Jessica Wicklund Finds Her Flow at the Salt Lake City Hyrox
At 47, Jessica Wicklund turned her first solo Hyrox in Salt Lake City into a 1:27:17 finish and an 11th-place age group result.
Seattle Fitness Magazine · 19 Oct 2026
A Goal Met at Altitude
Jessica Wicklund crossed the finish line at the Salt Lake City Hyrox in 1:27:17, good enough for 11th in the Open Women 45-49 age group.
She had set her sights on breaking 1:30, and at altitude, in her first solo race, she beat that goal with room to spare. She had raced Hyrox once before, a relay in Houston where her team took 3rd. A relay lets you sprint two stations and hand off, she says, but a solo is a different animal entirely, built on endurance and pacing rather than adrenaline.
She ran her own race from start to finish, sticking to her plan at every station, and said she still had a little left in the tank when she crossed the line, a sign she is capable of even more next time.
The Station That Took Grit
She walked in expecting the sled push to break her, and instead it turned out to be one of her best stations, she says, maybe because she had built it up so much in her head that the real thing could not match the dread. The burpee broad jumps were the ones that tested her mentally. The rules require hands to land close to the feet on each jump, and hers drifted too far out early on, earning a warning before she corrected course.
One spectator kept yelling at every athlete to take their breaks on the ground, and she did exactly that more than a few times. Finishing that station anyway, she says, was one of the best feelings of the day.
Six Days a Week, By Choice
Wicklund trains six days a week, and resting is the hard part, not the work.
Most mornings start before sunrise with a Peloton ride for low-impact endurance, often followed by a Crossfit session in the afternoon and, during heavy Hyrox blocks, a run afterward to practice moving on tired legs.
She spent three months training specifically for Salt Lake City. Her home gym is Crossfit Lake Stevens, where she credits owner Josh Hostetter with building a community that meets every athlete at their own level. She also trains at F45 in Portland's Pearl District when she visits her home state of Oregon, rides Peloton classes with Jess King and Alex Toussaint, and worked virtually on her ski and row with erg coaches Coach Lyss and Jane Erbacher, who she calls total game changers.
A Fitness Bug Planted at Five
Her love of sport started around age five, when her mom signed her up for nearly everything: horseback riding, swimming, soccer, gymnastics.
She stuck with horseback riding, swimming, soccer and added track through high school, stepped away during college, and found her way back to sports as an adult.
What's Next
Her calendar is full.
In December she heads to Vancouver for an Open Double with her friend Tish, her first time racing a Double. A Solo Open in Phoenix follows in February, then Vegas in March, where her husband Jordan will watch her race for the first time.
She has told him to start his spectator training now, since chasing an athlete around a Hyrox course all day is no small task, she jokes. She is also eyeing a solo race in Portland, back in her home state of Oregon, down the road.
The Real Win
What matters most to her has nothing to do with finish times.
Nearly three years ago she stopped drinking, and she says the shift unlocked a superpower: the ability to be fully present and give everything 100 percent. At 47, she says she is in the best shape of her life, and that her 47-year-old self could run circles around her 27-year-old self.
From a childhood of trying every sport under the sun to a 1:27:17 finish at altitude, Wicklund's story is proof that fitness has no finish line of its own. Seattle Fitness Magazine is proud to share it.
