There is probably no other sport in the world that has experienced a boom like Hyrox in recent years. What started as an idea in 2017 has, within just a few years, evolved into one of the fastest-growing fitness movements in the world.

The format was developed by event organizer Christian Toetzke, communications expert Michael Trautmann, and Moritz Fürste, a former member of the German national field hockey team that won gold at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.

Their basic idea was very simple: to create a competition that combines the atmosphere of a running event with the intensity of functional strength training that many people know from time in the gym. Hyrox consists of eight functional stations interspersed by eight 1-kilometer (0.62 miles) runs.

“People love to either challenge themselves or compete against others, take part in a contest and battle their own inner demons,” Fürste told DW.

People were already doing this. Hyrox standardizes it as a competition format.

Hyrox gives people a new purpose

To develop their concept, the founders analyzed the global sports landscape and found a gap in the established sports market.

“Most sports — such as tennis, football or ball sports in general — are very clearly defined,” explained Fürste. 

“They’ve all been around for hundreds of years, but the one area of the sports world that was never really defined was the world of the gym. We wanted to give these people a goal to train for, aside from being healthy or looking good in the mirror.”

Hyrox is not the only attempt at creating competition around gym work. CrossFit is perhaps its most famous rival. It started back in 2007, changes daily and features Olympic weightlifting and gymnastics.

Hyrox is the same each time, offering more functional fitness development. The closest in style to Hyrox is DEKA Fit, although the latter’s global reach is affected by its focus on local US affiliate gyms.

For Fürste, the definition of success is what happens at the end of races.

“No one finishes a race with any energy left; everyone is completely exhausted. But everyone thinks about being faster next time,” Fürste said.

Clearly, Hyrox isn’t the only way to train, but Fürste believes it is a good way to train for competition.

The standardized format means that events are comparable worldwide, regardless of whether you compete in Hamburg, London, New York, or Sydney. As a result, there has been a surge in interest in recent years.

Hyrox growing 100% in all markets

In a 2025 interview with Sports Illustrated, Fürste spoke of two pivotal moments for Hyrox; first, when 650 participants turned out for their first-ever event and second, when they sold out an event in London in 2022, after the COVID pandemic. It was clear then that they were on to something.

In the 2022–23 season, around 90,000 athletes took part in Hyrox competitions. By 2025, that number had already risen to more than 650,000.

“No matter where we’ve gone so far, we’ve seen tremendous growth in the first two to three years,” Fürste said.

“There wasn’t a single market that didn’t grow by 100% from one event to the next. This shows that the product works. It’s a great experience for those who take part.”

Next stop: 2032 Olympics

With more than a million athletes set to compete in Hyrox events worldwide this season, it looks like there’s no sign of the boom ending anytime soon.

“This shows that we’re neither a trend nor a niche,” Fürste said. “It shows that we’ve made our mark in the sports world.”

Hyrox is now present in more than 85 cities in around 30 countries across the world. Studies confirm the series’ extraordinary growth, with more than 278,000 finishers recorded by the end of the 2023-24 season alone.

“I invested a lot and met with people who have been working in the industry for years,” said Fürste, who believes Hyrox is like the modern sports version of a music festival.

“I had to risk everything to get where I am now and to be part of this team.”

While he never doubted Hyrox’s success, he also never imagined it would become so big. And now the next goal looms on the horizon. Fürste told Sports Illustrated that he aims to make Hyrox part of the Olympic program in Brisbane in 2032, taking the popular fitness event to the world’s biggest sporting stage.

This article was originally published in German.

