Hyrox, the global endurance fitness race, is revising its protocols after a top athlete soiled herself and was allowed to continue during a competition in Beijing on Sept. 12.
Photos from the indoor competition show Australian Joanna Wietrzyk, the 22-year-old Hyrox world champion, with fecal matter running down her legs during the age 16-24 elite race. Wietzryk won the race with a time of 1:01:23, besting second-place finisher Alyssa McElheny of the United States by 45 seconds.
The incident sparked online outrage over potential health risks, prompting Hyrox co-founder Moritz Furste to release a statement on Monday, Sept. 14 admitting that race organizers failed by not removing Wietryzk from the competition.
"HYROX made a mistake by not reacting
immediately during the race," Furste wrote in an Instagram post. "In the end it is my job to foresee these potential incidents – and I did not. Of course, we started improving event processes, plus making rulebook changes immediately. As of this moment, there are new rules and procedures in place to prevent situations like this from happening again."
USA TODAY Sports reached out to Hyrox, Wietrzyk and her coach for comment on Monday morning and did not immediately hear back.
What is Hyrox? What happened in Hyrox China?
In a Hyrox competition, athletes alternate between running and functional exercises while completing eight 1-kilometer runs and eight distinct workout stations. The entire competition takes place indoors and athletes share equipment.
Wietryzk's accidental bowel movement happened while she was on the fourth exercise station, burpee broad jumps. She kept going and subsequently finished the seated row, farmer's carry, sandbag lunges and wall ball portions of the race.
The day after the competition, Hyrox updated its online rulebook to include the following: "If a racer’s blood, vomit, urine, or feces 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, in line with HYROX’s medical and hygiene SOPs. Any such withdrawal is recorded on the leaderboard as Did Not Finish [DNF]."
According to an archived screenshot taken Aug. 12, the Hyrox rulebook previously included a two-minute penalty for spitting or clearing nostrils onto the floor but did not explicitly mention feces or other bodily fluids.
Hyrox apologized in a statement posted on Instagram on Sept. 13:
"We ask our athletes to push themselves to the highest levels. At times, they will go beyond what even we thought was possible. That courage, resilience and refusal to give in are precisely what makes elite athletes so extraordinary. Our role is to give them the right framework and the right boundaries within which they can compete, perform and express themselves at their very best."
The statement continued, "HYROX 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."
Hyrox athlete Joanna Wietrzyk faces online backlash after viral race
Wietrzyk's coach, Chris Bayens, said in a Sept. 13 Instagram post that the 24-year-old Australian was receiving online abuse after the race.
"Sport occasionally produces moments that are imperfect and deeply human," Bayens wrote. "Discussion is legitimate. The hatred and personal attacks that have followed are not."
Hyrox also condemned backlash against Wietzryk in its statement, writing, "Frustration should never be directed towards the athletes themselves. They are the people who put themselves on the line, compete at the highest level and make competition what it is. There is no place in our community for threats of violence or encouragement to harm an athlete."
While athletes sometimes experience involuntary bowel movements during intense endurance competitions like marathons, those races take place outdoors and do not involve athletes sharing the same equipment.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hyrox race goes viral after top athlete soils herself, shares equipment in win
