Australian fitness-racing champion Joanna Wietrzyk has admitted she put other competitors at risk by continuing to race after suffering a bout of diarrhoea roughly halfway through a Hyrox event in Beijing in September, in her first interview since images of the incident spread widely online. "It was my decision to continue racing, so I take full responsibility for that," the 24-year-old, who holds a Hyrox world record, told the BBC. "I didn't really think about those around me... the decision that I made in hindsight was the wrong decision, and I'm truly sorry for everyone that I did affect."
Hyrox events alternate running with fitness stations including sled pushes, burpee jumps, rowing and sandbag lunges, often indoors on shared equipment. Wietrzyk said she had a bacterial infection from food poisoning but felt "fresh" going into the race; images of faecal matter on parts of her body were later shared widely online, and she has since forfeited the win and retroactively withdrawn. Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fürste apologised for not acting sooner, and the competition has introduced new rules letting race directors remove athletes whose bodily fluids pose a contamination risk.
Wietrzyk said the ensuing scrutiny, including threats sent to her family, was "mentally and emotionally taxing" and had left her reconsidering her career, though she is due to return to competition in Hamburg this week. "I don't want it to become my identity," she said, adding that she regretted an initial defiant social media post and had been in "fight or flight mode" as she sought hospital treatment afterward. "There is more to life... than just racing and just winning."