Boxing champ Tommy Fury looks to be limbering up for another T100 triathlon challenge after impressing alongside his brother-in-law, Danny Rae, at last week’s HYROX event in London.
The duo joined forces for the Men’s Open Doubles at Olympia, with HYROX Elite athlete Rae guiding the cruiserweight fighter through his first experience of the high-endurance running and workout station competition.
Posting a sub-60-minute time of 00:57:56, Fury later added on his Instagram account how he was eager for a return to the sport at some time in the future, with his immediate focus now on his next big fight against former World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall in June.
Focus on triathlon after HYROX season
Their collaboration comes after Rae had also revealed how the duo were training together with the goal of competing in a T100 race at some point later this summer, once the HYROX season has finished.
Fury famously took part in last year’s race on the French Riviera but faced criticism from some who questioned why he had not completed the full 80km bike section of the course before then running the final 18km and crossing the line in celebration.
Footage of the 26-year-old hugging his long-time partner and fellow Love Island contestant Molly-Mae Hague went viral, with the scenes also forming part of a BBC documentary series titled Tommy: The Good. The Bad. The Fury.
T100 Triathlon World Tour officials explained later how Fury had been one of several athletes forced to cut their bike leg short due to local authorities needing to reopen the region’s road network.
Criticism over French Riviera bike ride
Despite not being personally at fault and not actually being made aware of the distance change until he was well into his run, Rae believes that Fury is keen to return to triathlon once again this year and compete at a high level – just as he has done at HYROX.
Husband to Molly’s sister Zoe, Rae is reported to have told the Sun newspaper: “Tommy’s triathlon – he’s going to do another one, I believe. He likes to be busy. He loves training.
“I’m going to do a triathlon. The Hyrox season ends in June, and then I’m just gonna sort of dabble in triathlons.
“We train together quite a lot. He obviously is a professional boxer who’s in camp quite a lot, and he is regimented with his training. But where we can share sessions, if it aligns with both of our individual training programmes, we’ll do that.”
In his BBC documentary, Fury explained the draw of triathlon, even if he wasn’t quite sure of what to call the athletes who actually take part in the races, stating: “I don’t just want to do things that I’m good at. Let’s try something I’m not so good at. I’m not a triathlist or whatever you call it. I’m not very good at biking; I’m not a very good or experienced swimmer. I get a kick, and I thrive on a challenge.”
‘I was just in my own world’
After the race in France, he told T100 how much he had enjoyed the experience.
“The T100 was amazing; honestly, I felt like, towards the end, it was like I was just in my own world,” he said. “When you get, like, eight miles into a run, nine miles into a run, you’re just on a different planet, you know, especially after hours of cycling, and you know, for me, well over an hour and a bit in the water. So it’s unbelievable that the human body can do marvellous things when you put your mind to it.”
Asked what was going through his head, Fury said: “Just get it done, you know, forget about everybody else. I’m not in competition with anybody else. This isn’t my sport. I’m a fighter. I’m coming here just to compete against myself, so that’s all it was to do.
“It’s different; it’s so much different. In boxing, you don’t know what to prepare for, so you’ve got the element of your opponent coming in, and you don’t know what he’s gonna do. Whereas this, you know full well, you’ve got to do it.
“So that’s even more taxing because you know exactly how far you’ve got to go in each thing. So I admire anyone who does them. It’s something new. I prepare and train to get ready for fights, and jumping in the water and getting on the bike is completely uncharted territory for me. I wanted to prove that whatever I put my mind to, I can do.”
And it seems he now wants to do it again, so expect to see that Fury-Rae HYROX partnership renewed at a triathlon at some point this summer.
