The PUMA Hyrox World Championships just wrapped in Stockholm. Eight brutal stations. Eight kilometres of running. Thousands of athletes from across Europe leaving everything on the floor of the Strawberry Arena.
Everyone's talking about pacing strategies, sled weights, and race shoes. Nobody's talking about what happens in the box on a Tuesday morning — and why it might matter more than any of that.
🏆 The Athletes You Should Be Watching
Nadine Novillo and Irina del Río aren't household names yet. But in the Spanish Hyrox community, they're known for something significant: they were the first Spanish female pairing to qualify for the HYROX Pro Doubles category — the elite division, not the open wave.
They train at Next Level in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, under the methodical preparation of QI Movement. And if you follow them on social media, you'll notice something that surprises most people: during their strength sessions, they train barefoot.
Not during the race. Not during their running intervals. During their strength work — squats, deadlifts, carries, functional movement patterns. The foundation sessions that build the engine everything else runs on.
🧠 Why Barefoot for Strength?
This isn't a fashion choice. It's a deliberate methodological decision — and the science backs it up completely.
When you train in a conventional shoe with heel elevation and a rigid sole, you're disconnecting your foot from the ground at the exact moment you need ground connection most. Under load — in a squat, a deadlift, a heavy carry — your foot should be spreading, gripping, sending proprioceptive feedback to your nervous system about position and stability. A thick midsole silences all of that.
Zero-drop, wide-toe-box footwear changes the equation. Your heel and forefoot are level — no artificial forward tilt. Your toes can spread and grip naturally. The thin sole transmits ground feedback directly. The result: better force transfer, more natural alignment under load, and — over time — significantly stronger intrinsic foot musculature.
For Hyrox athletes specifically, this matters in ways that compound across race day. Stronger feet mean better running economy. Better running economy means arriving at each station with more left in the tank. And for the sled push and pull — the stations that break most athletes — ground connection and ankle stability are everything.
💪 Train Different from How You Compete
Here's the nuance that most people miss: Nadine and Irina don't race in barefoot shoes. They choose a race-specific shoe for competition — one optimised for the unique demands of 8km of running and 8 functional stations at maximum intensity.
But their training shoes? That's where the barefoot philosophy lives. Because training is where you build. Racing is where you spend.
The strength work done barefoot in the weeks and months before a race builds a foundation that no race-day shoe can replicate. Strong intrinsic muscles. Stable ankles. Full proprioceptive engagement under load. A foot that functions as a performance organ rather than a passenger.
🌍 The Hyrox Community Is Waking Up
Across Europe, the conversation around training footwear in the Hyrox community is changing. Athletes who've transitioned their strength sessions to minimalist footwear report consistently: better squat depth, more stable sled pushes, reduced post-race foot fatigue.
The next race is coming. The preparation starts now. And it might start — literally — from the ground up.
With the Hyrox Tenerife race confirmed for September 2026, athletes across the Canary Islands and mainland Spain are already deep in their next training block. The athletes who'll perform best aren't the ones who nail race-day shoe selection. They're the ones who've spent months building a foundation nobody can see.
🚀 Build the Base They're Building
You don't need to be an elite Hyrox athlete to train the way elite athletes train. The principles are the same whether you're chasing a podium or just want to finish your first race feeling strong.
Train your strength sessions barefoot — or as close to barefoot as possible. Let your foot do what it was designed to do. Build the foundation that makes everything else better.
👉 Explore The Nude Foot Collection
👉 Shop Barefoot Training Shoes for Hyrox Prep
👉 Train Like the Athletes. Start From the Ground Up.