The opening round of the 2026/27 Elite Series brings Singles racing to Hamburg Messe und Congress on Friday 30 October, followed by Doubles on Saturday 31 October. The central question is how much has changed since the World Championships in June. Recent results suggest the established favourites will have company.
Three men's world champions, a women's champion facing last season's most consistent winner, and a new Challenger race offering a way into the next Elite 15 field. HYROX Hamburg has enough at stake before anyone starts talking about records.
The men and the case for Charlie Botterill
Alexander Roncevic, Dylan Scott and Tim Wenisch bring three different world championship-winning campaigns to the start line. Our prediction, however, leaves one of them off the podium.
RoxRadar's men's podium: 1. Alexander Roncevic, 2. Dylan Scott, 3. Charlie Botterill.
Roncevic gets the narrow vote because he has already shown how to win this particular contest. In Hamburg last year, he finished in 53:15, with Scott 23 seconds behind. Rox Lyfe's retrospective describes Roncevic leading much of the race while Scott applied pressure in the second half. That is a useful reference for another potentially close finish, rather than a guarantee of a repeat.
Scott returns as the reigning world champion and with a recent win behind him. His Boston victory on 9 October came in 54:42, ahead of Stephen Pelkofer's 55:06. It provides evidence of competitive form since Worlds, although comparing that time directly with a different course would tell us little.
Charlie Botterill supplies the strongest challenge to our own prediction. At Bordeaux on 2 October, he beat Roncevic directly: 54:01 against 54:12, with Jake Dearden third in 54:20. Those athletes faced the same course on the same day. It is the clearest recent reason to treat Botterill as a potential winner, not simply someone hoping the champions have an off day.
Our choice of Roncevic still gives more weight to his Hamburg record and championship pedigree. Bordeaux makes that a close judgment. Wenisch and world silver medallist Louis Osselaer remain obvious threats to the proposed podium; Botterill's recent head-to-head win earns him our third spot.
Wietrzyk has the season record and McElheny has the title
RoxRadar's women's podium: 1. Joanna Wietrzyk, 2. Alyssa McElheny, 3. Lauren Weeks.
Joanna Wietrzyk's case goes well beyond a fast personal best. She won all four Elite 15 Singles Majors in 2025/26: Hamburg, Melbourne, Phoenix and Warsaw. Then McElheny beat her at the World Championships, leaving Wietrzyk second in Stockholm. That makes Hamburg a compelling test of the season's most consistent winner against the athlete who delivered on its biggest day.
Wietrzyk also won Sydney in July in 56:14, ahead of fellow Hamburg starters Calypso Sheridan and Gabrielle Nikora-Baker. It is useful post-Worlds evidence, although less recent than the autumn racing of some rivals.
Weeks has a particularly clear recent result: 57:18 to win Salt Lake City on 18 September, with Madelyn Eybergen second in 57:56. Her third-place prediction should not disguise a credible winning chance. McElheny's position rests principally on her world title; we have less clean recent race evidence for her than for Weeks.
Vivian Tafuto is the athlete most likely to make this predicted trio look too neat. She finished just 13 seconds behind Wietrzyk in Hamburg last year, won Washington, D.C. in September in 57:51, then took second at Toronto in October in 58:57. There is both history and recent form behind her challenge.
Calypso Sheridan is another serious podium contender, having finished second behind Wietrzyk in Sydney in 58:23, and could disrupt our predicted top three.
Challenger offers more than a supporting race
The announced Challenger fields include names familiar from Elite racing, including James Kelly, Jake Dearden and Jannik Czapla among the men, and Jess Pettrow, Seka Arning and Stefanie Oswald among the women.
Frederic Dubé deserves particular attention. He won Washington, D.C. in 53:59 and Toronto in 55:22. Dearden's close third behind Botterill and Roncevic in Bordeaux also makes him difficult to overlook. Reputation alone is not enough to choose this winner.
The reward is immediate: under the official Singles rules, each Challenger winner earns a place in the next Elite 15 race. London's Singles meeting on 3 December is the next stop. Challenger does not offer a direct Worlds place, but it puts its winner into the race where those places can be earned.
Who is missing
Megan Jacoby, the 2024 women's world champion, is a notable absence from the announced Hamburg Singles fields. The official rankings checked on 28 October showed 420 points from four scoring results, in 44th place.
Singles rankings use an athlete's best five results within a rolling 365-day window, rather than requiring five completed races for eligibility. A fifth result can improve a total, but another race would not automatically secure Jacoby a London invitation. Her Stuttgart result also expires before London's selection. A London return remains a possibility, not a confirmed entry. We look forward to Megan's return to the Elite 15 field after injuries sidelined her for the 2025/26 season.
Sinéad Bent and Lucy Procter are also absent from the announced Hamburg Singles fields, leaving two more familiar names out of the season opener.
Placings before the clock
Each Elite 15 race offers three World Championship places, with Hong Kong hosting Worlds in June 2027. Placings therefore matter more than the clock. The same applies to Challenger, where winning earns promotion.
For discussion, our approximate winning-time bands are 52:30 to 54:00 for the men and 56:00 to 58:30 for the women. These are editorial estimates, not course-adjusted forecasts. The layout, sled conditions and tactical choices can all change the final time. A patient race that secures qualification may matter far more to an athlete than chasing a record.
When to watch
Watch the racing on the official HYROX YouTube broadcasts:
- Friday 30 October 2026: Watch Hamburg Singles on YouTube.
- Saturday 31 October 2026: Watch Hamburg Doubles on YouTube.
The official Hamburg schedule lists the following race starts. Friday is Singles; Saturday's corresponding Doubles races follow the same times.
- Challenger women: 1:00 PM UTC / 2:00 PM Hamburg (CET)
- Challenger men: 3:00 PM UTC / 4:00 PM Hamburg (CET)
- Elite women: 5:30 PM UTC / 6:30 PM Hamburg (CET)
- Elite men: 7:00 PM UTC / 8:00 PM Hamburg (CET)
These are race start times, not a separately confirmed broadcast start. Open the relevant YouTube stream to set a reminder. Schedules remain subject to change.
Hamburg will show whether recent form translates to the Elite 15 stage. With three Worlds places available in each race, the fight for the podium spots could be just as compelling as the battle for victory.
