— wall balls shouldn’t have a depth “outcome”, they should be ball to the target (an athletes strategy depends on their tactics; if they want to squat deeper, only use their arms, “push press”)
— I’d love to see a pull-up variation in a station, instead of something (maybe the sled pull). This IMO would be way more representative of upper body strength, and would very quickly separate out elites
— the burpee broad jumps are too rule heavy, and would love to see them just shift to a standardised burpee (touch the bar overhead, hand-release at the bottom)
— like the idea you have on varying running distances, I’d love to see 400/1000/1600/5000
- Both wall balls and burpee broad jumps (to a lesser extent) are controversial from a judging perspective so removing some of the subjectivity or making it easier to rule is a good way to go for sure. Love the wall ball idea (it fuels my sporting mindset biases).
- I think the pullup variation quickly changes the athlete morphology, I think height becomes a detractor there so perhaps becomes more neutral as a performance factor (where i's an advantage at the moment).
- I like the 4 runs, but does that mean some double stations? Probably, maybe both sleds get grouped and maybe the ski and row ergs?
Yep i think the pull-ups would just help “balance” the testing protocols.
For the running, yep - would have less (still same distance). You could start on a different station, or finish with 2x erg work.
Other station I think there could be change to is the walking lunge. Because the outcome is horizontal distance, it’s hard to enforce athletes standing fully vertically!
Like it or not - I don’t. But that’s just personal opinion. Are there really major efforts underway to make Hyrox an Olympic sport? That completely passed me by... I'm not convinced either. Compared to most sports, Hyrox is still so young. Shouldn't it prove itself and mature first, in a sense?
Yes, there are major aspirations for the organisation to become an Olympic sports and they've been quite public and loud about it. Now, that may be for appropriate media attention but I do think they're making efforts in that vein (https://athletechnews.com/fitness-racing-takes-off-hyrox-olympics/) including now falling under World Triathlon for governance requirements.
I don't disagree with you that it's young and this may be a detractor, but the Olympics is trying to attract a younger audience and maintain relevance so it wouldn't surprise me if it gets in. I still think the big driver will be whether Australia thinks it can win some medals.
In this respect, it might actually be a good idea. I'm in my mid-30s, and apart from my sporty nerd friends, some people didn't even know that the Olympic Games were on. Maybe this will draw some attention to these cool sports, like athletics ;-)
I am less optimistic on that front, I thought the same of park run and yet that doesn't seem to convert many across to interest in the Olympic track events.
I think this is right, whether people like it or not. The Olympics needing to evolve to attract a younger audience and maintain relevance is in Hyrox' favor as far as it relates to the likelihood of inclusion.
I also wonder if the mass participation aspect of the marathon from Paris will be a bit of a blueprint going forward. In which case things like hyrox become more appealing to the Olympics - more mass participation options
Things I’d also love to consider evolving
— wall balls shouldn’t have a depth “outcome”, they should be ball to the target (an athletes strategy depends on their tactics; if they want to squat deeper, only use their arms, “push press”)
— I’d love to see a pull-up variation in a station, instead of something (maybe the sled pull). This IMO would be way more representative of upper body strength, and would very quickly separate out elites
— the burpee broad jumps are too rule heavy, and would love to see them just shift to a standardised burpee (touch the bar overhead, hand-release at the bottom)
— like the idea you have on varying running distances, I’d love to see 400/1000/1600/5000
Jeez these are some good suggestions Peter.
- Both wall balls and burpee broad jumps (to a lesser extent) are controversial from a judging perspective so removing some of the subjectivity or making it easier to rule is a good way to go for sure. Love the wall ball idea (it fuels my sporting mindset biases).
- I think the pullup variation quickly changes the athlete morphology, I think height becomes a detractor there so perhaps becomes more neutral as a performance factor (where i's an advantage at the moment).
- I like the 4 runs, but does that mean some double stations? Probably, maybe both sleds get grouped and maybe the ski and row ergs?
Yep i think the pull-ups would just help “balance” the testing protocols.
For the running, yep - would have less (still same distance). You could start on a different station, or finish with 2x erg work.
Other station I think there could be change to is the walking lunge. Because the outcome is horizontal distance, it’s hard to enforce athletes standing fully vertically!
Like it or not - I don’t. But that’s just personal opinion. Are there really major efforts underway to make Hyrox an Olympic sport? That completely passed me by... I'm not convinced either. Compared to most sports, Hyrox is still so young. Shouldn't it prove itself and mature first, in a sense?
Yes, there are major aspirations for the organisation to become an Olympic sports and they've been quite public and loud about it. Now, that may be for appropriate media attention but I do think they're making efforts in that vein (https://athletechnews.com/fitness-racing-takes-off-hyrox-olympics/) including now falling under World Triathlon for governance requirements.
I don't disagree with you that it's young and this may be a detractor, but the Olympics is trying to attract a younger audience and maintain relevance so it wouldn't surprise me if it gets in. I still think the big driver will be whether Australia thinks it can win some medals.
In this respect, it might actually be a good idea. I'm in my mid-30s, and apart from my sporty nerd friends, some people didn't even know that the Olympic Games were on. Maybe this will draw some attention to these cool sports, like athletics ;-)
Yes, fingers crossed!
I am less optimistic on that front, I thought the same of park run and yet that doesn't seem to convert many across to interest in the Olympic track events.
I think this is right, whether people like it or not. The Olympics needing to evolve to attract a younger audience and maintain relevance is in Hyrox' favor as far as it relates to the likelihood of inclusion.
I also wonder if the mass participation aspect of the marathon from Paris will be a bit of a blueprint going forward. In which case things like hyrox become more appealing to the Olympics - more mass participation options
Ding ding.