Metro Manila, Philippines – An Australian HYROX athlete has apologized and withdrawn her result from a race in Beijing after suffering an involuntary bowel accident during the competition and continuing to race.
Joanna Wietrzyk finished first in the women’s 16–24 Pro category on Sept. 12 with a time of 1:01:23, finishing 45 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Alyssa McElheny of the United States.
Videos of her completing the course despite being visibly soiled later circulated online, prompting criticism over hygiene and potential health risks to other competitors.
HYROX is an endurance race with workout stations. The Beijing organizers had to immediately disinfect equipment and tracks to avoid contamination of other participants.
In a statement posted on Wednesday, Sept. 17, Wietrzyk apologized to fellow competitors, spectators, organizers and the people in China.
She said she had felt “completely fit and healthy” before the race and did not expect to become ill.
“Looking back, I regret the decision to not have stepped off the track,” she said.
Wietrzyk said she takes responsibility for continuing the race and decided to “retroactively withdraw from the race and forfeit the points” she earned from her finish.
The incident also prompted HYROX to change its rules.
Under the new rulebook, if a racer’s blood, vomit, urine or feces poses a welfare or contamination risk to the racer or other competitors, a race director may withdraw the racer on medical grounds, in line with HYROX’s medical and hygiene procedures.
Any such withdrawal is recorded on the leaderboard as Did Not Finish, or DNF.
HYROX co-founder Moritz Fürste also apologized for how the incident was handled. In an Instagram statement posted three days ago, he said the organization “made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race.”
Fürste said HYROX had immediately begun improving its event processes and changing its rulebook to prevent similar incidents.
“We learn and try to get better everyday,” he said.
