He Risked Everything on HYROX. Now It Has 1.5 million Annual Participants

Moritz Fürste is the co-founder of Hyrox, the world's fastest-growing fitness racing series, and one of Germany's most decorated Olympic field hockey players — winning gold in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, and bronze in Rio 2016.  Moritz co-founded Hyrox in 2017 in Hamburg after a failed bid for the city to host the 2024 Olympic Games. What followed was years of building from gym to gym, a personal financial risk that he describes as betting "everything," an existential threat to the business during COVID and a string of contrarian product bets that turned HYROX into one of the most talked-about sports brands in the world. In 2026, HYROX expects to deliver around $270 million in revenue, host 121 events in 34 countries and welcome 1.5 million participants. Moritz says hybrid racing — the broader sport HYROX helped popularize — is on a credible path to becoming an Olympic discipline within the next decade.  Watch the video above to learn how Moritz Fürste turned a failed Olympic bid into a projected $270 million fitness racing business. #CNBC #CNBCMakeIt #Entrepreneur #FounderEffect #HYROX ----- Subscribe: @cnbci CNBC International Live: @cnbcinternationalive LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/cnbc/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cnbc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cnbc Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cnbc Threads: https://www.threads.net/@cnbc X: https://twitter.com/CNBC Telegram: https://t.me/cnbc