HYROX age groups and divisions explained

HYROX age groups run in five-year bands — under 24, 25–29, 30–34, on up to 85–89 — and they're set by your age on race day. Your division decides what you lift; your age group decides who you're ranked against. Neither changes the course.

The HYROX divisions, in plain terms

Every entry is the same race underneath: eight 1 km runs alternating with eight stations, in a fixed order. What changes between HYROX divisions is who does the work and how heavy it is.

• HYROX (open) — the standard individual race at standard loads. Where most first-timers should start.
• HYROX Pro — the same race, heavier sleds, carries, lunges and wall balls. No qualifying time, no prior finish required; the only hard entry rule in HYROX is being 16 on race day.
• HYROX Doubles — women's, men's and mixed, with pro versions of the women's and men's. Both partners run all eight kilometers together and split each station you-go-I-go, in whatever ratio they like. The volume isn't halved: 100 wall balls is still 100 wall balls.
• HYROX Relay — four athletes, each running 2 × 1 km and doing two stations, swapping in a transition zone. The order is the team's call, and relay races at open loads only.
• HYROX Adaptive — 13 divisions grouped by impairment: lower limb, upper limb, short stature, vision, neurological, seated. Movements and loads are adapted per classification, and you register normally, picking your adaptive division.

If the format is new to you, start with what a HYROX race actually is and the station order, which never changes and is what makes pacing learnable.

HYROX pro vs open: what actually changes

Five of the eight stations get heavier. Three don't, and neither do the runs.

Station	Open (women / men)	Pro (women / men)
Sled push, 4 × 12.5 m	102 kg / 152 kg	152 kg / 202 kg
Sled pull, 4 × 12.5 m	78 kg / 103 kg	103 kg / 153 kg
Farmers carry, 200 m	2×16 kg / 2×24 kg	2×24 kg / 2×32 kg
Sandbag lunges, 100 m	10 kg / 20 kg	20 kg / 30 kg
Wall balls, 100 reps	4 kg to 2.7 m / 6 kg to 3 m	6 kg to 2.7 m / 9 kg to 3 m
SkiErg, row, burpees, runs	identical	identical

Sled figures include the sled; wall ball targets don't change between divisions, only the ball does. Full standards are in the station weight breakdown.

Beyond the open weights, two things separate the fields. Pro is scored as its own division, with its own waves, rankings and podiums, and no conversion factor against open times. And pro is the only door to the Elite series, since ranking points come from pro results. One asymmetry: athletes 60 and over can race pro and podium in it at regular events, but they qualify for the World Championships through open only, and race Worlds at open weights.

How HYROX age groups are banded

You don't pick your age group: it comes off your date of birth, and your age on race day sets it. The bands are under 24 (16–24), then five-year steps — 25–29, 30–34, 35–39, and so on — all the way to 85–89. A doubles team is banded on the average age of the pair. Relay is the exception: two brackets only, under 40 and 40+, again on the team's average.

Age groups change nothing physical. Same loads, same movement standards, same judges. A 52-year-old in open lifts exactly what a 26-year-old in open lifts.

Why HYROX categories and age groups decide your ranking

Results publish twice: overall within your division, and within your age group. The second is what the qualification pathway reads, and it's the reason the bands exist — a 58-year-old can chase a championship slot without beating the 27-year-olds to it.

The mechanism is per race class. Your division and age group at a given event carries one World Championship slot, and you have 48 hours from the invitation email to take it before it rolls down to the next finisher, with licensed athletes getting priority. You compete at Worlds in the age group you qualified in, birthday or no birthday.

The HYROX Elite 15

The Elite 15 is an invited field — 15 women, 15 men — that starts as its own wave and is the only group racing for prize money and the overall world title. There's no sign-up button. Ranking runs on a rolling 365 days off your best five singles results, and you need a HYROX athlete licence before you race for those results to score at all; licences aren't granted retroactively. For everyone else it's a benchmark, not a target — the men's times sit well inside an hour.

Should you enter pro

Test it fresh, before you pay for it. Three checks at pro loads on a normal training day:

• 100 wall balls at 9 kg to a 3 m target (6 kg to 2.7 m for women) in a handful of sets, not twenty.
• 100 m of sandbag lunges unbroken at 30 kg (20 kg for women).
• 200 m farmers carry with 2×32 kg (2×24 kg) and at most one drop.

If any of those falls apart fresh, it becomes a walk after seven kilometers of running and five stations of accumulated damage. The sleds are the wildcard in the open vs pro decision: floor surface swings push times more than the plates do, and 202 kg on slow carpet is a different exercise than 202 kg on a fast floor.

The honest version is a full simulation — run the whole thing at pro loads with an accurate clock on every segment, which is what Hyrox Workout, a HYROX workout timer app for iPhone and Apple Watch, is for. Then set that total next to your open PB.

If the gap is big and it all lands on the sleds and the lunges, you're buying a badge with a worse race. If it's modest and spread evenly, enter pro.

FAQ

What are the HYROX age groups?

Under 24 (16–24), then five-year bands — 25–29, 30–34, 35–39 and so on — up to 85–89. They're assigned from your date of birth using your age on race day, not chosen. Singles and doubles use the full set; relay splits only under 40 and 40+.

Do older age groups get lighter weights?

No. Load comes from your division, never your age. A masters athlete racing pro pushes the same sled as everyone else in pro. The one age-linked exception is the World Championships, where all 60+ age groups race open weights.

Can I switch from open to pro after registering?

Usually yes, but it's a registration change handled through HYROX and it depends on space in the wave you want. Sort it well before race week; it isn't a race-day decision.

Is doubles easier than an individual race?

Different, not easier. You split the station work, but both partners run all eight kilometers and have to stay together on the run course, so the pace belongs to whoever is slower that day.