What each penalty costs
Section 12 of the Singles rulebook ends with a table of 23 penalty codes, and the Doubles and Relay rulebooks print the same 23. Sorted by what they cost, they fall into three groups. Nearly everything that costs your result or minutes is about the course, the counts and conduct. Almost everything that costs seconds is about form.
Costs your result
| What happened | What it costs | Rulebook |
|---|---|---|
| Missing a whole run or a whole station | Disqualification | Code 02 |
| Missing a run lap where each run is a single lap | Disqualification | Code 01 |
| A second station done out of order | Disqualification | Code 03 |
| Leaving the SkiErg or rower before 1,000 m | DQ [Incomplete Station]: no result or ranking, but you may carry on | Codes 06, 07 |
| Leaving the wall balls before 100 valid reps | DQ [Incomplete Station]: no result or ranking, but you may carry on | Code 08 |
| Missing a sled lane or a farmers carry lap | DQ [Incomplete Station]: no result or ranking, but you may carry on | Codes 09, 11 |
| Carrying or lunging with the wrong weight and not redoing the station | Disqualification | Code 13 |
| Starting in another wave without permission | Disqualification | Code 19 |
| Racing without your timing chip on an ankle | Did Not Start | Code 20 |
Costs minutes
| What happened | What it costs | Rulebook |
|---|---|---|
| A missed run lap | 3, 5 or 7 minutes per lap, on a run of 4, 3 or 2 laps | Code 01 |
| One station done out of order | 3 minutes | Code 03 |
| Going through the wrong Roxzone arch | 2 minutes each time | Code 04 |
| Wrong entry or exit at a station | 2 minutes each time | Code 05 |
| Using an erg, lane or wall-ball spot you were not given | 2 minutes each time | Section 7.1 |
| Chalk used outside the rules | 2 minutes | Code 17 |
| Outside assistance | 2 minutes each time | Code 18 |
| Littering, or pouring aid-station water over yourself | 2 minutes each time | Code 22 |
| Spitting or clearing your nose onto the floor | 2 minutes or disqualification | Code 21 |
| Unsporting behaviour | 2 minutes or disqualification | Code 23 |
| Waiting in the start tunnel after your wave has gone | 1 minute can apply | Code 16 |
Costs seconds
| What happened | What it costs | Rulebook |
|---|---|---|
| Kettlebells (handles upright) or sandbag not returned to the right area | 30 seconds, unless you fix it before leaving the Roxzone | Code 12, sections 8.6 and 8.7 |
| A burpee broad jump fault after your warning | 15 seconds each | Code 10 |
| A lunge with no knee touch, or not standing tall, after your warning | 15 seconds each | Code 14 |
| Sandbag off your shoulders | 15 seconds every time | Code 15 |
| A SkiErg, sled push, sled pull or rower fault after your warning | 15 seconds each | Sections 8.1 to 8.5 |
| A wall-ball fault | No warning: the rep does not count | Section 8.8 |
The lap penalty is a range because venues lay out each run differently. The rulebook's own example: at a venue where the penalty is 5 minutes, a 1:24 finish with two missed laps becomes a 1:34 result (section 12.1.1).
Who catches it matters too. Many penalties are picked up by your chip, such as the wrong arch or a missed sled lane. Judges and head judges can penalise movement and rep faults on the spot. Only a Race Director can disqualify you (section 12.2), and the Lead Race Director's decision is final (section 7.3). None of it is settled at the finish line: penalties can be added and results amended for up to 48 hours after the event (section 4.3).
Course rules: laps, arches, order and the start
Laps
Each run is about 1,000 m, 8,000 m in total, and the venue lays each one out as laps. The first or last lap of a run can be a different length, and the difference is made up inside that run (section 7.2). Keeping count is up to you: the rulebook gives nothing back for an extra lap and treats any lap screen as an aid only (section 7).
Before the start, find out how many laps make a run at your venue, pick a landmark and say the lap number out loud each time you pass it. Counting is the cheapest skill in the race and a missed lap is its most expensive time penalty.
Arches and equipment
The Roxzone has an IN arch and an OUT arch, and your chip records which one you use. Running in through OUT or out through IN costs 2 minutes each time (section 12.1.4), and so does leaving a station through its IN arch (section 7.1). Use the sled lane, erg or wall-ball spot a judge gives you; choosing your own costs the same.
Station order
Stations go 1 to 8 in order. Miss one and you may go back for it, as long as you do it before you enter the wall balls. One station done out of order costs 3 minutes. A second is a disqualification, and skipping a station altogether is a disqualification too (sections 12.1.2 and 12.1.3).
