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September 18, 2026 \u2014 1:02am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk has apologised for continuing to compete after soiling herself in the Hyrox indoor fitness race in Beijing, and has forfeited her points from the win.<\/p>\n Videos of the world record holder using communal equipment, including sandbags and kettlebells, while excrement was visible on her legs and arms, went viral after the event on September 12<\/a> and lead to Hyrox updating its rules to \u201cprevent situations like this from happening again\u201d.<\/p>\n Wietrzyk, in a now-deleted Instagram post, had initially written \u201ca win is a win\u201d. However, on Thursday night, she issued a lengthy apology to her fellow competitors, spectators and organisers \u201cfor what happened during the race\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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 recognise 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,\u201d Wietrzyk said.<\/p>\n \u201cI know my actions had an impact beyond myself, and I am genuinely sorry to everyone who was affected. 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. On reflection, I have decided to retroactively withdraw from the race and forfeit the points I earned.\u201d<\/p>\n Wietrzyk said she would be taking some time to \u201crecover, reflect and look after myself and my family\u201d and thanked those who had stood by her.<\/p>\n Participants who started the Beijing race at certain times on the same day as Wietrzyk will also be refunded the value of their ticket, according to an email from Hyrox sent on Wednesday and seen by The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wietrzyk\u2019s apology follows one from Hyrox co-founder Moritz F\u00fcrste, who admitted the company had made a mistake by allowing Wietrzyk to continue competing in the race.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the end, it is my job to foresee these potential incidents \u2013 and I did not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hyrox said it had \u201cclear biocontaminant and medical procedures in place\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cIn 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,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n The rules have been updated to state: \u201cIf a racer\u2019s blood, vomit, urine, or faeces poses a welfare or contamination risk to the racer or to other racers, a race director may withdraw the racer from the race on medical grounds\u201d.<\/p>\n Hyrox, developed in Germany in 2017, is the world\u2019s fastest growing sport<\/a>. Competitors run eight laps of a one-kilometre indoor course, with each lap broken up by different functional activities including burpees, rowing, sled pushing and wall balls.<\/p>\n with Shona Hendley<\/p>\n Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox<\/a> every Monday.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Australian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/13c092af122ed95a7042b682c54c83298d12c9ad.jpeg\")
Australian Joanna Wietrzyk took part in HYROX Beijing 2026 on September 12.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Australian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789673174_923_13c092af122ed95a7042b682c54c83298d12c9ad.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789673175_898_18d1b9063d00e4ac63770c69b06714c3def35be3.png\")
Sarah McPhee<\/a> is the Overnight Homepage Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 18, 2026 \u2014 1:02am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[64,63,538,137],"class_list":["post-895662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fitness","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}