Alberto Szabo, a personal trainer, and Kristian Sladek competed at the Hyrox competition in Rome, where they completed the pair race in 57 minutes and 14 seconds. This broke the one-hour barrier and achieved a result previously unattained by any Croatian pair.
Szabo had undergone three knee operations, which had kept him away from the football pitch, but this did not prevent him from competing in fitness competitions. Hyrox is a fitness competition that was created in Germany in 2017. It is a combination of running and functional exercises. The competition includes eight running stations interspersed with eight exercise stations, with a functional exercise performed after each of the one-kilometer running segments. The exercises include lunges, marathons, squats with a ball, sled pushes, sled pulls, and ergometer work.
The average time to complete a Hyrox race is between one hour and 15 minutes to one hour and 30 minutes, which further highlights the quality of the Croatian pair's performance. Szabo and Sladek had competed in individual races the day before, finishing below their expectations, with a target time of 58 minutes in mind. Kristian's daughter told them they could complete the race in 56 minutes. The final exercise, squats with a ball, involved 100 repetitions, with the ball in the Pro category weighing nine kilograms, compared to six kilograms in the Open category.
Hyrox offers Open and Pro categories, with athletes competing individually, in male, female, or mixed pairs, and in four-person relays. Hyrox also hosts competitions tailored for children and people with disabilities. Szabo achieved his best result in the Open category in one hour and three minutes, and in the Pro category in one hour and nine minutes.
Szabo trains independently and structures his own program, but recently he has received assistance from his colleague and friend, Pavel Krlic, who holds the status of a qualified trainer. Krlic structures the training programs. The main Hyrox organization collaborates with the World Triathlon Federation, and the aim of this collaboration is to bring Hyrox to the Olympic Games.