The start
Your start time goes on your arm, and starting in another wave without permission is a disqualification (section 7). Stay off the run course and out of the Roxzone before your start, or your chip can record a wrong time. Be at the start tunnel ten minutes before your time (section 11.4), then move with your wave when it goes: waiting in the tunnel can cost 1 minute (code 16).
Doubles partners run every kilometre together and enter and leave each station together; one running ahead costs 1 minute (Doubles section 7). In Relay, the hand-over is a high-five in the Transition Zone, and a racer doing two legs back to back must run through it after each station or take an automatic penalty (Relay section 5.3.1). More on racing Doubles and racing Relay. For how the course fits together, see how the race works, and for the morning itself, race day.
What happens if you leave a station unfinished
Section 8 is blunt: every station must be completed in full, and falling short is an Incomplete Station, which the penalty table marks DQ. Section 12.3 spells out what that means: no results data and no place in any ranking or award, but you may carry on with the race without a final time. A Race Director's disqualification under section 12.4 is different: after it you may not continue.
Last season a missing sled lane cost 3 minutes and each missing wall ball 15 seconds. In the 2026/27 Singles, Doubles and Relay rulebooks, both cost your result. Unless you are hurt, finish the station, however long the last metres take.
Where each station ends, and what counts as done, is on the stations page and the pages for the ergs, sleds and wall balls.
The right weight, or start again
Kettlebells, sandbags and wall balls are colour-coded by division: white, grey or black. Do any of the farmers carry or the lunges with the wrong weight and you must repeat the whole station at the right one, or be disqualified (sections 8.6 and 8.7). Check the colour before you pick anything up. The loads for each division are on the weights page.
Penalties are the same in every Singles, Doubles and Relay division; the loads are not. To add your race, tap the plus on Home or Agenda, choose Add event, pick HYROX and fill in the date, your division and format, your experience and whether you are chasing a time or aiming to finish.
With Pro or during your trial, your coach builds your plan towards that race, and editing it later rebuilds the plan around the change.
How warnings and no-reps work
At stations 1 to 7 you get one warning per station for not meeting the movement standards. The second fault, of any kind, makes that rep invalid and adds its time penalty, and every fault after that adds another (section 12.2). The warning does not carry over, so you start each station with a clean slate.
At the SkiErg, both sleds, the burpee broad jumps, the rower and the lunges, each penalty is 15 seconds. Three faults at one station after the warning cost 45 seconds. That is real time, but it is a fraction of one missed lap.
Two exceptions. Putting the sandbag down on the ground, a barrier or your feet costs 15 seconds every time, with no warning in its protocol (section 8.7). And the rulebook may penalise a serious violation at once, without a warning (section 12.2).
Wall balls: no warnings, only no-reps
Wall balls work differently. There are no warnings: each throw is a rep or a no-rep (section 8.8). A no-rep adds no penalty time, but it does not count, so you throw again, and the station is not done until 100 valid reps are. A judge may also use a squat depth box to check depth. You cannot ask for one, and you cannot sit on it.
The rulebook makes it your job to show the judge each standard is met (section 8), so move clearly, especially when tired. The standards themselves are on the stations page and each station's own page, including burpee broad jumps and sandbag lunges.
Conduct: help, litter, water, spitting and chalk
What each conduct rule means; the costs are in the minutes table above.
- Outside assistance. Drinks come only from the aid stations, and any food you want you carry from the start (section 10.5). Handing kit to anyone, or taking it, counts as outside assistance and can mean disqualification (section 10.1). What you may wear is on the kit page.
- Littering. Cups and gel wrappers go in the bins, not on the Roxzone floor or the run course (section 10.4).
- Rapid cooling. Aid-station water is for drinking. Pouring it over your head or body makes the floor slippery for other racers and staff (section 7.1).
- Spitting. Spitting or clearing your nose onto the floor is banned outright, and the Race Director decides between the time penalty and disqualification (section 10.4, code 21).
- Chalk. Only event chalk, and only at the sled pull and the farmers carry, where it is put out. Bringing your own, carrying event chalk away and powdered chalk at the wall balls are all penalised (section 7.1, code 17, section 8.8).
- Behaviour. Abuse of staff, judges, volunteers, spectators or other racers, deception or obstruction can bring penalties, disqualification or a lifetime ban, applied after the race if need be (section 10.3). A disqualified racer gets no refund (section 13).