Marvel Stadium will play host to Thursday’s
Round 24 AFL game between St Kilda Saints and
Gold Coast SUNS. The game kicks off at 7:30 pm with St Kilda Saints heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the St Kilda Saints vs.
Gold Coast SUNS
game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Thursday August 20, 2026 at 7:30 pm

Where: Marvel Stadium

Bet 💰: Bet On This Match HERE

St Kilda Saints vs Gold Coast SUNS Odds

St Kilda Saints vs Gold Coast SUNS Preview

St Kilda closes its season with a chance to reward supporters after beating Richmond 94-45, although results elsewhere ended its Wildcard hopes. Max Hall produced a career-high 40 disposals in that win, Bradley Hill collected 41 and Mitch Owens kicked five goals, giving the Saints several strong avenues through the middle and forward of centre. Liam Ryan returns for the injured Jack Higgins, while Dougal Howard is also back. Gold Coast arrives after a 95-53 loss to Brisbane and has dropped 11 of its past 12 matches. The Suns won the Round 9 meeting 89-60, but Christian Petracca, Will Powell and Sam Collins are unavailable this time. St Kilda’s recent pressure and Gold Coast’s depleted side give the hosts the stronger platform at Marvel Stadium.

The new Premier League rule changes coming in are below:

Injured players

If play is stopped for an injury, the player is required to leave the field for at least one minute (this was previously 30 seconds).

Second yellow cards

A VAR review can now take place when second yellow cards are awarded to a player but only when players are awarded a clearly wrong second yellow card and not if they have avoided a second potential booking.

Set-piece delays

A five-second countdown for delaying throw-ins and goal-kicks will take place and, if exceeded, it will lead in a restart reversal. This is a throw-in to the opposing side or a team being awarded a corner if a goal-kick is delayed.

Substitutions

Players now have 10 seconds to leave the field when being substituted. If the time limit is exceeded, the substitute cannot come on until the first stoppage in play, after one minute has elapsed.

It is also worth mentioning that some of the new rules deployed at the World Cup will not be used during this season’s Premier League.

These are noted as including the following innovations:

Hydration breaks

Matches will not be divided into quarters, as we saw in North America. The protocol for allowing a drinks break is only if the temperature exceeds 30 degrees Celsius at the time of kick-off.

Incorrectly awarded corners

VAR’s scope is not being increased to be able to overrule the on-field decision on these, following the benefit of replays.

Mistaken identity being used for diving

Although we saw Switzerland’s Breel Embolo sent off against Argentina for simulation, earning a second yellow card, this was a misinterpretation of the IFAB rule. A yellow card wrongly awarded can only be reviewed to identify the player who committed the offence. The offence itself cannot be reviewed or changed.

Red cards for players covering their mouths

There remains a three-step discrimination protocol in the stadium for player-reported abuse.

MCG will play host to Friday’s
Round 24 AFL game between Collingwood Magpies and
Brisbane Lions. The game kicks off at 7:40 pm with Brisbane Lions heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the Collingwood Magpies vs.
Brisbane Lions
game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Friday August 21, 2026 at 7:40 pm

Where: MCG

Bet 💰: Bet On This Match HERE

Collingwood Magpies vs Brisbane Lions Odds

Collingwood Magpies vs Brisbane Lions Preview

Brisbane reaches the MCG as one of the competition’s form sides after beating Gold Coast 95-53 for its ninth win in 10 matches. Will Ashcroft drove that result with 31 disposals and a goal, and the Lions can secure third place with another victory. Collingwood drew 92-92 with Hawthorn last week, the second tie between those clubs this season, as Nick Daicos gathered 36 disposals and Beau McCreery delivered a career-best 22 touches, 12 tackles and a goal. The Magpies have effectively secured a Wildcard berth and may manage players, while Isaac Quaynor is unavailable. Brisbane won the Round 4 meeting 119-65 and brings the more settled side, though Collingwood’s pressure game can still make the contest uncomfortable.

Former UConn and current Dallas Wings teammates Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd opened up about the beginning of their romantic relationship in a new Apple TV three-part documentary called “The Dynasty: UConn Huskies” premiering on Friday. 

“Paige and I are a couple, and everyone close to us that was important knew,” Fudd said at the time of the recording. “But it was just kind of one of those things, it’s just private, not a secret, but private.”

Until now, they had been very quiet about being a couple,and the only confirmation they gave publicly had been Bueckers doing a “girlfriend reveal” in a Wagtalk video last July. When Fudd was asked about their relationship shortly after she had officially joined Bueckers in Dallas as the No. 1 overall pick in April, it was clear that was not a topic they wanted to discuss.

