Hyrox Racer Joanna Wietrzyk Apologizes for Competing After Soiling Herself: ‘I Take Responsibility’

Hyrox racer Joanna Wietrzyk apologized for continuing to compete after suffering a bowel accident during a race in Beijing.

“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,” Wietrzyk, 24, wrote in an Instagram statement on Thursday, September 17. “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.”

The Australian athlete said she took “responsibility for my decision to continue” and was “deeply sorry for the discomfort and disruption it caused,” in the social media message.

“I know my actions had an impact beyond myself, and I am genuinely sorry to everyone who was affected,” she continued via Instagram. “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.”

In the post, Wietrzyk also announced that she had decided to retroactively withdraw from the race and forfeit the points she earned.

The apology came days after Wietrzyk soiled herself while competing in the Hyrox race in Beijing on Saturday, September 12. She continued racing and using communal equipment before ultimately winning the event, according to The Guardian.

Hyrox combines running with a series of high-intensity exercise stations using equipment including rowing machines, sleds, medicine balls and sandbags. Footage from the Beijing competition spread across social media and sparked questions about why Wietrzyk was allowed to continue under the circumstances.

Hyrox cofounder Moritz Fürste later acknowledged that organizers should have intervened. “Hyrox made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race. In the end it is my job to foresee these potential incidents – and I did not,” Fürste said in an Instagram statement.

Fürste said Hyrox had made “rulebook changes immediately,” in the social media post, adding, “As of this moment, there are new rules and procedures in place to prevent situations like this from happening again.”

According to The Guardian, organizers confirmed that affected areas were isolated and thoroughly cleaned, contaminated equipment was removed and carpeting was replaced before competition resumed the following day.

Per the report, anyone who directed abuse or threats toward Wietrzyk would be banned from future events. The athlete initially addressed the incident in a since-deleted Instagram Story posted from what appeared to be a hospital bed. “Go hard or go home … a win is a win,” she wrote before thanking supporters and saying she would “be back soon.”

That earlier reaction remained a sticking point for some commenters after Thursday’s apology.

“I don’t see the sincerity in this apology,” one person wrote in the comment section of her Instagram post. “If not because of the pressure from social media, I doubt you would post anything like this at all. ‘A win is a win.’ That’s your true statement.”

Another commenter questioned her decision to continue, writing, “An accident deserves empathy; choosing to continue and then responding with ‘a win is a win’ deserves scrutiny.”

Others defended Wietrzyk and argued that both the athlete and race organizers should be allowed to learn from the incident.

“The hate and humiliation has to stop,” one supporter wrote. Another wrote, “They hate when you don’t apologize immediately, they hate you when you do apologize because it was a week later. Mistakes were made, you live and you learn. People need to move on!”

Wietrzyk said she now plans to step away from the attention surrounding the controversy. “I will be taking some time to recover, reflect and look after myself and my family away from the noise,” she concluded her Instagram message.