A HYROX fitness competition in Beijing is under fire after organizers allowed the eventual winner to keep competing while suffering from diarrhea that ran down her legs throughout the race.
Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk won the event over the weekend despite the visible incontinence, which contaminated the track and equipment other competitors had to use. Wietrzyk posted defiantly to social media afterward, writing, “go hard or go home they say… A win is a win.”
HYROX is an indoor fitness competition combining 8 kilometers of running with eight workout stations. It launched in 2018 in Hamburg, Germany.
Chinese event officials said they responded during the competition by cordoning off the areas Wietrzyk used, swapping out workout equipment, and later replacing carpeting and other permanent infrastructure once the event ended.
HYROX issued a statement on Instagram acknowledging the mess it created, calling it part of “increasingly complex situations” the competition has faced.
“We ask our athletes to push themselves to the highest levels. At times, they will go beyond what even we thought was possible. That courage, resilience and refusal to give in are precisely what makes elite athletes so extraordinary.”
The statement continued: “HYROX has clear biocontamination and medical procedures in place. In this instance, an unforeseen situation arose in which protocols designed for elite competition and mass participation became blurred, creating ambiguity in how they were applied and understood.”
“We recognize that this can understandably lead to frustration, questions, and strong views within our community. Those concerns are legitimate and, as organizers, we must be prepared to hear them, examine what happened and take responsibility for continuing to improve. And we will,” the statement said.
HYROX co-founder Moritz Fuerste went further, calling it a “mistake” to let Wietrzyk keep racing.
“I apologize to all that were directly or indirectly affected, as well as to everyone who felt like we did not handle the situation like we should have.”
Fuerste said the organization has already changed its rules. “As of this moment, there are new rules and procedures in place to prevent situations like this from happening again,” he wrote.
Diarrhea during endurance events is not unusual among elite athletes, often tied to dehydration, sustained physical strain, or reactions to food and performance substances. That explanation has not quieted critics online, many of whom said HYROX should have pulled Wietrzyk from the course rather than let her contaminate shared equipment and finish the race.
