BEIJING — Vanness Wu has spent more than two decades singing, acting and performing in front of packed audiences. This time, the 48-year-old F4 star traded the stage for sleds, sandbags and an eight-kilometre run — and completed his first HYROX race in just over 71 minutes.
The Taiwanese-American singer-actor competed at HYROX Beijing on September 13, partnering with Han Chao in the Men’s Doubles division at Beijing’s National Speed Skating Oval. Their official finishing time was 1 hour, 11 minutes and 53 seconds, putting them 10th in their age group, according to results cited by AsiaOne.
Wu’s appearance quickly attracted attention online, partly because of his physical condition at 48 and partly because the Beijing competition had already become the subject of an entirely different global controversy one day earlier.
Australian HYROX athlete Joanna Wietrzyk suffered bowel incontinence during the Women’s Pro race on September 12 but was allowed to continue and eventually win, prompting criticism over hygiene and race-management procedures. HYROX later acknowledged that it should have intervened and introduced new rules and procedures.
Wu stepped onto the same competition floor the following day — after organizers said affected areas and equipment had been cleaned, disinfected or replaced.
But once the jokes surrounding the previous day’s incident are stripped away, Wu’s performance tells a more interesting story: this was reportedly his first HYROX, he trained for only about three months, and he did it while managing an old knee injury and an F4-related concert schedule.
Vanness Wu Didn’t Enter the Easier Relay Format
For anyone unfamiliar with HYROX, a 1:11:53 finish needs some context.
HYROX is a standardized indoor fitness race consisting of eight 1km runs, with each run followed by a functional workout station. Those stations include the SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmers carry, sandbag lunges and wall balls.
Wu competed in Men’s Doubles, not the four-person relay.
Under HYROX rules, doubles partners must complete the running portions together but are allowed to divide the work at the eight exercise stations between themselves as they choose.
For the Men’s Doubles category, the prescribed workouts include a 152kg sled push, 103kg sled pull, two 24kg weights for the farmers carry, a 20kg sandbag for the lunges and 100 wall balls with a 6kg ball, in addition to the eight kilometres of running.
That helps explain why Wu’s photos from Beijing — showing him pulling ropes, carrying weights and working through the stations — generated almost as much attention as the celebrity sighting itself.
It Started With Friends Talking About HYROX
According to Singapore’s 8world, Wu said his interest in HYROX began after hearing friends, including fellow singers, discuss the competition around October 2025.
Curiosity eventually led him to try the training himself.
His reaction after the first session was apparently immediate: the workout was intense enough that he felt as though his heart was going to explode.
Instead of abandoning the idea, Wu continued.
As he trained, he began learning how to approach the individual stations more efficiently while working on his breathing and cardiovascular endurance. He eventually committed to entering the Beijing event and reportedly trained for nearly three months.
His original goal was considerably more modest than his eventual time.
Wu was quoted by 8world as saying that simply finishing would have been acceptable to him — even joking that completing the event in eight hours would have been fine.
He instead crossed the line with Han Chao in 1:11:53.
And He Did It With a History of Knee Trouble
Wu’s preparation was also complicated by an old knee injury that requires ongoing rehabilitation, according to 8world.
That matters in a race built around repeated running and leg-heavy exercises such as sled pushing, burpee broad jumps, weighted lunges and wall balls.
HYROX itself describes the event as requiring preparation in both endurance and strength and notes that half of the race format is running. The organization says racers should specifically prepare for running immediately after taxing movements because the repeated transitions are central to the challenge.
Wu also had to fit the preparation around his entertainment schedule.
He has recently been performing alongside Jerry Yan, Vic Chou and Mayday frontman Ashin as part of the F✦FOREVER concert project, adding touring and stage commitments to his training calendar.
Wu Wasn’t the Only Celebrity Racing in Beijing
The Beijing event drew several familiar faces.
Chinese actor Zheng Kai, also known as Ryan Zheng and widely recognized for Keep Running, competed with teammates in the Team Relay division. Official HYROX results cited by AsiaOne listed his team at 1:22:29 and 13th in its age group, although a video of the group beside a scoreboard showed a different time of 1:16:57.
That discrepancy is worth noting rather than choosing one figure without qualification.
