Interface News Reporter | 張蕊
Interface News Editor | 任雪松
On the afternoon of September 12, at the HYROX Beijing Station National Speed Skating Arena, the women’s elite group competition was in progress. Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk suffered a sudden gastrointestinal incontinence on the track, and her excrement contaminated the burpee carpet, rowing machine and other shared equipment. She completed the rest of the event with obvious excrement, and won the championship in 1 hour, 01 minutes and 23 seconds.
Under the standard of the competition system, all equipment and tracks in the competition are recycled among the players. Multiple groups start consecutively on the same day, and the track is almost never completely empty. This means that the conditions left by one player on the track will be directly handed over to the next user.
The on-site referee reported the abnormality after discovering it and reminded subsequent players to take a detour, but other than that, no other response measures were taken. Wietrzyk’s game was not stopped, and there was not even any penalty time. That night she left a message on social media saying “a win is a win” and deleted it the next day.
AA, who participated in the same competition, told Jiemian News that he did smell an obvious odor, “But at the time I was only focused on completing the project and didn’t quite know what happened. I didn’t know until I was about to finish the competition.” During the burpee session, he noticed that there were staff members cleaning the floor. “Several staff members were squatting on the ground with papers and wiping them while walking.”
After the game ended that day, public opinion quickly fermented. The controversy focuses on three points: how to ensure the health and safety of other players; it is unfair to other players to allow this player to continue to finish the race; and the inconsistency in penalty standards: the competition code of conduct has clear penalties for subjective and intentional behaviors. Spitting or blowing your nose to the ground will result in a two-minute penalty – before, Chinese players were indeed given time penalties for drinking water that splashed on their faces.
According to the contestants’ disclosure to Jiemian News, there is no provision in the manual for unintentional sudden physical abnormalities, and the referee on duty does not have the authority to forcibly stop the game. The application of the same code of conduct in two situations has completely different results.
HYROX’s response to this matter is another catalyst for intensifying public sentiment.
From the evening of September 12th to September 14th, HYROX responded in three phases.
The situation statement on the evening of September 12 focused on site disposal: sealing and isolating the area involved, comprehensive disinfection, and removing equipment from the site. It does not answer whether the disposal itself was appropriate.
In the early morning of September 14, the HYROX global account issued a statement, saying that this was an unforeseen situation and the rules designed for elite competition and mass participation have become blurred, leading to ambiguity in the understanding and application of the rules by all parties. The statement emphasized that dissatisfaction should not be directed at the athletes themselves, and those who threaten or incite harm to athletes will be permanently banned from participating in all HYROX events. After this statement was released, it was criticized for avoiding the conclusion of the incident itself.
Third announcement. /Source: HYROX fitness running official Weibo
On the evening of September 14th, HYROX China issued the “Supplementary Explanation and Rectification Announcement on the Beijing Station Situation”, which tightened its stance: it admitted that the current HYROX Global Competition Manual did not set clear penalty regulations for such situations, and the referee team on duty only made on-the-spot judgments based on past experience in Elite15 elite-level competitions and failed to intervene at the first time, showing the deficiencies in the setting of competition rules.
This announcement announced two rectifications: it has officially connected with the global headquarters competition team, submitted a special rule optimization proposal, and promoted the headquarters to add relevant details on track management, competition venue intervention, event suspension and performance determination in the scenario of “extreme physical discomfort and public health risks at the competition venue”; the entire venue will be disinfected and sterilized before subsequent events and a professional organization will be hired to test and publicize the results. During the competition, a disinfection team will be deployed at each sports equipment to take advantage of the intermittent periods used by different athletes.
The focus of the three responses was “what to do next” – adding detailed rules and strengthening disinfection. However, there has never been any explanation of “how to calculate this time”: whether the results of the players involved need to be re-judged, whether there will be compensation for the affected players, and how to characterize the existing double standards of penalties.
This is the second public opinion incident in HYROX China in less than two months. At the Chengdu station on August 1, the commentator in the official live broadcast room ridiculed contestant Zhang Jike, “It’s better to go home and do a variety show” and “The pain mask is here, you can take screenshots and make emoticons.” HYROX China apologized the next day and terminated the cooperation between the two commentators.
Obviously, HYROX has never given a satisfactory answer to the question of “whether its ability to host competitions can keep up with rapid expansion” and how to deal with public opinion incidents.
這場在The contest whose answer cannot be found in the contest manual occurred in the same week as the change of control of HYROX.
On September 9, Infront Sports Media Company announced the sale of its majority stake in HYROX. The buyer was a consortium led by consumer investment institution L Catterton, and its members included the two founders of HYROX, Christian Toetzke and Moritz Fürste, and the venture capital fund WndrCo. The transaction valuation is approximately 600 million euros (approximately RMB 4.685 billion).
After the transaction was completed, the shareholding ratio of founders Toetzke and Fürste increased from the previous 40% to 51%, regaining control. L Catterton and WndrCo join as minority partners. The two founders announced that they would “work for another few decades” and advance HYROX’s Olympic vision.
L Catterton manages approximately US$40 billion in assets. It was formed by the merger of LVMH’s private equity arm and the U.S. consumer private equity fund Catterton. The fitness track has already laid out Peloton, Equinox, etc. WndrCo was founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former head of Disney and DreamWorks. Its investment logic is biased towards media and content. HYROX’s communication power on social media may be its core asset.
