{"id":600583,"date":"2026-09-15T00:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T00:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/600583\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T00:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T00:44:10","slug":"hyrox-co-founder-apologises-after-joanna-wietrzyk-competed-after-bowel-incontinence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/600583\/","title":{"rendered":"Hyrox co-founder apologises after Joanna Wietrzyk competed after bowel incontinence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHyrox made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIn the end it is my job to foresee these potential incidents, and I did not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">F\u00fcrste said the organisation had begun improving its event processes and changing its rulebook.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAs of this moment, there are new rules and procedures in place to prevent situations like this from happening again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe learn and try to get better every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Melbourne athlete Joanna Wietrzyk at the Hyrox event in Beijing. Photo \/ Instagram\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Melbourne athlete Joanna Wietrzyk at the Hyrox event in Beijing. Photo \/ Instagram<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">The apology follows controversy over Wietrzyk\u2019s performance at the international Hyrox event in Beijing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">Video and photos show Wietrzyk completing the busy Hyrox course despite faeces running down her legs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">She completed all the exercises across multiple stations, including the rowing machine, after the incident.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Wietrzyk posted a selfie after the event saying 'a win is a win'. Photo \/ Instagram\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Wietrzyk posted a selfie after the event saying &#8216;a win is a win&#8217;. Photo \/ Instagram<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">In a since-deleted Instagram story posted after the event, Wietrzyk shared a selfie showing her hooked up to an IV drip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cGo hard or go home \u2026 a win is a win. In all seriousness, thank you for all the support. I\u2019ll be back soon x,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">An earlier statement by event organisers did not apologise but did touch on some of the frustration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">They said equipment was removed and lanes were closed for sanitation after the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">Carpet was replaced and the venue was deep-cleaned overnight before competitors used it the following day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHyrox has clear biocontaminant and medical procedures in place,\u201d the earlier statement read.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">\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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe recognise that this can understandably lead to frustration, questions and strong views within our community. Those concerns are legitimate and, as organisers, we must be prepared to hear them, examine what happened and take responsibility for continuing to improve. And we will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">People reacting to images posted online slammed organisers, saying they should have acted faster to protect competitors as many came into contact with contaminated equipment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">Some online defended the athlete\u2019s determination to push through, while others pointed out she could have taken a break and still returned to win. <\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">Several social media users blamed organisers, saying they failed to maintain sanitary standards and ensure participants\u2019 safety who had to use contaminated equipment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHyrox should have immediately stopped her when it happened. There are no blurred lines here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI respect that she finished the competition. However, other athletes have to use the same equipment after her,\u201d someone wrote on Reddit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">Hyrox is a popular indoor fitness competition that challenges participants to run 1km, followed by a functional workout station, repeated eight times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DsYfyjGuqRwC\" style=\"display:none\">The functional workouts include sled pushes, sled pulls and sandbag lunges, among others. Athletes run 8km overall, with a workout every kilometre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHyrox made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race. \u201cIn the end it is my job&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[5811,74,43507,4177,36334,6028,17452,286808,4596,2837,8231,6130,565,134,14805,295991,1454,67246,15896,1362,28166,111,139,69,31145,1316,295690,377],"class_list":["post-600583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-admitted","tag-after","tag-apologises","tag-beijing","tag-bowel","tag-champion","tag-cofounder","tag-competed","tag-competition","tag-during","tag-event","tag-failing","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-hyrox","tag-hyroxs","tag-immediately","tag-incontinence","tag-joanna","tag-made","tag-mistake","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-suffered","tag-when","tag-wietrzyk","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}