In fact, a representative of the team shut down a question from a reporter asking if they were still a couple and if they had talked to other couples in the league about the dynamic of also being teammates at a professional level. Bueckers later addressed it by saying she and Fudd had always conducted themselves in a professional manner as teammates at UConn and they wanted to choose how much to share with the world. 

“Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own, and what we choose to share is completely up to us,” Bueckers said at the time. “But as media members, I understand you guys have a job to do and you guys have to ask questions about the basketball aspect of it, so that’s what I will be addressing today. Me and Azzi have always been the utmost professionals, we’ve always conducted ourselves as such and we’ve never let anything that happens off the court carry onto the court, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

They had not been asked about it since, although that didn’t stop “Pazzi” fans from talking about them online, so the spotlight never really left them. As this new documentary comes out, we now have more insight on their relationship — though, to be clear, they don’t go into many details in the documentary and there is not an episode devoted to just them. However, they do speak about the importance of being there for each other during difficult times.

Here is a look at the official trainer:

It was well known that the two of them met as teenagers at a USA Basketball camp and quickly formed a close bond. Bueckers joined the Huskies in 2020 and she helped recruit Fudd, who joined the year after. However, Bueckers said in the documentary that they felt a “spark” that was different from a friendship, and Fudd became someone she knew she could confide in.

“It kind of just meshed as soon as we met,” Bueckers said. “She’s sweet. She’s genuine. She has a huge, caring heart. We kind of felt like a spark a little bit different than what would just be considered a normal friendship.”

Both players dealt with hardships in college, from injuries to the mental pressure and challenges of playing at the most successful program in college basketball history. However, everything they went through eventually led them to the 2025 national championship.

They have already shown that they can win together at the professional level, as the Wings are set to make it back to the postseason for the first time since 2023. Unfortunately, Fudd won’t get to experience the WNBA playoff atmosphere; she recently announced that she will be undergoing knee surgery and will miss the rest of the season. As she goes through the procedure and starts the healing process, Fudd posted on social media that she was grateful for her team, family and close circle for their support.

Strong Group-Pilipinas’ Isaiah Piñeiro during a game in the 2026 Williams Jones Cup. –SGA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Strong Group-Pilipinas crushed Chinese Taipei-Blue, 117-74, on Thursday to end the group phase of the 2026 William Jones Cup on a five-game winning streak.

Despite its 5-1 record, good for second place in the group, the Philippine-based team won’t advance to the next phase of the tournament, ending its bid for a three-peat.

Wonju DB, which beat Strong Group-Pilipinas in the opener, advances to the semifinals from Group A along with host side Chinese Taipei-Blue, which gained direct entry despite its 1-5 record as part of the tournament’s new format.

In the other group, UC Irvine and Chinese Taipei White advanced to the semifinals.

The Filipino squad, meanwhile, will battle Jordan for fifth place on Friday.

“We wanted to really blow out Taipei to show that we were the ones who deserved to be playing for the championship. We’ve really hit our stride and are playing at a high level right now. It’s just so, so unfortunate that this is the way things are set up,” added Strong Group head coach Charles Tiu.

“We want to continue to represent the Philippines and our community here with pride, so we will finish strong,” said Tiu.

Isaiah Piñeiro paced Strong Group-Pilipinas against the Taiwanese with 22 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, while Filipino-American guard Remy Martin had 19 points.

Matthew Wright had 18 points, Titing Manalili added 13 points, eight assists, and six rebounds, while NBA veteran Boban Marjanović had 12 points and six rebounds.

The Vikings moved on from Garrett Bradbury last year and signed Ryan Kelly as the short-term solution. It proved to be very short-term, and now the Vikings may have a problem at center heading into the 2026 season.

The Vikings Have A Problem at Center

Kelly only played eight games for Minnesota because of a series of concussions, something that had already been an issue during his time at Indianapolis. It caused Kelly to take the sensible decision to retire, but it left the Vikings in the lurch. Another solution was needed for the 2026 season. Minnesota could have gone to the free-agent center market again and signed someone like Cade Mays or Tyler Biadasz. 

