Back to the grind for former Singapore athletes feeling the Hyrox fever

Former national divers Mark (left) and Timothy Lee will be teaming up in a competitive event for the first time since retirement at the AIA Hyrox Open Asian Championships. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Samuel Tan

UPDATED Jun 28, 2025, 12:30 AM

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SINGAPORE – Jumping off diving boards together and somersaulting in unison were routines that synchronised divers Timothy and Mark Lee did for years, as they brought glory to Singapore on the regional and world stages.

This weekend, the 30-year-old twins will be taking a leap into a different arena, as they seek to rediscover that familiar feeling of doing battle alongside each other at the AIA Hyrox Open Asian Championships at the National Stadium.

Since retiring in 2021, the brothers – whose medal haul as a pair included Fina (now known as World Aquatics) Diving Grand Prix gold, silver and bronze medals as well as a SEA Games silver – had gradually drifted apart after they got married and started working.

But Timothy saw Hyrox as an opportunity for him and Mark to fall back in sync, telling his sibling before event registration opened this year that they should give it a go, adding: “It should be fun for us to team up again.

“We’ve gone for runs before, but nothing as competitive as this. This would be the first sort of competitive event for the two of us since retiring,” he added, ahead of their Hyrox debut in the men’s doubles event.

Compared to the solo iteration, doubles participants are allowed to share the workload on the eight functional workout stations – 1km SkiErg (indoor skiing machine), 50m sled push, 50m sled pull, 80m burpee broad jumps, 1km rowing, 200m farmer’s carry, 100m sandbag lunges and 100 wall balls – punctuated by a 1km run between stations.

Since the inaugural edition of Hyrox in Singapore in October 2023, the number of people taking part in the fitness craze has skyrocketed. The a bout 3,500 participants that year was almost doubled in 2024 as 6,500 and 6,185 competitors flocked to two separate races at the National Stadium and Singapore Expo respectively.

In a media statement, title sponsor AIA Singapore, which is providing participants and spectators with complimentary personal accident coverage upon ticket purchase, said it is expecting over 10,000 participants for the event on June 28 and 29.

CrossFit athletes, endurance runners and social media influencers will undoubtedly make up a large part of that figure, while the Lee brothers represent an emerging demographic of former Singapore athletes catching the Hyrox fever.

Despite beginning proper training only in January, the brothers have attempted the stations just once.

Timothy said: “I’m trying to do my own simulations at the gym. I don’t have access to a sled push or sled pull, so I make do with the cable equipment and stuff like that.”

Mark added: “We are trying as much as possible with whatever equipment that we have to replicate what it’s actually going to look like on competition day.”

The pair do not intend to set a target finish time as the real goal of competing together once again would have already been achieved.

“We live very different lives now. We stay apart. We’re both married. We don’t really get the same face time as we got before,” said Mark, who works in the tech industry.

“Honestly, Hyrox is (an) opportunity for me to compete again with my twin brother on a different level.

“I’m seeing it from a different lens (than) when I was in diving. At the heart of it, I want to have a good time with my brother.”

They will not be the only former divers at the National Stadium. J onathan Chan, who represented Singapore at the Tokyo Olympics , has also hopped onto the Hyrox bandwagon.

Former Olympic diver Jonathan Chan believes his diving background will help him in the men's doubles category. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

The 28-year-old events company designer will be taking part in the men’s doubles category with a friend.

He believes his diving background has given him “a very high baseline” as he seeks to achieve his targeted finish time of 1½ hours in his Hyrox debut.

Chan, who retired in 2022, said: “I think it definitely helped. I’m going into it with a certain level of fitness as compared to the average Singaporean. I guess I don’t have to work as hard to hit that standard of fitness to complete Hyrox.”

The 2025 edition of the global fitness race will also see the return of former national fencer Nicholas Fang, who took part in both Hyrox Singapore races in 2024.

The managing director of a communications firm still regularly fences under the masters and veterans categories and will even be racing in his first Ironman triathlon in November.

“This year I turn 50 and I truly believe in the idea that you have to use it or lose it,” said Fang, who retired from competitive fencing in 2009 . “Having some kind of commitment, some kind of sporting aspect really helps keep me on the right track.”

His partner in the men’s doubles category will be former Malaysian politician Khairy Jamaluddin, who will be making his Hyrox debut. The pair have stayed good friends since university.

Khairy said: “I’m going to be 50 next year. I think Nicholas is there already. I want to show that even at our age we can still try to compete in such races. That the body can actually go on if the mind wills it to.”

Hyrox has attracted not just former national athletes, but also current ones. Basketballer Lim Jia Min will be taking part in the women’s doubles category with teammate Alanna Lim , who also participated in 2024.

National basketball players Alanna Lim (left) and Lim Jia Min are hoping to place first in the farmer's carry station. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

“I went to support her (last year) and after watching her do it, I wanted to try,” said Jia Min, 33.

The pair work as basketball coaches at ActiveSG basketball academy and still actively play at club level for Kim Huat Blazers .

“We just want to test our fitness level. I’m wondering if I can push myself even more and better my timing because the previous time I was expecting,” said Alanna, who was six months pregnant when she participated in the mixed doubles category with her husband last year.

When asked which station they think they will excel at, Jia Min shared that her partner “would like to ace out in the farmer’s carry” this time around.

“I have accidentally said that I want to be the first (in farmer’s carry),” Alanna, 30, said with a laugh.

Jia Min replied: “I guess I have to buck up on that.”

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