking on HYROX Madrid, on both the men’s and women’s side.
Two of the big names on the men’s side are coming over from North America—Rich Ryan & Austin Azar. Both Rich & Austin have completed many HYROX races and finished on the podium. Austin just finished 4th at HYROX Warsaw in Poland a few weeks ago with a 1:05:58. His best ever HYROX time is a 1:02:37.
Rich has completed 9 HYROX races with his best time being 59:11. Four times he’s gone under 1:02.
Australia’s Jon Wynn won last year’s HYROX Madrid in 1:00:08, and he’s back this year to try and stand atop the podium once again.
Women
Last year’s second place, Jezabel Kremer from France, is returning to Madrid in 2023 to improve upon her 1:09:39 finish.
As far as we can tell, no American women are making the trip to Madrid.
HYROX Madrid Run Course
Based on the map that HYROX has released, it will be a 3-lap run course. The run will take place just outside of the Roxzone in a large rectangle. It’s a pretty straightforward run course.
Roxzone & Stations
You will enter the Roxzone on one end and enter on the complete other end, so this should help minimize penalties for going in the out arch, or vice versa.
The ski erg is located on the left side of the Roxzone, while the other 7 stations are on the right. You will have to pass stations 3-7 before getting to station 2. Station 7 is actually located closest to the in arch, and then Station 8, the wall balls, is located on the far side, closest to the out arch.
On the men’s side, we saw Rich Ryan fall behind early on. He was never able to make it back up to the front of the pack, despite finishing his last few stations really well. Rich finished in 9th place with a 1:01:34. He’s on the outside looking in for a qualifying spot to HYROX Chicago, one of HYROX’s 4 major races in the 2023/24 season. He’ll need 7 athletes to turn down their invite for him to get a rolldown spot.
Austin Azar, who recently completed HYROX Warsaw in Poland, and has been staying over in Europe since that race, set a new PR at 1:01:07. He took 90 seconds off his previous best HYROX time, and ran almost 5 minutes faster than his time in Warsaw.
At the front of the pack, Eugenio Bianchi from Italy led for more than half the race. Jon Wynn from Australia & Pelayo Fernandez from Spain kept closing the gap, and the three were all within 10 seconds of each other at the lunges. Eugenio got their first, followed by Pelayo and then Wynn.
Wynn quickly passed Pelayo, but Eugenio held his ground, arriving to the wall balls in first. When Eugenio hit the 80 rep mark, he started to fall apart, and broke several times. This opened the door for Wynn, who surpassed him in the final stretch to take the win by 24 seconds.
Rubén Patiño Vieites snuck in there with a strong finish to take 3rd, and Pelayo dropped to 4th.
