HYROX Vienna, Women’s Race
Start
Typically we see Lauren Weeks (USA) go out hot from the start, but today, Jennifer Nikolaus (GER) took the lead on the first run. Weeks was only about a second behind her into going into the ski erg.
Ski & Run 2
Nikolaus fell behind on the ski, as Weeks and Megan Jacoby (USA) turned up the heat. And we actually saw Vivian Tafuto (USA) as the first athlete out of station one. Jacoby & Weeks were right on her heels.
Weeks took the lead back on the first lap of the run, and Jacoby passed Tafuto as well. Nikolaus lost 24 seconds on the ski and exited the station in 11th place.
Weeks, Jacoby, Tafuto, Griffith are your top 4.
Sled Push & Run 3
Weeks gets to the Sled first, with Jacoby & Tafuto about 4 seconds back. Griffith only another 5 seconds behind them.
Weeks started to open up even more of a lead on the sled. Jacoby made a costly error on her third length by going an extra sled length further than she needed to.
Viola Oberländer (GER) had a great sled push and left the zone in 3rd, shoulder to shoulder with Jacoby.
Weeks, Jacoby, Oberländer, Tafuto, Griffith are your top 5 out of the sled push.
Weeks actually passed Mikaela Norman (SWE) on run 3. Mikaela is 1:25 back from Weeks at this point.
Sled Pull & Run 4
Weeks had an entire length completed before Jacoby started her pull. Oberländer came in third, followed closely by Tafuto.
Camilla Massa (ITA) is only 0:30 behind Oberländer. This should be one of Camilla’s better stations. She might be looking to make a move.
Oberländer, Jacoby, Griffith, and Tafuto were only 7 seconds apart leaving the sled pull. Weeks was about a minute ahead of them.
Kris Rugloski (USA) has worked her way up to 6th, 0:30 behind Tafuto in 5th.
Linda Meier (GER) & Mikaela Norman actually passed Ruglowski on the run.
Burpee Broad Jump & Run 5
Weeks had a 1:20 leading coming into station 4. Jacoby is still holding onto second coming out of the BBJ, now 1:25 behind Weeks. Tafuto came out third, followed by Overländer, Meier, and Rugloski. Griffith dropped to 7th.
Rugloski made up some good time on the burpees.
Row & Run 6
Weeks came into the row slightly ahead of world record pace. She was over 400m ahead of Jacoby, rowing a 1:57-2:00/500m pace.
- Tafuto is 2:16 back
- Oberländer is 2:24 back
- Meier is 2:26 back
- Rugloski is 2:27 back
Since Weeks, Jacoby, and Meier have already qualified for the World Championships, the remaining 3 are fighting for the roll down qualification spots.
Not much changed during the row. The athletes are still in the same position.
Weeks has opened up a near 3:00 lead over the 3rd, 4th, and 5th place athletes. Jacoby is still in second, comfortably ahead of Tafuto, Oberländer, Meier, and Rugloski.
Farmer’s Carry & Run 7
Weeks is still ~20 seconds ahead of world record pace. She survived the farmer’s carry unbroken.
Linda Meier had a strong run and came into the carry in third place. Tafuto & Oberläder were both within 5 seconds of her. Rugloski dropped back on the run. She’s 24 seconds behind Oberländer. Rugloski had an uncharacteristic break on the carry, allowing Lauren Griffith to take over 6th place.
Lunges & Run 8
Week is now 30 seconds ahead of world record pace coming into the lunges. She still looks strong.
- Meier continues to hold onto third
- Tafuto is 0:05 behind her
- Oberländer is 0:16 behind Tafuto
- Mikaela Norman made a move and is now in 6th, but she’s 0:50 behind Oberländer
Weeks is still 0:28 ahead of record pace leaving the lunges.
Oberländer & Tafuto are in qualifying spots (4th and 5th), over a minute ahead of 6th place Mikaela Norman.
Wall Balls & Finish
Lauren Weeks sets a new world record by 49 seconds! 58:03 💥
The old world record was held by Megan Jacoby from her performance in Stockholm, Sweden last year, with a time of 58:52.
Weeks finished in 58:03, 2:23 ahead of Jacoby in second.
Meier comes in third with a time of 1:02:04.
Oberländer & Tafuto were battling it out, but Oberländer got the best of her to finish 4th. Tafuto struggled a bit on her wall balls, getting a few no reps (likely for lack of depth). Tafuto finished in 5th.
Both snagged qualifying spots for World Championships in Nice, France in June.
Mikaela Norman held onto 6th place, with Rugloski finishing in 7th, only 13 seconds behind Norman.
Lauren Griffith ending up fainting during the race. She was okay, and told race officials that she wanted to finish the race. She ended up finishing in 1:18:34.
HYROX Vienna, Men’s Race
We don’t have a full recap of the men’s race, but it didn’t go down without controversy.
When the top 2 athletes arrived at station 5, the row, the screens were not working. Race leader, Alexander Roncevic, was rowing for 5-10 seconds, and shouting at the judges that his screen wasn’t working. He got off his rower to move to another one. That wasn’t working either.
Second place athlete, Michael Sandbach, had the same problem with his rower.
Sandbach ended up quitting the race at this point. Roncevic continued, and eventually had his time adjusted to 54:28 to make up for the faulty rowers.
Both of these same athletes also experienced some confusion leaving the ski. Roncevic initially headed in the right direction, but for some unforeseen reason, he turned around. Sandbach saw him after he had already turned around, so Sandbach just followed him. They were caught at the last minute before completely leaving the ski area and turned around a final time to head back in the correct direction.
This probably cost Roncevic somewhere around 15-20 seconds, not to mention dealing with the frustration of whomever incorrectly told him to turn around in the first place.
Pro Women’s Doubles
Lauren Weeks teamed up with Lauren Griffith to set the women’s doubles record with a time of 54:17.
Race Preview
The third HYROX major of the 2023/24 season is going down in Vienna, Austria. This race has also been deemed the European Championships. In addition to 1,000+ everyday athletes taking on the HYROX course, the men’s and women’s Elite 15 will be in action… and the field is stacked on both sides.
- Women’s Elite 15: 6:50pm
- Men’s Elite 15: 8:15pm
Entry is free to anyone who wants to watch the elite races.
For everyone else, the day starts at 9:00am local time, and will end after the relay awards ceremony finishes up around 9:45pm.
- The event takes place at the Messe Wien Exhibition Congress Center in Hall A
- First lap = 2.2 laps / Laps 2-8 = 2.7 laps (athletes will run through the IN arch the third time they see it)
All participants receive a HYROX finishers medal.
HYROX Vienna Prize Money
For the Elite 15 races, $21,000 is on the line for both the men & women, making the total prize purse for the day a whopping $42,000.
See also: HYROX prize money for 2023/24 season
HYROX Vienna Women’s Elite 15 Preview
The guys over at Fitness Racing Podcast have a great post discussing the women’s field for Vienna.
HYROX Vienna Men’s Elite 15 Preview
Marcus Wallace put together an excellent preview of the men’s race over on Hybrid Fitness Media. It’s a stacked field, including:
- Ryan Kent
- Alexander Roncevic
- Michael Sandbach
- Pelayo Menendez Fernandez
- Rich Ryan
- Tobias Lautwein
- David Magida
- James Kelly
- Graham Halliday
- Jon Wynn
- Beau Wills
- Tim Wenisch
You can view the official start list here.
