A process for hot rolling an H-shaped metallic material from a workpiece of rectangular cross section which comprises reducing the workpiece in the width direction thereof while wedgewise knifing the opposing sides of the workpiece by means of a first pair of grooves formed in rolls of a vertical roll stand; reducing the workpiece in the width direction thereof while spreading the knifed sides by means of a second pair of grooves which may be formed in rolls of another vertical roll stand or in the rolls having said first pair of grooves; and subsequently rolling the workpiece to a required size by universal rolling mills. This process thus enables a starting material of a rectangular cross section to be employed instead of that of H-shaped cross section.