It is impossible to discuss last weekend’s HYROX World Championship women’s race without first recapping the last 12 months of Meg and Lauren’s battle for supremacy in the women’s field in the World Series Of Fitness.

Throughout the HYROX season, Meg and Lauren have consistently dominated as leaders of the class. Despite their close friendship outside the course, they fiercely compete against each other on the floor.

Lauren beat Meg 54 weeks ago at last year’s HYROX World Champs in Manchester by 32 seconds. Lauren then ran in New York and Dubai and won both races without Meg in attendance. Lauren and Meg next faced off in the Chicago and Stockholm Majors, where Meg won both. Next up was the Vienna Major where Lauren won by over 2 minutes.

The final HYROX Major of the year took place in Washington, DC, where Lauren once again claimed first place. This time, Meg finished 17 seconds behind, securing third place behind Linda Meier, who delivered her strongest performance to date.

Chicago HYROX Major Podium – Lauren ties up the Majors at 2-2.

The stage was set for the evening of June 7th at Palais des Expositions-Nice Acropolis. The entire community was there to watch or was tuned in to the HYROX Live Feed to watch the most competitive women’s field ever assembled. Joining Meg and Lauren were standouts Mikaela Norman, the former CrossFit athlete, who claimed the US HYROX Championships title in 2023, along with Germany’s Linda Meier and Viola Oberländer, and US competitor Vivian Tafuto. Also present were England’s Zara Piergianni alongside Italy’s Camilla Massa, both of whom earned their spots through the Last Chance Qualifier events.

The Elite 15 HYROX Women Assemble

When the race began, Lauren and Meg were in a predictable 1-2 battle up until the station number 3. Lauren had a troublesome sled pull and left the station all the way back in 7th as Meg took the lead. Meg’s lead continued to grow during the next two stations and she left the row ahead of her closest competitors, Vivian, Kate, and Viola by a little over 2 minutes.

The final 20 minutes of the race was almost everything one could for in a field theis deep. Meg was not gonna lose the lead, however, the women behind her traded places multiple times in the lunges and the farmers carry.

After the final run, the women came into the wall balls with 4 seconds separating 2nd and 4th. The board looked like this.

1. Jacoby, Megan – 00:56:36
2. Meier, Linda – 00:59:34
3. Tafuto, Vivian – 00:59:37
4. Oberländer, Viola – 00:59:38
5. Weeks, Lauren – 01:00:10
6. Davey, Kate – 01:00:13

The wall balls are a station where everything can change as some can come in and go unbroken, and some take seconds or even minutes longer having to rest as they complete 100 repetitions.

Meg did her wall balls unbroken and won the race going away for her first ever World Championship. Along with a massive smile and some tears, she fell to the ground and was immediately greeted on the stage by her daughter.

Viola and Lauren finished their wall balls at almost the same time and crossed 2nd and 3rd. Vivian then crossed shortly after in 4th, before chaos ensued. A judge called Viola back as she had been no repped for her final wall ball. Then judges attempted to do the same to Vivian and Lauren Weeks as well. It was unclear to the audience what had happened and what the final standings would be.

After the dust settled it was determined that Viola and Vivian were both given a 5 second penalty for crossing the finish line before being cleared by their judge for their 100th wall ball. However, Viola had also left the Ski Erg station early and was assessed an additional 3 second penalty. This moved Lauren Weeks all the way up to 2nd with Vivian 3rd and Viola 4th. (You can watch the chaos here.)

Lauren Weeks is already a cherished figure in the space and is regarded as a favorite every time she competes. She consistently exhibits grace, whether winning or finishing in any another position. With 11 Pro/Elite victories overall, she leads all women in the sport. She won the World Championship in 2021 and 2023. In fact, her only finish outside the top 3 is when she finished 9th at the 2022 World Championship in Vegas when she was several months pregnant. This performance of coming all the way back from 7th to 2nd, serves as a lesson in perseverance and further enhances her legendary status.

However, this particular night was dominated by Meg Jaoby. She trained hard all year for this exact performance and she delivered. Having recently signed with PUMA, she is likely to become the female face of HYROX for the 2024/2025 season.

Here are the final results for the 2024 Elite 15 HYROX World Championship.

1. Megan Jacoby – 🇺🇸 – 59:59 – $25,000
2. Lauren Weeks – 🇺🇸 – 1:03:37 – $14,000
3. Vivian Tafuto – 🇺🇸 – 1:03:44 – $8,500
4. Viola Oberländer – 🇩🇪 – 1:03:45 – $5,000
5. Linda Meier – 🇩🇪 – 1:03:57 – $4,000
6. Kate Davey – 🇬🇧 – 1:04:42 – $2,500
7. Amy Bevilacqua – 🇺🇸 – 1:07:11 – $2,500
8. Zara Piergianni – 🇬🇧 – 1:08:25 – $2,000
9. Maria Fecik – 🇨🇦 – 1:09:11 – $2,000
10. Mikaela Norman – 🇸🇪 – 1:10:50 – $2,000
11. Alina Willnow – 🇩🇪 – 1:11:06 – $1,500
12. Lauren Griffith – 🇺🇸 – 1:13:33 – $1,500
13. Jana Lebenstedt – 🇩🇪 – 1:13:50 – $1,500
14. Camilla Massa – 🇮🇹 – 1:15:27 – $1,500
15. Antje Hardes – 🇩🇪 – DNF – $1,500*

*Antje Hartes – Started the race but dropped out after the sled pull. All athletes receive $1,500 minimum as part of prize pool which helps with travel costs.

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Special thanks to hyresult.com, which serves as an inexhaustible source of HYROX statistics utilized by Hybrid Fitness Media contributors.