The real test is tired legs, not the sled
Plenty of Hyrox athletes panic when their gym has no sled or no ski erg. Wrong worry. Hyrox does not grade mastery of one specific machine, it grades the ability to run on cooked legs and then hold a strength effort, eight times over. A piece from the French site Ma Box de Cross maps out solid swaps for anyone training in a regular gym or at home.
Swap the ski erg for battle rope waves, or for skipping rope paired with straight-arm band pulls: same continuous pulling pattern through the torso and arms. The sled push becomes a loaded plate push on a towel, a push against a resisting partner, or a loaded bear crawl at home. One detail worth knowing before picking a load: in the Open division the official sled sits at 102 kg including the sled itself for women and 152 kg for men, and that climbs to 152 kg and 202 kg in Pro. Nobody needs to chase those numbers on a towel and a plate, but it gives a real target for how much friction the substitute should create to stay honest.
The sled pull turns into a loaded rope pull or a heavy band pull from a lunge position, core braced throughout. Burpee broad jumps need no substitute at all, they run the same everywhere. The rower becomes an assault bike, or a steady run followed by dumbbell rows. Farmers carry works fine with kettlebells, dumbbells or water jugs loaded evenly on both sides. Sandbag lunges can use a loaded backpack or a vest, and wall balls become light dumbbell thrusters or a medicine ball thrown against any solid wall.
Two things stay out of reach without the real gear: the actual feel of a sled under your hands, and genuine race pace. That is exactly why even someone training far from a box should book one session on proper equipment before race day. Short of that, a weekly simulation, 400 to 800 meters of running before each station, stopwatch running, is worth far more than buying specialized kit, especially for anyone racing to finish clean rather than to chase a podium.
Source: Ma Box de Cross - Hyrox