The 2026 HYROX European/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) Regional Championship is this weekend in London. Women start at 3:30pm EST in the US on Friday, March 20, while the men’s race begins at 5:00pm EST in the US. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to see how previous HYROX European Regional Championship races went down.
2022
Five months after winning the 2021 HYROX World Championship in Leipzig, Tobias Lautwein would add to his resume by setting a new men’s world record, becoming the first HYROX athlete to go sub-57 with Pro weights. His record wouldn’t last long, however, as Hunter McIntyre would run 55:09 in Dallas just 2 weeks later. For those of you new to HYROX, it’s easy to forget about the name Tobias Lautwein. Tobias was 1 of the 3 best male HYROX athletes (with Hunter and Alex) for the first few years of the sport.
Two-time CrossFit Open winner, Mirjam Von Rohr, won the inaugural HYROX European Regional Championship. Her winning time of 64:20 was the second-fastest ever race by a woman at the time. No one stood a chance once Mirjam arrived at sandbag lunges, as she completed the station in a ridiculous 2:55 before an even more ridiculous 3:05 wall ball split.
2023
It probably sounds strange to new HYROX fans, but Majors still didn’t exist yet during the 2022/2023 season. Instead, the 3 big races were the North American Championship (Chicago), European Championship (Maastricht), and World Championship (Manchester). Some of the best athletes from 12 countries headed to Maastricht to crown the European Regional champion.
American women claimed 3 of the top 4 places at the European Regional Championship. Lauren Weeks was dominant from start-to-finish, as she beat Mikaela Norman and Meg Jacoby by 1:33 and 2:00, respectively. The previous year’s winner, Mirjam Von Rohr, dropped to 5th, as finishing times improved significantly across the board.
Michael Sandbach had a 9-second lead entering sandbag lunges, but Alexander Roncevic ended up leaving the station 8 seconds before Michael. Like usual, Alex was dominant on the wall balls, as he finished 45 seconds ahead of 2nd-place. A 4:50 split on wall balls by Michael left the door open for Tim Wenisch to move into 2nd.
2024
The 2024 HYROX European Regional Championship was the first time this race was held outside Maastricht. This time, athletes headed to Vienna crown a champion.
Alexander Roncevic put on a show in front of his hometown crowd, constantly acknowledging his fans as they cheered him on. However, the biggest story of the day was the “row debacle.” Alex and Michael Sandbach arrived at the rowers with a sizeable lead, but the displays on their rowers weren’t working properly. Michael walked off the course in frustration a few seconds after moving to a replacement rower, while Alex tried not to let the issue affect him. Alex would later prove to be unbeatable this day, crossing the finish line 2:45 ahead of runner-up, Pelayo Menendez.
Lauren Weeks set a new world record on her way to a second-straight European Regional Championship title. Her winning time of 58:03 was over 7 minutes faster than the previous world record she set in June 2021 in Chicago, proving how much athletes had improved in just 2.5 years. Surprisingly, the women’s world record had been broken 6 times since the last time Lauren was the world record holder (twice by Linda Meier, once by Meg Jacoby, once by Mikaela Norman, then twice again by Meg Jacoby). Speaking of Meg, she took home $4,000 for her 2nd-place finish, while Linda Meier rounded out the podium.
2025
Last year’s European Regional Championship was an open-entry event without any qualifying times required. It was the only race on European soil that allowed athletes to qualify for HYROX World Championship using Open weights rather than Pro weights. No prize money was offered, but plenty of top athletes still showed up.
For the third straight year, Alexander Roncevic stood atop the podium. Strangely, Alex’s winning time of 53:28 with Open weights was actually slower than his future Pro weights world record that he would set 8 months later (53:15). Philipp Wamser finished 15 seconds later, while Pablo Sanchez Santos’ 8.7-km run split of 28:52 (3:23 per km, 5:26 per mile) helped him claim the final podium spot.
Sophia Parvizi Wayne set a new women’s Open world record in a time of 57:36. Alice Schurer and Tanja Stroschneider would round out the podium 44 and 55 seconds later, respectively. Fourth-place finisher, Gloria Corbetta, would go on to be the fastest racer across all Age Group divisions at the World Championship a few months later in Chicago.
2026
Only athletes with a passport for a European, Middle Eastern, or African country are permitted to race at the HYROX EMEA Regional Championship this year. Let’s take a look at how this Saturday’s Elite 15 athletes have performed at previous European Regional Championships in the past.
Only 6 of the 15 men have previously raced Elite 15 in a Major before, so there are a lot of new faces excited to make the most of this opportunity. This is basically the only title missing from Tim Wenisch’s resume, so he should be the favorite after Alexander Roncevic decided not to race in London. Despite his absence, the depth in Europe is so good that this will be an extremely competitive spot for the only qualifying spot for HYROX World Championship that is up for grabs.
Everything changed once reigning world champion Linda Meier decided to skip this race. Zara Piergianni is the only woman who has raced at a European Regional Championship, taking 11th in 2024. However, the rest of the field is full of experienced athletes who have raced at Elite 15 Majors before. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the faster runners (like Lena Putters or Sinead Bent) take the lead early to try to string out the pack with only one qualifying spot available.
Prize Money
HYROX’s growth has attracted several big-name sponsors, and with that has come a major increase in prize money. First place at this year’s EMEA Regional Championship will take home more prize money than all places combined in 2022 and 2023. All athletes who qualified for Elite 15 in London will receive at least $900, with the top-10 finishers all receiving at least $2,100.
Before the Race
- Check out Race Brain and the HYROX Rundown for lots of post-race analysis and discussions
- Sign up for the Race Brain Drop, our weekly newsletter to keep you up-to-date with all things HYROX
- Listen to/watch the most recent podcast episode to learn more about the Elite 15 athletes racing this week: https://youtu.be/n7l1wI8yXto?si=2wzTOlbXIiUP85qu
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