Sean Noble and Joanna Wietrzyk win the first HYROX Elite 15 race of the season in Hamburg
Noble beat Luke Greer by two seconds and Wietrzyk held off Lauren Weeks, as the first six athletes on the podiums booked places at the 2027 World Championships in Hong Kong. Weeks and Vivian Tafuto won the women’s doubles a day later.
Ireland’s Sean Noble and Australia’s Joanna Wietrzyk won the opening race of the 2026–27 HYROX Elite Series in Hamburg on 30 October, the first of five qualifying races for next year’s World Championships in Hong Kong.
Noble finished the men’s Elite 15 in 53 minutes 19 seconds, two seconds ahead of England’s Luke Greer, with Hidde Weersma of the Netherlands third in 53:41. Wietrzyk won the women’s race in 56:10, 14 seconds clear of the American Lauren Weeks, with Vivian Tafuto, also of the United States, third in 57:55. The times are from HYROX’s official results.
HYROX races combine eight 1 km runs with eight workout stations, from the SkiErg and sled push to burpee broad jumps and wall balls. The Elite 15 is the sport’s top tier: 15 invited athletes per division, selected from the global points leaderboard.
Qualification is now decided race by race
The season format raises the stakes of each event. According to HYROX, “only the top 3 athletes / doubles teams of each Elite Series race during the season qualify for the World Championships.” That means Noble, Greer, Weersma, Wietrzyk, Weeks and Tafuto have already secured their places in Hong Kong.
The remaining races are in London (3–4 December), Bangkok (11–12 February 2027), Las Vegas (12–13 March) and Lyon (13–14 May). From the second race onwards, each Elite 15 field is made up of the top 14 on the leaderboard plus the winner of the previous race’s Challenger 15, the second-tier race for athletes ranked 16 to 30.
How the races unfolded
Greer led the men’s race early, according to the BOXROX live report, with Austria’s Alexander Roncevic and Denmark’s Sebastian Ifversen close behind. Germany’s Tim Wenisch moved to the front after the sled pushes but later dropped back, finishing 13th.
The race came down to Noble and Greer, who were level for much of the closing section. BOXROX reported that Noble had to repeat a rep after a judge’s no-rep call, and still finished first. Canada’s Cole Learn was fourth, three seconds off the podium, and Roncevic fifth in 54:24.
In the women’s race, England’s Saskia Millard set the early pace before Wietrzyk took the lead on the sleds and kept it. Weeks gained ground on the burpees but could not close the gap. Millard picked up a string of no-reps, BOXROX reported, and finished 12th.
The doubles
The Elite 15 doubles followed on 31 October. Weeks and Tafuto, second and third in the singles, won the women’s race in 52:49, nearly a minute ahead of Charlie Searle and Lauren Stockley (53:47). Millard and Holly Archer were third.
Learn and Frederic Dube won the men’s doubles in 47:54, ahead of Charlie Botterill and Jake Dearden (48:09) and Greer with Jake Williamson (48:39). Greer finished on both podiums over the two days.
What is at stake in Hong Kong
HYROX lists prize money for the World Championships of US$58,250 for the winner of each Elite 15 singles race, with $38,750 for second and $26,000 for third. The singles winners’ share is the same for women and men. Doubles winners receive $49,250, split between the two athletes.
