The 2026 HYROX EMEA Championships will take place in London on 21 March. Not only is it a chance to become European champion in the world’s premier fitness race, but there is also one qualifying spot available for the Elite 15 at the World Championships in Stockholm in June.
Among the contenders will be Tomas Tvrdik. At 40 years old, the Czech athlete has put together one of the most impressive seasons on the HYROX circuit with Men’s Pro wins in Vienna and Katowice, and two fifth-place finishes at the Elite 15 Majors in Hamburg and Phoenix. In the process he has lowered his personal best by almost 2 minutes in the last 12 months to 54:13 – no man over 40 has ever gone faster.
HYROX is not even 10 years old but is now drawing a million competitors a year with brands like Nike, Adidas and Puma signing up top athletes to lucrative sponsorship deals. There is a strong possibility that it will be an Olympic event in 2032.
Right now, Tomas is within touching distance of the very top of this sport. To make that last step he has taken a 10-week break from his day job as a soldier in the Czech military. Speaking to him at STRV’s private gym in Prague, he talks about how joining the military at 37 has helped his longevity. The demands of the army mean fitness is part of the job.
Yet of all the Elite 15 athletes, Tomas’s training volume is almost certainly the lowest – he manages 10 hours per week. His hope is that this break from the army will allow him to increase both the training and recovery needed to hit his goal of becoming the 2026 HYROX World Champion.
With a background in competitive cross-country mountain biking and OCR racing, Tomas has spent more than 25 years building the engine required to compete at the top level in HYROX. Unexpectedly, he also competed in strongman events, adding 25kg (55lbs) to his lean frame and reaching 109kg (240lbs). During that period his strength numbers were formidable: He could squat 200kg (440lbs), bench 165kg (365lbs) and deadlift 260kg (575lbs).
He stopped competing in strongman as he realised his genetics would cap his potential in the sport. Returning to endurance, he lost 25kg (55lbs) in a few months as he cut the calories and got back on the bike. Back at his old weight, Tomas recovered his previous stamina but Strongman had dramatically increased his power. He began to excel in CrossFit at the regional level and then he saw an old competitor from his OCR days making waves in a new sport. Hunter McIntyre was dominating HYROX – and Tomas realised he might have found a discipline to combine all his strengths.
At 36 he raced his first HYROX in Amsterdam, finishing the Men’s Pro in 1:06:26. Two months later he went 1:00:57 in Madrid and immediately he was among the elite. Soon he claimed his first Pro win at Leipzig 2022 and by 2024 Tomas was regularly recording sub-60 times. The last year has brought a sharper focus as long bike rides have been phased out to accommodate highly specific HYROX training. As he puts it, “If you want to adapt for Burpee Broad Jumps, you have to do Burpee Broad Jumps.”
The results have followed, with his PB dropping from 56:03 to 54:13 this season. But as HYROX continues to grow and money flows into the sport, the standards are becoming ever higher. 54:13 would have won every World Championship race until 2025, when Tim Wenisch claimed victory in 53:53. Seven men have now gone sub-54 minutes. Soon we’ll be talking about those who can go sub-53.
Can the extra time for training and recovery push Tomas to the very top? After excelling in a variety of sports for a quarter of a century, it would certainly be a great story if a 40-year-old Czech soldier can claim the title and continue to push the sport forward.
Watch the full BOXROX Interview with Tomas below