Alternatively, they could have drafted a promising rookie like Sam Hecht, Logan Jones, Connor Lew, or Jake Slaughter. There were plenty of options out there but the only new addition made was Gavin Gerhardt, a rookie drafted in the seventh round of this year’s draft.

It came as a surprise to me as I expected center to be a position of priority during this offseason, but no, the plan is to fully transition Blake Brandel to the starting center.

Blake Brandel to be Week 1 Starter

Brandel will be a Week 1 starter at center for the very first time. It’s a big ask for a guy with very little experience at the position. Before replacing the injured Kelly last season, the 29-year-old Brandel had never snapped a ball in a competitive game. The other option aside from Gerhardt is Michael Jurgens, now in his third year with the team since being drafted in the seventh round back in 2027.

Jurgens was an older player when he was drafted and if he’s not deemed ready to take the job ahead of a guy who is not really a center, you have to feel that he never will be. It leaves the Vikings in a precarious position at one of the most important positions in football.

Center is about much more than whether you can block – Brandel has proved adequate if not good in that department – it is the nuances of the position that really matter. Most notably, there’s his capacity to snap.

Is the Brandel Experiment Destined for Failure?

I am entirely unconvinced that a switch to center at this point of his career is a good idea and we certainly can’t call him the solution at the position until he proves himself over a 17-game season. Picking up the nuances of the position while also dealing with elite interior pass rushers is going to be a big ask.

I’m not going to completely dismiss the possibility of it being a successful transition but with Brandel having trouble snapping the ball cleanly during training camp I’m not exactly brimming with confidence.

There is another issue with Brandel’s move to center. It leaves the Vikings light on the depth chart at guard behind the starters – Will Fries and Donovan Jackson. Brandel provided a solid depth player at guard that hasn’t been adequately replaced.

The plan seems to be to transition the position of another lineman, with Walter Rouse moving from tackle to guard this year. What happens if there is an injury to Fries or Jackson? Does Rouse get thrown in? Does Brandel move back out and does Jurgens come into center? Neither is a particularly satisfactory option.

The interior of the offensive line has long been a problem in Minnesota, and this year they are taking a big gamble at center, when the rest of the Vikings offensive line should be strong.

Proud UK Viking. Family Man. Enjoy writing about my team. Away from football an advocate for autism acceptance.

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“I’m really not sure if I’ll carry on doing it for much longer.”

Those words earlier this month from Lionel Messi, a man who famously says very little, sparked a global conversation about whether his storied career was about to end.

The Argentine posted a tribute to his father, who recently died, on Instagram. “You were by my side from the beginning; there was so little left until the end. Why couldn’t you hold on just a little longer so we could finish it together?” he wrote.

Messi turned 39 during a World Cup in which he belied his advanced years to drag Argentina to the final despite rarely breaking into a sprint. During the 2026 tournament, Messi scored eight goals in eight games to further cement his reputation as the best footballer of all time.

“He is the greatest footballer I’ve ever witnessed. You can still see that even though he’s 39 years old,” wrote Philipp Lahm, the former Germany captain, in a column for Kicker, a German football magazine.

Lahm, who faced Messi several times, including Germany’s triumph over Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final, said the forward was “the best player I’ve ever played against by far.”

Argentina is Messi’s home, but Spain is where he found football fame

While Messi grew up in Argentina, he came of age in Spain with Barcelona, who he joined at the age of 13. In 17 seasons, Messi won 10 La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues with Barca.

He has added further silverware with Paris Saint-Germain and then Inter Miami, where he has a contract until December 2028. He has won the Ballon d’Or, the award for the world’s best footballer, a record eight times.

Messi’s impact on European football is hard to underestimate. While Barcelona had enjoyed periods of success before, the time Messi was there was an era without compare. The club, which produced other star graduates from its La Masia academy such as Xavi and Andres Iniesta, bestrode the continent. Even his rivals could do little but admire.

