Can you believe that 6 months of the season has gone by already and we’re now just 3 months away from the World Championships!?
It’s an interesting time as, at the top of the sport, some athletes have guaranteed their spot in the Elite 15 race in Manchester, others are only just inside or have been pushed outside (and so are having to race to improve their times), and we’ve still got rapidly improving athletes or even those who haven’t raced this season deciding when to make their move and put in a performance that could shakeup that Elite 15.
This weekend, in Munich, we saw Florian Gast take the win in the Male Pro race, an athlete most will expect to see in that Elite 15 race, and Alita Willnow secure a dominant win in the Women’s Pro race, a definite example of a rapidly improving athlete looking to crack that Elite 15 in the near future!
Florian Gast
Florian is one of the most active and consistent athletes racing this season. He went sub-60 in Frankfurt earlier in the season, which currently has him placed inside the Elite 15, and has raced multiple times in the past few months at Maastricht, Chicago and now Munich.
Here’s our interview with Florian shortly after his win in Munich:
How was your training going into this event? Anything you changed recently that helped you?
Training was focused on my last elite race in Maastricht. I didn’t focus on Munich too much in my overall training plan, but was really looking forward to it, as it is my hometown.How does it feel to win an event like this in Germany?
Winning Hyrox Munich made a dream come true for me. I set this goal 3 years ago. Last year I was on a totally different fitness level after I couldn’t keep up with my training routines during the pandemic. Last year I wasn’t even close to winning an pro event over all. I had my family, lots of friends, supporters and my running crew in Munich. It was so nice getting pushed hard in a tough race.I feel you’ve raced a lot this season! Do you enjoy racing regularly? Does it help you?
You need to find your sweet spot! Race enough to gain experience but also have longer times with big training blocks. I did both Championships, as I am a newbie in the elite racing… For me it is pretty different to race vs. 14 elites in the arena mode… So I wanted 2 prep races for Manchester – assuming I still have my qualification spot in May 🙂Any observations about the race? Your strategy, the course or your competitors?
The race was fun but felt slow. In some races I find my own stable and fast “race pace”. Just like a running flow with strong workouts and fast runs. This time it was more like a suffer-game… but a fun suffer-game as it was pretty close between Peter Schiller, Eugenio Bianchi and me until lunges.Peter and Eugenio are amazing athletes. It was an honor to race with them.
Also, Viola Oberlaender and Tim Wenisch, both elites, didn’t race, but where at the track pushing me and all their athletes. That was awesome. Also my brother did a great Open race.
In the end, Munich was a rather slow race for me, but I am pretty happy I could push to first place over all in the end.
What’s the plan for you now?
I will train for Manchester harder than ever before. 3 months is a lot of time. I think I can reach another level of fitness by then. We will see 😀
Alina Willnow
Alina clearly loves Hyrox and has picked up first place podium spots in Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles, the Relay and Individual competitions! She has her sights firmly set on breaking into the Elite rankings and her time of 1:10:44 in Munich left her just one minute away from a spot on Hyrox’s Top 30 Elite Rankings.
Here’s our interview with Alina shortly after her win in Munich:
How was your training going into this event? Anything you changed recently that helped you?
I was at the Athletic Camp in Cyprus at the end of February and actually trained very atypically to my normal rhythm. I got a lot of useful tips on my technique, but also took very heavy legs with me from the camp 😅How does it feel to win an event like this in Germany?
Of course it feels great to win an event and I’m proud that I was able to fight my way back into first place in the second half of the race. Nevertheless, in every race you realise where you still have weaknesses and that a lot of work is still waiting for me 🙈Any observations about the race? Your strategy, the course or your competitors?
Puh, this time I had planned to time every run lap in order to run the ideal pace for me. But I was far too nervous in my head again and forgot it in 7 out of 8 laps 😅. Besides the sled really challenged me. It was incredibly hard, I didn’t expect it to be like that. Otherwise, I always try to get through the workouts at a constant pace. And with the wallballs I always imagine the moment when you do the last rep and are finally released from the burning shoulders. And the less you put it down, the faster that moment arrives 😉What’s the plan for you now?
Sub-70 is my goal for the next race. And a lot of sled pull work needs to be done!
Head over to Instagram and give Florian and Alina a follow. Thank you to them both for taking time to share their thoughts with us! 🙂