Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk is forfeiting the points she earned from her first-place finish at a Hyrox race in Beijing on Sept. 12, which sparked backlash and led to a rule change after she continued competing at the indoor fitness event despite soiling herself.
Wietrzyk issued a formal apology on Instagram on Thursday, Sept. 17, writing she's "deeply sorry for the discomfort and disruption" caused by her decision to continue on in the elite race after an involuntary bowel movement.
"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," wrote Wietrzyk, the 22-year-old
Hyrox world champion. "On reflection, I have decided to retroactively withdraw from the race and forfeit the points I earned."
Hyrox is an indoor fitness event that combines functional exercises with running. Competitors must complete eight 1-kilometer runs, each followed by a different functional exercise station.
Wietryzk's accidental bowel movement occurred during the fourth station, burpee broad jumps. Wietryzk then completed the rowing, farmers carry, sandbag lunges and wall ball portions of the race — which all use shared equipment among racers — with fecal matter running down her legs. She went on to win the race with a time of 1:01:23, besting second-place finisher Alyssa McElheny of the United States by 45 seconds.
The first-place finisher in an elite Hyrox race is awarded 110 points, followed by 108 points for second and 107 for third. The fourth-15th place finishers can also win points if they finish within a certain percentage of the first-place time.
Wietryzk was awarded 110 points after her controversial win at Hyrox Beijing, but ultimately decided to forfeit the points. She remains atop the leaderboard in the Hyrox elite racing women's singles category with 552 points.
"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," Wietryzk said. "I 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."
Wietryzk concluded her statement, "I will be taking some time to recover, reflect and look after myself and my family away from the noise."
Many critics panned both Wietryzk and Hyrox for exposing fellow competitors to a biological hazard by allowing her to continue racing, prompting Hyrox adjust race rules moving forward.
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]."
Hyrox co-founder Moritz Furste also released 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."
Contributing: Danielle Lerner
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hyrox athlete apologizes, forfeits points after soiling herself during race