“I’ve never seen a footballer play as consistently as Messi. You have to bear in mind that he’s never played for clubs that I like, which proves that I’m serious, the best I’ve ever seen,” said then-Germany and Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos after Messi lifted the 2022 World Cup with Argentina and ensured he’d won basically everything worth winning.

Late-stage Messi remains a threat

As he has edged beyond the age when most players retire, Messi has adjusted, with his energy-saving approach to the 2026 World Cup the zenith of that. His move to Inter Miami in 2023, when he was in his mid-30s, was the precursor to that change.

“I’ve changed my style of play because of the moment, the situation and my age,” he told the 433 app in 2024.

“I am adapting a little bit to everything. I started reinventing myself and adapting to the league, which for me was new.”

His off-pitch impact in the US has also been significant and somehow stretched his fame, profile and marketability still further.

“A lot of people are walking around cities and towns in the UK and Europe wearing that flamingo pink of Inter Miami with zero affiliation to Miami, having never been there,” sports brand strategist James Kirkham told the BBC.

A promotional tour of India in 2025 was supposed to do the same there, but his non-appearance at a match caused fans to invade a pitch during an event. In the long-term, though, that did little to dent his appeal across the globe.

Messi, Ronaldo the last big hitters of their age?

It is all proof of a shift in football fan culture that has progressed rapidly since Messi started his career more than 20 years ago. Increasingly now, fans follow players rather than teams, with Messi and the challenger to his crown, Cristiano Ronaldo, at the forefront.

“The athlete is more than just a competitor or the labor on the field, but I feel like it wasn’t until really the emergence of social media and technologies that the boundaries of what the athlete is really transcended,” Nataliya Bredikhina, a sports branding expert from the University of Delaware in the US, told DW with regard to Messi’s place in this growing phenomenon.

Many observers had expected the baton of that global fan attention to have been passed on by now. But despite the emergence of younger superstars such as Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, Messi and Ronaldo still stand supreme off the pitch.

On it, the pair both still deliver, though the physical decline is clearer by the week. While Messi is playing Major League Soccer in the US, Ronaldo is chasing his own 1,000-goal milestone in Saudi Arabia. Messi could potentially reach such heights too. And with his style adapted to disguise his fading fitness, a career that stretches into the 40s, as Ronaldo’s has, seems possible. But the man himself says he will know when the time is right.

“I know that the moment I feel that I am no longer able to perform, that I no longer enjoy or help my team-mates, I will quit,” he said in a 2024 interview on the Big Time podcast.

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Despite the loss of his father, and the difficulties in envisaging a future without him, that moment still seems a way off. When it comes, it will, like his talent and legacy, be seismic.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold

Billy Joe Saunders has hailed the speed and versatility of a rising star who he views as the “best I’ve seen” since Muhammad Ali.

Many would regard Ali as the greatest heavyweight of all time, or at least place him in the same conversation as Joe Louis and Lennox Lewis, for instance.

From a technical standpoint, there are very few that have successfully replicated his footwork and rhythm, let alone showcased such attributes at the highest level.

Ali, however, was able to impose his skills and athleticism against the likes of George Foreman and Joe Frazier, among several other top-level heavyweights.

It should therefore come as a bold statement that Saunders, a former two-weight world champion, has named Moses Itauma as the best heavyweight since Ali.

While ‘The Greatest’ went on to put his Hall of Fame status beyond any reasonable doubt, unbeaten prodigy Itauma is still yet to even compete at world level.

That said, the 21-year-old will bid to become the youngest heavyweight champion since Mike Tyson when he faces Filip Hrgovic for the vacant IBF title on August 29.

Speaking with talkSPORT, Saunders said he already believes Itauma is head and shoulders above any active heavyweight, including WBO champion Daniel Dubois.

“People might think I’m crazy … I think he’s the best I’ve seen since Muhammad Ali. It’s a big statement.

“He has got that back foot, front foot [ability] … he’s got that slip-counter that he throws. He’s the only heavyweight I know that can lean off, throw a lead uppercut and finish with two or three shots in a split second.”

Coming off a fifth-round finish over fringe contender Jermaine Franklin in March, Itauma is now approaching his toughest assignment thus far against Hrgovic.