HYROX may be one of the fastest-growing fitness competitions in the world, but the sport has recently found itself in the headlines for reasons beyond its gruelling physical challenges.
Previously, there was Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk who suffered sudden faecal incontinence during the race but continued competing despite visibly soiling herself.
While the Beijing incident attracted international attention, HYROX encountered a different kind of controversy as it prepared to make its Malaysian debut.
The announcement of Carlsberg as an official beer partner with HYROX triggered criticism among some Malaysians, particularly Muslim fitness enthusiasts.
Being Malaysians, we love to boycott and the call to boycott HYROX grows stronger.
Amidst the fiery clarion call, netizen yughend on threads drew quite the attention for his post stating that taxes from cigarettes and alcohol contribute to the public fund which is used by all.
“So, where do we draw the line?” he said in his own words.
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“Boycott this, boycott that. At this rate, if we compiled every boycott into a book, it’d be longer than most countries’ constitutions. Are y’all not tired?” replied demondragonmilo in the comment section.
Another netizen who identified himself as a Malay felt that this boycotting culture was weird.
Check out this hard-hitting comment by sarguneshwara too:
Then there was netizen azalimuhammad pointing out that the consumption of beer was insignificant compared to cigarettes.
But xluqmanxrashidx wondered if the topic starter was trying to understand the situation by asking on threads or merely to mock people.
xluqmanxrashidx continued, stating that threads was not a platform to understand things.
However, there were some helpful netizens bent on clarifying the situation too.
Also, several netizens said this was not about taxes, and more about sponsorship.
Since HYROX promotes fitness and health, is it appropriate for alcohol to be in the same picture?
At this rate, HYROX may need to add a ninth station to its competition: running through a maze of Malaysian boycott calls without stepping on anyone’s toes.
After all, completing 8km and eight workout stations is already exhausting enough. Imagine having to navigate Malaysia’s social media minefield as well. That might just be the toughest endurance test of all.
On another note, HYROX Malaysia announced on Nov 4 that it would not extend its Carlsberg partnership to the Malaysian competition.
Carlsberg Malaysia also clarified that its regional partnership with HYROX covered selected events in markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam, but would not involve the Malaysian competition.—Nov 5, 2026
