Hyrox Is Popular, Lucrative and Not for the Faint of Heart－Sara Ashley O＇brien,WSJ

If you’re not already competing in Hyrox, you may have heard about the high-intensity fitness race recently.

The company’s global events can draw tens of thousands of athletes, testing their strength and endurance as they cycle through challenges like rowing, sandbag lunges, sled pushes and burpees. If that doesn’t sound hard enough, participants have to run a kilometer before each station.

Hyrox has helped catapult “hybrid fitness races,” which capitalize on our fitness-obsessed culture and competitive nature, into popular culture. Investors have taken note of the trend: Last week, an L Catterton-led consortium said it would buy a majority stake in Hyrox. The deal could value the company at around $697.5 million, The Journal reported.

Then, over the weekend, the brand found itself in a messy situation: At its Beijing event, the winner lost control of her bowels midrace and completed the challenges while diarrhea was leaking down her legs. Though endurance athletes—from Olympians to amateur runners—are highly susceptible to gastrointestinal issues, the spectacle generated backlash and stirred a debate: Had extreme fitness gone too far? And should the company have stepped in?

The company did not respond to requests for comment. Hyrox’s co-founder released a statement on Instagram apologizing for not taking action during the race and stating that new rules and procedures were in place to prevent future incidents. The New York Times reported that Hyrox China has offered refunds to affected participants. On Thursday, the athlete issued an apology on Instagram , saying she regrets not stepping off the track. She said she has decided to “retroactively withdraw from the race.”

Hyrox, which hosted its first competition in Germany in 2018, held over 100 events last season. Other brands have their own flavors of hybrid competitions, like TRX Ignite Games and Spartan’s Deka. Life Time, the publicly traded health-club chain, launched its own version, LT Games, in October 2025.

Recreational physical activity was a $177 billion market in the U.S. in 2024, according to the data from the Global Wellness Institute released earlier this year. That encompasses fitness, sports and active recreation, and mindful movement, with fitness (gyms and studios, etc.) making up $81.5 billion, and sports and active recreation accounting for $79.5 billion. In an exercise culture driven by fads, can Hyrox hold its spot in the zeitgeist?

Simeon Siegel , a consumer equity research analyst at Guggenheim Securities, told me this week that fitness brands face two major hurdles. He made the point that many of the largest brands in the world make our lives easier. Not fitness, though it can certainly make it better. The second is that people get bored. People inevitably want newness and new approaches, he said.

Hyrox is banking on things getting more interesting. The company has said it hopes to bring its format to the Olympics.