HYROX Is the New Marathon: The Case in Numbers

The marathon is a great goal. It asks for one thing, running, and it asks for a lot of it. Anyone who has trained for one knows what it takes. Finishing a marathon is a serious achievement, and we have nothing but respect for people who do it.

HYROX asks a different question. Instead of one discipline at great length, it asks for several, in a fixed order. You run 1 km, then do a station, and you do that eight times. The stations are SkiErg (1,000 m), Sled Push (50 m), Sled Pull (50 m), Burpee Broad Jumps (80 m), Rowing (1,000 m), Farmers Carry (200 m), Sandbag Lunges (100 m) and Wall Balls (100 reps).

So the comparison is simple. A marathon is a one-event, one-discipline, long-run goal. HYROX is a multi-discipline race with a fixed format. Neither is better for everyone. But if you are the kind of person who gets bored doing one thing, or who wants to get stronger and fitter at the same time, the second one fits.

We spend a lot of time with HYROX results, so here is what they show.

In our results data, 59 full-field races from April to October 2026, 192,681 solo athletes finished with a valid time. Open Men had 100,808 finishers. Open Women had 61,837. Pro Men had 21,023 and Pro Women had 9,013.

That is only the solo side. In the same 59 races, 241,815 doubles and Pro Doubles entries finished too, and each entry is a pair.

The biggest single races in the data, counting all divisions and doubles entries:

• New York City: 24,968 finishers
• Berlin: 18,232 finishers
• Lyon: 15,910 finishers
• Sydney: 14,799 finishers

The median race in the set had 6,478 finishers. So even a typical race is a big event, not a small club day.

The field is international, too. Among solo finishers we count 199 different nationality codes. The largest groups are USA (25,415), FRA (21,244), GBR (12,489), GER (11,930) and NED (10,379). You can browse the whole athlete hub or jump to a country, like the USA or Great Britain. For the wider picture, see the state of HYROX in 2026.

Here is what we think makes HYROX work as a modern goal. Every finisher gets a time, and every time gets a ranking. Because the format is fixed everywhere, a time in one city is directly comparable to a time in another. That is why rankings and percentile tools work at all.

The median solo finish time in our data is 1:31:33. 46.8% of solo finishers went under 90 minutes. 73.1% went under 1:45:00. 87.5% finished under two hours, and 12.5% took two hours or more. At the top, 14.7% finished under 75 minutes and 0.6% went under 60 minutes.

Look at what that spread means for you. Most finishers are neither elite nor struggling. They are regular people with a race time, a place in the results, and a number to improve. By division:

• Open Men median: 1:29:37, and 88.8% finish under two hours.
• Open Women median: 1:38:23, and 82.1% finish under two hours.
• Pro Men median: 1:21:11.
• Pro Women median: 1:26:35.

Put your own time into our HYROX percentile tool to see where it would land. Our guide to a good HYROX time explains how to read these numbers, and the HYROX times pages break them down by age group and division.

A big-goal event should have room for most adults. HYROX does. Here are the solo finishers with a known age group (192,639 people) in our 59 races:

• 16 to 24: 21,580
• 25 to 29: 38,711
• 30 to 34: 44,273
• 35 to 39: 37,034
• 40 to 44: 24,546
• 45 to 49: 13,601
• 50 to 54: 7,290
• 55 to 59: 3,425
• 60 to 64: 1,573
• 65 to 69: 469
• 70 to 74: 122
• 75 to 79: 15

The 30 to 34 group is the largest. 68.7% of solo finishers were 30 or over, 26.5% were 40 or over (51,041 people), 6.7% were 50 or over, and 1.1% were 60 or over (2,179 people).

Do times fall off a cliff with age? Not in the Open division. The Open Men 30 to 34 median is 1:27:34 and the 50 to 54 median is 1:35:47, a gap of 8 minutes 13 seconds. Among Open Men aged 60 and over, 74.7% still finish under two hours. For Open Women aged 60 and over, the figure is 65.0%.

Check your own bracket: Open Men 40 to 44, Open Women 40 to 44, Open Men 50 to 54 or Open Women 50 to 54. Our age group guide shows how the five-year bands work.

Women are 36.8% of solo finishers in our data, which is 70,850 of 192,681. In the Open division it is 38.0%. In Pro it is 30.0%. Women aged 40 and over account for 18,221 finishers, 25.7% of all women solo finishers, and 4,550 women finished aged 50 or over.

The Open Women median is 1:38:23. The slowest tenth are over 2:12:06, and the fastest tenth finish under 1:19:47. Within Open Women, the median by age group runs from 1:36:38 (25 to 29) to 1:50:03 (60 and over).

The point is simple. A big share of the field is women, at every age. If you are a woman considering your first race, you will not be an outlier. Read our guide to HYROX for women, see what counts as a good HYROX time for women, or explore our women's hub.

This is where we think HYROX pulls ahead as a goal. A marathon makes you a better long-distance runner. HYROX asks you to run, push, pull, row, carry, lunge and throw, in one race. You cannot cover it with a single strength.

That is good news for different kinds of people. Runners learn that strength matters, and lifters learn that an engine matters. Our guide for HYROX for runners covers the first group, and how to become a hybrid athlete covers the second.

There is also something to love about the format. It is the same every time, so you always know the target. You can train for each station, set a pacing plan with our pacing tool, and arrive knowing what is coming. A HYROX training plan gives your week some structure.

And if you do not want to do it alone, you do not have to. HYROX has doubles, where you race with a partner. Read the doubles and relay guide to learn how.

Still comparing? We looked at it from a few angles in why is HYROX so popular, and the HYROX vs marathon post lays out the training side by side.

A goal is only a good one if you want to do it again. Our athlete index holds 427,621 athletes (solo names and doubles pairs) with at least one valid recorded finish, across 618,377 valid recorded finishes. These come from 2024 to 2026 races. 2026 is complete, while earlier seasons are only partial samples, so every count is a minimum.

Of those athletes, 23.6% appear in results from two or more different races. 9.9% appear in three or more. Because the earlier seasons are partial, the true share who come back is at least that high.

That is what we mean when we say HYROX is the new marathon. It is a goal with a finish line, a time, a ranking and a reason to go back. If you are ready to pick one, start with the what is HYROX guide, browse race results to find a city, and join the Rox Report, our free Monday newsletter with results, records and ticket drops.

Marathoners, we salute you. And if you are looking for a goal that tests more than one thing, we think HYROX is the best one you can set.