Physical: 100 contestant Hong Beom-seok was also at the event, competing in Men’s Pro Doubles with Song Byung-seok. AsiaOne reported that the pair were disqualified after recording 54:45; online comments attributed the result to completing 99 rather than the required 100 wall balls, though that explanation was based on online discussion rather than an official adjudication cited in the report.
HYROX Beijing itself ran over four days, from September 10 to 13, at the National Speed Skating Oval, with separate Men, Women, Pro, Doubles and Relay sessions. HYROX said it expanded the Beijing stop to four days because of demand.
Then the Previous Day’s Race Went Viral Worldwide
Unfortunately for Wu, his first HYROX came immediately after an incident that had already pushed the Beijing event far beyond fitness circles.
On September 12, Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk experienced bowel incontinence during the Women’s Pro competition. Images and video spread rapidly online after she continued through the course and used shared race areas and equipment. She ultimately won her race.
The controversy increasingly focused not simply on the athlete but on why race officials did not intervene.
HYROX co-founder Moritz Fürste subsequently acknowledged the failure.
“Hyrox made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race,” he said, according to Reuters. The organization said it had immediately begun changing its event processes and rulebook.
HYROX also condemned threats and abuse directed at the athlete and warned that people identified as making threats of violence could be permanently banned from its events.
That distinction is important: legitimate questions about hygiene and organizers’ handling of the situation are separate from personal harassment of an athlete.
Was the Venue Clean Before Vanness Raced?
That became the question filling Wu’s social-media comments.
Because he competed on September 13 — one day after the incident — some users jokingly asked whether he had encountered any contaminated stations.
Organizers said affected areas were dealt with after the September 12 race. Reports citing HYROX China said the relevant areas were isolated and disinfected, contaminated equipment was removed, and further deep cleaning was undertaken.
CNA Lifestyle likewise reported that organizers said the venue had been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected and relevant equipment replaced before racing continued the following day.
So while the jokes followed Wu online, there is no evidence in the reporting reviewed that he competed on contaminated equipment left untreated from the previous day’s incident.
HYROX Is Becoming Much Bigger Than a Fitness Trend
The celebrity participation comes as HYROX itself is expanding rapidly.
Founded in Germany, the competition uses essentially the same standardized format around the world, allowing athletes to compare times across events and qualify through age groups for championships.
Reuters reported this month that HYROX grew to more than 100 events and about 1.4 million participants during the 2025-26 season, alongside roughly 1.5 million spectators.
That growth helps explain why celebrities, professional athletes, influencers and recreational gym-goers are increasingly appearing at the same competitions.
Unlike a marathon, which primarily tests endurance, or a traditional strength event, HYROX deliberately combines sustained running with functional strength work.
And because the course is standardized, a celebrity’s result is not merely a staged fitness appearance: the recorded time can be compared with other competitors in the same category.
At 48, Vanness Is Still Leaning Into Physical Challenges
Wu’s HYROX appearance also lands during an eventful year personally and professionally.
The singer-actor, who became one of the most recognizable faces of early-2000s Asian pop culture through F4 and Meteor Garden, turned 48 in August.
He also announced in June that he had remarried, later identifying his wife as Japanese singer Emi Aramaki amid intense public interest surrounding the couple.
But his Beijing appearance generated a different kind of attention.
Instead of a new drama, album or relationship update, fans were looking at timing splits, sleds and muscle endurance.
Detik highlighted images of Wu moving through the sled push and pull, sandbag lunges and burpee broad jumps, while also noting a Naruto-inspired Konoha headband visible during portions of the race.
The 1:11:53 Is the More Interesting Number
The viral sanitation controversy understandably dominated much of the initial coverage surrounding HYROX Beijing.
But Wu’s result stands on its own.
He and Han Chao completed the Men’s Doubles event in 71 minutes and 53 seconds, placing 10th in their age group during Wu’s first reported attempt at the competition.
And unlike a celebrity fitness photoshoot, HYROX offers very little room to conceal the workload.
There are still eight kilometres to run.
There are still eight stations to complete.
And there is still a timing chip recording the finish.
For Wu, the original objective appears to have been simply proving that he could get through it.
Instead, his first race produced a result now circulating almost as widely as the photos of his transformation.
The bizarre incident the day before may have brought extra attention to Beijing.
But for Vanness Wu, the bigger headline may be what happened after the clock started.
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