HARRY Thompson is planning to prove he is the world’s fitness king this year.

The evidence backing the 29-year-old Slaughter and May lawyer’s case is that he is already hyrox world champion in the 25-29 age group and delivered one of the best global times of 2023 in winning both the Barcelona and London events late last year.

Now he is setting out his stall to win the overall elite title at the world championships in Nice, France, in what is an intense fitness race – combining eight 1km runs with workouts like ski erg, sled pull, rowing, sandbag lunges and wall balls.

Wilmslow resident Thompson, a former student at The Ryleys in Alderley Edge and Manchester Grammar School, has worked hard on developing himself in hyrox, while also building a strong team around him.

His sporting background is in rugby union, and he was a junior at Wilmslow Wolves before spells with Macclesfield, Barnes, Burnage and Sons of Lazarus Sevens, but he is now firmly in the hyrox grip.

“Hyrox is one of the fastest-growing sports in the,” said Thompson.

“It is a sport designed to be both accessible to everyone and test all areas of fitness for even elite athletes.

“I won both the Barcelona and London hyrox events in the pro category.

“Those events had around 8,000 and 12,000 competitors respectively and in the process I put up one of the top times worldwide in 2023.

“I like hyrox because of that accessibility and because it combines several different disciplines to create an all-body challenge.

“This variety makes it a really enjoyable event to both train for and compete at because it tests a wide variety of fitness disciplines from strength to cardiovascular endurance and mental resilience, and so any training plan must address all those areas to be successful.”

He added: “I’ve built my own private gym for my training in Wilmslow called Testudo, which first started in lockdown in 2020, and train with a small group of athletes locally who are helping me work towards my goals.

“Alongside work, I have become an accredited personal trainer and group exercise instructor and run my own training plan which has seen me overcome some longstanding injuries from rugby to being able to compete at the highest level internationally in hyrox.

“Becoming an age-group world champion back in May was a bit of a shock as you never know quite how you will fare when everyone comes together from across the world on race day, but once that initial emotion settled it just felt really satisfying to get to celebrate the culmination of years of hard work with my closest family, friends and my partner.

“Having won my age group I’ve now set my sights firmly on the overall championship title and feel that last season’s experience will help to give me the confidence to push on for that goal.

“I’ve had some really encouraging results this season, already taking those victories in Barcelona and London against some of the world’s top hyrox athletes notwithstanding a few set-backs in preparations for those events.

“However, there’s still plenty of work to do ahead of the race in June.

“I think if I want to take the overall championship title I’ll need to maximise my recovery with Physiofit in Alderley Edge, keep working hard at my training centre with my training partners and trust in the plan I’ve laid out for the next few months.

“There’s no guarantees in sport but with the support of my team I think we can do it!”