What changed for 2026/27
HYROX replaces each rulebook at the same address when a new version comes out. We compared the Singles rulebook dated 14 September 2026 with last season's English first release (June 2025) and French edition (October 2025). These are the changes that alter what a mistake costs.
These changes are in the Singles, Doubles and Relay rulebooks. The Adaptive rulebook of the same date still uses last season's time penalties for a short station: 3 minutes per missing sled lane or carry lap, 15 seconds per missing wall ball and 10 seconds up to disqualification for leaving an erg early (Adaptive penalty codes 06, 07, 09 and 14). If you race Adaptive, read the Adaptive rulebook.
| Rule | 2025/26 | 2026/27 |
|---|---|---|
| Missing a sled lane | 3 minutes per lane | DQ [Incomplete Station] |
| Missing a farmers carry lap | 3 minutes per lap | DQ [Incomplete Station] |
| Leaving the SkiErg or rower early | 10 seconds up to disqualification, by severity | DQ [Incomplete Station] |
| Leaving the wall balls short of 100 | 15 seconds per missing rep | DQ [Incomplete Station] |
| Sandbag off the shoulders | 15 seconds, then disqualification on the second | 15 seconds every time |
| Waiting in the start tunnel | No penalty in the table | 1 minute can apply |
| Feet on burpee broad jumps | Parallel, no stagger | Up to 5 cm stagger allowed |
| Feet on the rower | On the foot plates at all times; 15 seconds if not on them before taking the handle | Rest with feet on or off the foot plates, as long as you stay seated |
The pattern is plain. In 2025/26 a short station cost time; in 2026/27 it costs the result. The burpee broad jump now accepts up to 5 cm between the fronts of your feet at take-off and landing (section 8.4). On the rower you may now rest with your feet off the foot plates, as long as you stay seated (section 8.5).
Two rules you may see described as new are not. Chalk limited to event chalk at the sled pull and farmers carry, and staying seated on the rower until the judge confirms, were both in the 2025/26 text.
DQ, DNF, DNS and Out of Competition
The rulebook uses several terms for a race that ends without a ranked time. They are not interchangeable.
| Status | What causes it | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Disqualified (DQ) | A DQ penalty in the table, such as a missed run or the wrong wave, or a Race Director's call on spitting or behaviour | Only a Race Director can do it. No results data, no rankings or awards, and you may not continue (12.2, 12.4) |
| Incomplete Station | Leaving a station before its distance, laps or reps are done | The table marks it DQ, but section 12.3, headed Did Not Finish, says you get no results data, rankings or awards and may carry on without a final time (8, 12.3) |
| Did Not Finish (DNF) | A Race Director withdraws you on medical grounds, when blood, vomit, urine or faeces is a welfare or contamination risk | Recorded on the leaderboard as DNF (12.3) |
| Did Not Start (DNS) | Racing without your timing chip on an ankle | Recorded as DNS (7, code 20) |
| Out of Competition | Movement or load changes for an injury, agreed with HYROX in advance; in Doubles, more than three penalties for not staying together | You keep a finish time but get no ranking or qualification place (2.4). A Doubles team gets no ranking (Doubles 7). |
If you are carrying an injury, the rulebook asks you to get medical clearance from a qualified health professional before you race, and to contact HYROX in advance about any change to movements, weights or reps (section 2.4). See a doctor or physiotherapist first. A modification is agreed with HYROX before race day, not improvised on the floor.
Rules people quote that are not in the rulebook
Rules travel by word of mouth, and some of what you will hear is out of date or was never written down. Checked against the 26/27 rulebooks:
| What you may hear | What the rulebooks say |
|---|---|
| Doubles partners must stay within 10 seconds of each other | No such figure. Partners run every 1,000 m together and enter and leave each station together (Doubles 7). |
| On the sled push you must face the direction of travel | Not in the text. You use your assigned lane, stay in it, and the whole sled passes the 12.5 m mark before you change direction (8.2). |
| Every run is exactly 1 km | About 1,000 m each and 8,000 m in total, laid out in laps that suit the venue (7.2). |
| Women do fewer wall balls | 100 reps in every division. Women throw to a 2.70 m target, men to 3.00 m (8.8). |
| There is a time cap | The rulebooks set no overall time limit. Check your event's athlete guide for venue timings. |
| Watches are banned, or watches are allowed | Watches are on neither the permitted nor the forbidden list (10.1, 10.2). The rulebook does forbid phones and headphones. If you are unsure, ask your event's race director before race day; more on the kit page. |
When a rule matters to your race, check it in the current rulebook.