When she was a flight attendant for Air New Zealand, Gabrielle Nikora-Baker was flying excessive, day in, day trip. Now, the sky’s the restrict for the 34-year-old within the thrilling world of Hyrox, the health racing format that’s turn out to be a worldwide phenomenon.
The 34-year-old Kiwi, who competed in her first Hyrox race lower than two years in the past, has rapidly climbed the world rankings to her present standing of quantity 9. After initially competing in doubles occasions, she took half in her first particular person race in July final yr.
Not like lots of her fellow Hyrox opponents, who’re cyclists, swimmers or runners, Nikora-Baker doesn’t have an endurance background. As an alternative, she beforehand took half in bodybuilding.
“I competed just a few occasions in New Zealand in bikini competitions. It was one thing to coach for and I bought approached by somebody at a gymnasium telling me I had nice potential within the physique constructing house, so I gave just a few competitions a go after which after the Covid lockdowns my coaching utterly modified up and I used to be doing numerous cross-fit with mates, coaching from residence with minimal tools,” says Nikora-Baker.
“However then I used to be feeling fairly misplaced with my coaching, and I set the objective that I wished to get sturdy and construct muscle, so I executed that for 5 years. However I wasn’t feeling very challenged, so I set myself a New Yr’s decision in 2024; I wanted to be humble, and I want to start out from scratch with one thing. So a good friend, Damian Votta, informed me about Hyrox, and requested me to do the combined doubles with him. It sounded scary, but it surely gave me a cause to start out working and I had a objective to work in the direction of.”
Hyrox, which was launched in Germany in 2017, combines eight kilometres of working with eight exercise stations; ski erg, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmers carry, sandbag lunges and partitions balls. Athletes run one km, adopted by a exercise station, repeating the method eight occasions.
Races are often run indoors, and athletes can compete individually, in doubles or as a relay crew. In doubles, each athletes run collectively and cut up the eight exercises as they select. In relays, groups of 4 full, with every member working two units of 1 km, and finishing two workstations. Within the particular person and doubles divisions, professional races can be found which have heavier weights on the workstations.
“It’s very inclusive. There are folks of their seventies and eighties competing, and there’s additionally the adaptive division which is for athletes with bodily, visible or neurological impairments,” says Nikora-Baker.
After three combined doubles races with Votta, Nikora-Baker teamed up with Scotland’s Nicola-Georgia Macbeth to compete in professional doubles races. They’d on the spot success, successful their first three races in Melbourne, Auckland and Brisbane, in late 2024 and early 2025. Their performances earned them a spot within the Elite 15 doubles occasions, which brings collectively the highest 15 duos on the earth. They completed twelfth within the Chicago Elite 15 occasion final June, and thirteenth in Melbourne’s race in December.
By her personal admission, Nikora-Baker’s Hyrox coaching was ‘chilled’ within the early days, however after her first solo race in Sydney in July final yr, the place she completed second within the professional division, she realised if she took Hyrox extra critically, she may go far.
Quickly after, fellow Kiwi Beau Wills, himself ranked fifteenth on the earth in males’s Hyrox, got here on board to coach her. She went on to win the person professional occasion in Boston in September and completed second in her subsequent professional race in Chicago in November, a mix of outcomes that noticed her qualify for the Elite 15 races (the highest 15 athletes are chosen based mostly on a median time of their finest two performances).
In her debut Elite 15 race in Melbourne in December, she completed ninth after which adopted that up with a fifth place in Phoenix on the finish of January, a end result that has additionally seen her qualify for the Hyrox World Championships in Sweden this June.
“When you’d informed me six months in the past I’d be the place I’m I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s all compounded and snowballed rapidly based mostly on what’s occurred. I hope to do properly at World’s which opens up doorways, however I’m not doing it for the cash or publicity, it’s extra nearly taking the chance. I’ve bought this wholesome physique and I’ve bought the capability to do it.”
Nikora-Baker was born and raised in Nelson, relocating to Melbourne seven years in the past after in search of a change from the routine of life at 40,000 toes.
“I’ve at all times been very within the well being and health house and though I discovered the entire flight attendant way of life new and thrilling firstly, after fairly just a few years it’s not the healthiest or most secure way of life,” says Nikora-Baker.
She made to change to private coaching, working at Metropolis Health for 18 months earlier than transferring to Australia. Inside six months, the Covid pandemic hit and all of the gyms have been closed, which means that she wanted to search out new methods of working. She reacted by transferring her enterprise on-line.
She’s now a ladies’s on-line health and vitamin coach, in her phrases, ‘serving to ladies carry out, really feel and turn out to be their finest self.’
“It’s very rewarding, it doesn’t actually really feel like a job. When folks ask me what I’d be doing if I wasn’t working within the health trade, I actually don’t know. It’s what I like.”
Nikora-Baker has seen an evolution in the kind of purchasers that she works with. Initially, they have been coming to her for way of life health objectives, however she estimates that 60 p.c to 70 p.c of her present purchasers participate in Hyrox themselves, with their ages starting from early 20’s to folks of their 60’s.
“I didn’t plan on ending up the place I’m with Hyrox, I assumed I’d do one and that may be it, however you get sucked in and also you need to do it once more and earlier than you recognize it, you’ve executed 10 races. It really works properly with my way of life, I assist my purchasers with it, and doing properly at it’s the cherry on high.”
After 650 athletes took half within the first Hyrox occasion in 2017, the game has grown vastly year-on-year, with a forecasted 1.3-1.5 million members anticipated worldwide within the present 2025-26 season.
New Zealand’s first Hyrox occasion was on the Auckland Showgrounds firstly of February final yr, with approx. 6,000 athletes competing over two days. This yr’s occasion virtually doubled in measurement, with practically 11,000 athletes participating on the identical venue, between January 29 and February 1.
“It’s undoubtedly taking off in New Zealand. I nonetheless have a consumer base in New Zealand which makes me really feel actually related. The Auckland occasion was over two days final yr, however that was elevated to 4 days this yr. They’re additionally speaking a few second race in Auckland, which might be wonderful.”
