HYROX Winner Apologizes, Saying She Should Have Stopped After Soiling Herself in Beijing

Australian HYROX athlete Joanna Wietrzyk apologized late on Thursday for continuing to compete after suffering bowel incontinence at a Beijing event, saying she had decided to retroactively withdraw from the race and give up the points she earned.

Wietrzyk finished first in the women's Pro race on September 12. Her decision to continue, and officials' failure to stop her, drew criticism over hygiene and the safety of other competitors using the same course and equipment.

In her Instagram statement, she apologized to people in China, fellow competitors, spectators and HYROX organizers. She said she had felt healthy at the start but regretted not leaving the course when the problem arose.

"I take responsibility for my decision to continue and am deeply sorry for the discomfort and disruption it caused," she wrote.

She said the experience had taught her to recognize when to step away from racing. She also said she would take time to recover, reflect and care for herself and her family.

The apology follows efforts by HYROX to address complaints about its handling of the incident. Co-founder Moritz Fürste acknowledged that organizers should have intervened immediately.

HYROX China has also offered full refunds of entry fees to competitors in the affected groups, according to a September 16 report by The Paper, which reproduced an email from the organizers.

The offer covers athletes who had started before 2:40pm on September 12 and were still racing at that time, as well as all those in starting waves from 2:40pm to 8:40pm.

In the email, organizers apologized for failing to remove the athlete from the course promptly and said the venue had been disinfected and the course carpet replaced that day.

HYROX's current singles rulebook allows a race director to withdraw an athlete on medical grounds if blood, vomit, urine or feces creates a welfare or contamination risk. The athlete would be recorded as not finishing, or DNF.

The indoor fitness competition combines eight 1-kilometer runs with eight workout stations, including rowing, sled pushes and burpee broad jumps.