Australian HYROX athlete apologises and withdraws after viral defecation incident

The Australian athlete at the centre of the HYROX defecation controversy has apologised and retroactively withdrawn from the race after footage of the incident went viral internationally.

Social media footage showed Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk, who holds the women’s HYROX solo pro world record, competing at exercise stations with faeces on her legs during a race in Beijing over the weekend.

She finished the race and won despite the incident.

In a statement posted to Instagram on Thursday night, Wietrzyk apologised for her decision to continue competing.

“I want to offer my sincere apology to the people of China, my fellow competitors, the spectators and the HYROX organizers for what happened during the race in Beijing,” she wrote.

“I felt completely fit and healthy at the start of the race, with no reason to expect any illness. Looking back, I regret the decision to not have stepped off the track.

“I recognize that I should have made a different choice. I take responsibility for my decision to continue and am deeply sorry for the discomfort and disruption it caused.”

Wietrzyk also announced that she would forfeit the points she earned as the competition winner.

“I am learning from this experience and will carry those lessons with me, including remembering that there is more to life than racing and knowing when it is right to step away,” she said.

“On reflection, I have decided to retroactively withdraw from the race and forfeit the points I earned.”

Ending her statement, Wietrzyk said: “Thank you to those standing by me, both as an athlete and as a person, during this time, and to everyone who has reached out with kindness and support.

“It means more to me than I can properly express right now. I will be taking some time to recover, reflect and look after myself and my family away from the noise.”

Days of silence following controversy

The Instagram statement came almost a week after the incident.

HYROX is a fitness and endurance race that combines 8km of running with exercises such as rowing, sled pushes and wall balls, carried out in indoor exhibition halls.

Wietrzyk initially shared a selfie on her Instagram story after the race, which showed her lying down with an intravenous line in her arm. It was captioned: “Go hard or go home they say … a win is a win”.

Multiple media outlets also reported that Wietrzyk’s major sponsor, Puma, was distancing itself from the athlete after their collaborative line appeared to be quietly removed from the sportswear giant’s website a day ago.

The page has since been restored online, with a Puma spokesperson telling CBC News that some landing pages were “unintentionally taken offline”.

Incident prompts HYROX rule change

The incident has prompted backlash and criticism of HYROX’s health and safety standards, with many wondering why Wietrzyk was permitted to continue competing with fecal matter visibly running down her legs.

HYROX co-founder Moritz Fürste issued a statement earlier this week apologising to those “directly or indirectly” affected by the incident, “as well as to everyone who felt we did not handle the situation like we should have”.

“HYROX made a mistake by not reacting immediately to the incident,” Fürste said. “In the end it is my job to foresee these potential incidents — and I did not.”

Fürste said event processes have since been improved, including “rulebook changes” and “new rules and procedures” that he said will “prevent situations like this from happening again”.

“We learn and try to get better everyday,” he said.

In the updated HYROX rulebook, a racer can be withdrawn on medical grounds if their “blood, vomit, urine, or faeces poses a welfare or contamination risk to the racer or to other racers … in line with HYROX’s medical and hygiene SOPs”.

Gut issues and endurance sports

According to research by Monash University, strenuous exercise lasting two hours or more — particularly running — appears to exacerbate gut disturbances.

Researchers estimate 30 to 70 per cent of athletes experience gastrointestinal symptoms, with endurance athletes particularly susceptible.

Bec Hoschke, a former professional triathlete and Ironman champion who now coaches endurance athletes in Sydney, told SBS News earlier this week that gut health can be a “highly sensitive thing for many endurance athletes”.

She said the HYROX incident was a “very difficult situation” for the parties involved: the competition, the athlete and her competitors.

“Athletes make enormous sacrifices for international competition,” she said. “For some athletes, it’s their living.”

She said the issue was not only one of public health and hygiene but also of the health and well-being of the athlete involved.

“I can’t imagine the mental impact all of this is having on someone. I think she’s only in her early 20s as well. It’s enormously confronting for someone to have to deal with at that age.”

— With additional reporting by Josie Harvey.

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