She\u2019s got unfinished business.<\/p>\n
Joanna Wietrzyk, a 24-year-old Hyrox competitor from Australia, has announced<\/a> that she\u2019ll return to the fitness competition on Friday after famously soiling herself at a previous event<\/a> and continuing to race.<\/p>\n The Beijing incident in September ignited a heated online debate<\/a> about whether Wietrzyk was a hero for powering through the fecal incontinence to finish in first place \u2014 or a villain for making everyone else deal with her droppings.<\/p>\n Joanna Wietrzyk competes at HYROX Beijing 2026. SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p>\n On Wednesday, she shared that she\u2019s taken the last two months to reflect on what happened, and she\u2019s excited to return to racing in Hamburg, Germany, on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m back out there on the race floor, and I\u2019m super excited to go back doing what I love,\u201d she said on Instagram. \u201cHopefully, see you all out there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s been a very hard situation to navigate\u2019<\/p>\n Wietrzyk said she took the weeks that have passed since the Sept. 12 race in Beijing to reflect.<\/p>\n \u201cFirstly, I just want to say that I\u2019m truly, truly so sorry to everyone that I affected, whether they were spectators or participants out on that race floor for my decision to choose to continue to race,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving that time to reflect, I\u2019ve really learned a lot from the situation,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s been a very hard situation to navigate for me and very confronting as well.\u201d<\/p>\n She praised the outpouring of support she received and revealed that she was in Hamburg for the competition starting Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Joanna Wietrzyk soiled herself during the Hyrox Beijing competition. Getty Images<\/p>\n Joanna Wietrzyk boasted about her win on social media in a now-deleted post. Joanna Wietrzyk \/ Instagram<\/p>\n Wietrzyk will be participating in the Elite 15, a series of competitions to qualify for the Hyrox World Championships. It\u2019s a \u201cclosed, invitation-only series designed for the very best athletes in the world,\u201d the company said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Top-ranked athletes compete at Elite 15 races to cinch a top 3 place, which earns them a qualification spot for the world championship.<\/p>\n What happened in Beijing?<\/p>\n Wietrzyk reportedly<\/a> had food poisoning before her fateful September competition.<\/p>\n She\u2019d completed two runs and the SkiErg (a machine that simulates cross-country skiing) without incident when she got to the fourth exercise station: burpee broad jumps. That\u2019s where she suddenly suffered explosive diarrhea.<\/p>\n Photos and video taken through the rest of the race show fecal matter streaming down her legs as she completed another run, a seated row, a farmer\u2019s carry, a sandbag lunge and wall ball exercises.<\/p>\n Photos and video captured the crappy aftermath of her incontinence. VCG via Getty Images<\/p>\n Chinese officials said staff swiftly cordoned off the affected areas, disinfected the site through the end of the day, removed contaminated equipment and arranged to replace the carpet once the event was over, according to the South China Morning Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n But many participants and spectators say that wasn\u2019t enough \u2014 they saw poop smeared on the equipment and the track, causing several athletes to fall.<\/p>\n \u201cHYROX has clear biocontaminant 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,\u201d the company said after the incident.<\/p>\n Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fuerste later commented<\/a> on the stink, admitting that organizers \u201cmade a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that the company made \u201crulebook changes immediately,\u201d with \u201cnew rules and procedures in place to prevent situations like this from happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Wietrzyk apologized in a statement<\/a> and said she\u2019d \u201cretroactively withdraw\u201d from the race and forfeit the points she\u2019d earned.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t