The valuation of 600 million euros corresponds to the growth curve of HYROX. In April 2018, HYROX held its first event in Hamburg, with 650 people participating. By the 2025/26 season, HYROX will host more than 100 events in more than 30 countries around the world, with 1.4 million participants. It has grown more than 2,000 times in 7 years. In 2024, it was selected as one of the “100 Most Influential Companies in the World” by Time magazine.According to industry estimates, its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) is about 30 million euros, with a profit margin of about 20%. Its revenue in 2026 is expected to exceed 200 million euros. Calculated based on a valuation of 600 million euros, this corresponds to a price-to-sales ratio of approximately 4.5 times and an EBITDA of approximately 20 times.
Underpinning this curve is a business model with a customer acquisition cost close to zero. More than 5,000 authorized gyms around the world complete promotion, training and community operations for HYROX, each paying an annual licensing fee of US$1,500. Participants train in the gym, sign up, share on social media, and then drive more people to participate. Jiemian News learned that nearly 70% of the contestants were participating for the first time. In terms of revenue structure, event registration fees account for 55%-65%, product sales are approximately US$40 million-50 million, and sponsorships account for approximately 15%. Since its establishment in 2017, HYROX’s total financing has only been approximately 15 million euros.
In this growth curve, the Chinese market has the steepest slope: from less than 1,700 participants in the first Beijing station in November 2024, to 11,800 in four days at the Beijing station, in less than two years, the number of participants in a single station has increased nearly 7 times. In terms of registration price for a single game,Single person is 799 yuan, double person is 1,499 yuan, relay is 1,999 yuan, spectator ticket is 80 yuan.
Yuan Fang, the head of HYROX events in China, once revealed to Jiemian News that tickets are still HYROX’s main source of income in China, but he believes that gym income “will be more important in the future, or its proportion will become higher and higher.”As of June 2026, there are more than 500 cooperative gyms in mainland China, covering about 20 cities.
interface news passedThe founder of a gym in Beijing learned, since last year, members have always mentioned this competition and wanted to train in the venue. “Later, when we thought about it, this project was really popular, so we renovated the original fitness area, purchased equipment such as sleds and racquetball, and took this set of courses specifically for HYROX, and the class appointment rate was quite high.”
In addition to the expanding real economy, HYROX’s traffic economy cannot be underestimated: according to Jiemian News statistics, the number of views on related topics on Xiaohongshu currently exceeds 600 million, and the number of views on Douyin is nearly 2 billion. Driven by social media, event photos themselves are a hidden line of revenue—and a long-standing source of controversy. HYROX’s official photography is exclusively operated by Sportograf, with a single photo of 120 yuan and a package price of 214 yuan. Off-site freelance photographers offer prices ranging from 300 to 900 yuan. The completion photos on Xiaohongshu have become the “social currency” in the fitness circle. In the new season of 2026/27, HYROX clearly prohibits unauthorized professional photography from entering. Relatives and friends can use their mobile phones to shoot in the audience area, but privately hired professional photographers will be expelled – officials regard event images as commercial assets that need to be protected.
Many contestants expressed dissatisfaction with this. Contestant A Yue told Jiemian News: “I have paid a large registration fee and invested a lot of training time and energy in preparation for the competition. It is understandable to want to record the body and sweat during the competition. Why are these images defined as official ‘commercial assets’?” She added that if the quality of the authorized photography is stable, she may be able to accept it, but in actual experience, the level of official photography is uneven. “I am not satisfied with most of the photos, but it takes a lot of money to get images taken with professional equipment.”
Infront Sports invested in HYROX for the first time in 2019, and increased its holding to a controlling stake (60% stake) in 2022. It has received dozens of times returns in seven years. This is a rare high-return sports investment exit for Wanda in recent years – Wanda acquired Infront for over 1 billion euros in 2015. Since then, its overall layout in the sports field has been under pressure, and HYROX has become one of the few bright spots.
After the equity delivery, the operating entities in the Chinese market have not yet been settled. At present, HYROX China events are jointly operated by Infront Sports China. There is no public information yet on whether Infront will continue to cooperate with the German headquarters after its complete withdrawal, or whether it will be taken over by a new shareholder system.
Jiemian consulted HYROX China about this transaction. HYROX China responded to Jiemian News and stated that business decisions such as equity transactions are led by the German headquarters. The Chinese team does not participate in the decision-making process and will not speak to the public for the time being.
A Yue told Jiemian News that she saw the news of the equity sale on Xiaohongshu, “But to be honest, it doesn’t have much to do with me. I still pay more attention to the event itself. For example, this recent incident, I hope it will never happen again.” This attitude is quite representative among the interviewees, AA He said bluntly: “Wanda or LVMH, as long as the referees are fair and the management is in place and our participation experience is guaranteed, it doesn’t matter who is the boss.” Outside the competition, he pays more attention to the changes in sponsors than the change of controlling parties. “I will pay attention to whether there are new products.”
According to HYROX China’s announcement, the proposal for detailed rules involving “score determination” in this incident has been submitted to the global headquarters, and the announcement of pre-match disinfection and test results will be implemented from subsequent events. The founders have set their sights further afield – in 2027, the HYROX World Championships will be held in Asia for the first time, in Hong Kong, China; the World Triathlon Federation has approved the inclusion of the HYROX competition system in the name of “Hyathlon”; the goal of entering the Olympic Games is set within the next ten years.
But on the road to Brisbane, improvements in rules and event management should take precedence over Olympic dreams.
