Xenom, the functional fitness competition billed as “Hyrox for CrossFitters,” is making its European debut at Kensington Olympia this weekend across Saturday and Sunday.
The competition has been dubbed the “decathlon of fitness” by its creators, owing to its 10 events spanning weightlifting, gymnastics, and endurance challenges.
Kensington Olympia recently served as the venue for elite padel’s London debut, and now hosts another rapidly growing sport drawing a passionate participation base.
More than 2,000 early registrations of interest were received for the London event, which marks only the second ever Xenom competition following its inaugural event in Dallas in June.
Some of England’s most accomplished CrossFit athletes are set to compete, including Sam Briggs and Kelly Friel, though the event is open to participants of all fitness levels.
Xenom is the brainchild of Keith Barlow, a functional fitness enthusiast who previously helped Hyrox grow to 1.6 million participants globally through his work in PR.
Barlow launched Xenom earlier this year with $15m in funding from WNDR, a private equity firm established by DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and Sujit Jaswa, former chief financial officer of Dropbox.
“The functional fitness community in the UK and specifically London has exploded over the past decade, but there’s been no consistent way to benchmark progress or compare performance across different competitions,” said Barlow.
“We’re providing that standard — a repeatable test that athletes can use to track improvement season after season,” he added, outlining the core competitive proposition behind the business.
Barlow believes there is “a really compelling case for investors looking at this space,” drawing parallels with both Hyrox and the Ironman triathlon series as comparable success stories.
He added: “When you look at the value placed on successful IP-led events business, you can see that a long-term vision and the ability to deploy capital smartly and tap into consumers who are deeply passionate about their sport are highly valued across the market.”
The functional fitness industry was valued at £6.5bn in 2025, and London has firmly established itself as a premier destination for both mainstream and emerging sports.
The capital hosted the world’s biggest Hyrox event at the ExCel last year and has this year staged the first event of the Pro Climbing League, cementing its reputation for attracting fast-growing sports formats.
Following London, Xenom has a competition scheduled for December in Miami, with plans to stage 8 to 10 events next year starting in Malaga and Paris.
“We see an incredible opportunity to build a global competition which reenergises and meets the huge unmet demand from people training in boxes, garages, and gyms around the world,” Barlow said.
“Xenom will be the defining cultural platform for high performance and the pursuit of elite fitness,” he concluded, signalling ambitious long-term plans for the nascent competition format.