In HYROX doubles, both athletes run all 8km together and share the eight stations between them. The running is not split. That single fact is what separates doubles from relay, and it is what most people signing up for the first time get wrong.
How you divide the station work is largely your choice, and that flexibility is where doubles races are won and lost.
Why trust this
Ben Sutherland races Pro Doubles on the Elite 15 start list with his brother Harry, with a doubles best of 49:24 at the Warsaw Major in 2026 and wins at Glasgow, Mechelen and Berlin. The tactical detail below comes from racing the format at that level, not from theory.
One caveat stated up front: doubles has its own rulebook, separate from the singles rulebook. Specific splitting rules vary by station and can be revised between seasons, so treat the tactics here as sound and the fine detail as something to confirm against your event's current doubles rulebook.
What is fixed
Both athletes run every kilometre. All 8km, together. You do not alternate runs. If your paces are badly mismatched, this is the part that hurts, because the faster athlete either waits or the slower one blows up.
The station order is the same as singles. SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, row, farmers carry, sandbag lunges, wall balls, with a 1km run before each.
The loads are the same as singles for your division. Sharing the reps does not lighten the weight. When it is your turn on the sled, you are moving full race weight.
What is flexible
For most stations, the pair decides how to divide the work, and can swap as often as they like. That opens up real tactical choices:
The ergs (SkiErg and row). One athlete works while the other rests. The naive split is 500m each. The better split is usually shorter, more frequent blocks, because neither athlete drifts into a fatigued pace and the transitions cost less than the fade does.
Burpee broad jumps, sandbag lunges, farmers carry. Distance-based, so you can split by metres. Halves are common; smaller alternating chunks keep both athletes fresher.
Wall balls. Rep-based and usually split, often 50/50 or in alternating sets. This is the station where an uneven pair should be most uneven: if one of you is markedly better at wall balls, give them more, because it is the last station and a fade there is expensive.
The sleds are the usual exception. At most events both athletes work the sled together for the full distance rather than alternating. Confirm this in your event's rulebook, because it is the rule most likely to differ.
| Station | Common split | Better split | Why | |---|---|---|---| | SkiErg 1000m | 500m each | 4 x 250m | Neither athlete drifts into a fatigued pace | | Sled push 50m | Together | Together | Usually mandated; check your rulebook | | Sled pull 50m | Together | Together | Usually mandated; check your rulebook | | Burpee broad jumps 80m | 40m each | 4 x 20m | Heart rate recovers in the gaps | | Row 1000m | 500m each | 4 x 250m | Same logic as the SkiErg | | Farmers carry 200m | 100m each | 4 x 50m | Grip recovers fast, fatigue does not | | Sandbag lunges 100m | 50m each | 4 x 25m | Quads fail suddenly, not gradually | | Wall balls 100 reps | 50/50 | Uneven, to the stronger thrower | Last station, a fade here is expensive |
Treat the "better split" column as a starting hypothesis to test in training, not a rule. Pairs differ.
The tactics that actually matter
Swap more often than feels necessary. The instinct is to do big blocks and minimise transitions. In practice, frequent short swaps keep both athletes near their fresh pace, and the time lost in handovers is smaller than the time lost to fade. On the ergs this is the single biggest lever.
Play to asymmetry, deliberately. The whole point of doubles is that you do not both have to be good at everything. If one of you is strong and one is a runner, load the strong athlete on the sleds and lunges and let the runner carry more of the erg work. Decide this before the race, not during it.
Agree the splits in advance, station by station. Write them down. Mid-race negotiation while both of you are at threshold is how pairs lose a minute and their tempers.
Have a fallback for each station. "If I am struggling on lunges, we switch to 25m blocks." Agreeing the failure plan is more useful than agreeing the ideal plan, because the ideal plan survives about four stations.
The runs are the real constraint. Your doubles pace is set by the slower runner, over 8km, eight separate times. No station tactic recovers a badly mismatched pairing.
The practical part: choosing a partner
In rough order of importance.
- Similar running pace. This matters more than everything else combined. A 30 seconds per kilometre gap is manageable. A 60 second gap will define your race.
- Complementary station strengths. Ideal is one stronger, one faster. Two identical athletes gain nothing from the format.
- Someone you can train with. Handovers are a skill. Pairs who have rehearsed swaps are visibly smoother, and the time saved is real.
- Someone who communicates under load. You need to be able to say "I need two more" without it becoming a conversation.
- Similar goals. A pair where one wants a podium and one wants to finish will be unhappy whatever the time.
Rehearse the actual swaps in training at least twice before race day. Most pairs never do, and it shows in the Roxzone.
Honest limitations
Doubles is not an easier singles. The stations come at you faster because you are sharing them, so your recovery between efforts is shorter than a solo racer's. Many athletes find the density harder even though the total work is less.
Partner selection is also outside your training's control. A well-drilled pair with mismatched running paces will lose to a scrappy pair who run the same speed, and no amount of preparation fixes that.
And the specific splitting rules genuinely do vary and get revised. This page gives you the shape and the tactics. The current doubles rulebook for your event gives you the letter of it, and that is the one that counts on the day.
Next step
If you are choosing between doubles, relay and singles, the divisions explained sets out all of them side by side.
To find out where your own fitness sits before you commit a partner to anything, the fitness assessment quiz takes a few minutes.
[ FAQ ]
Frequently asked
Do both athletes run in HYROX doubles?
Yes. Both partners run the full 8km together, all eight 1km segments. Only the stations are shared. This is the single biggest difference from relay, where the race is split four ways.
How do you split the stations in HYROX doubles?
Most stations can be split however the pair chooses, in any number of swaps, provided only one athlete works at a time where the rules require it. The sleds are the exception at most events, where both athletes work together. Always check the doubles rulebook for your event.
What weights does HYROX doubles use?
Doubles uses the standard division weights for the pair's category. Sharing the work does not lighten the load, so each athlete lifts full race weight during their portion.
Written by
The Suth Performance teamCoaches and editors
The Suth Performance programming team, led by HYROX Elite 15 athlete Ben Sutherland.
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