There’s pushing through discomfort, and then there’s finishing a Hyrox race while actively shi**ing yourself in front of hundreds of people.
Joanna Wietrzyk, a 24-year-old Australian athlete and Hyrox world record holder, won the women’s solo event at Hyrox Beijing on September 12 after completing the course with diarrhea running down her legs. She still finished in 1 hour, 1 minute, and 23 seconds.
Afterward, Wietrzyk posted, “go hard or go home they say…a win is a win” on Instagram, then deleted it once people started tearing into her. The South China Morning Post reported that officials blocked off affected areas, disinfected the venue, and arranged to replace carpeting. Other competitors reportedly slipped on the track. Equipment had feces on it.
At that point, the conversation moved pretty quickly from “damn, she’s tough” to “should she have been allowed to keep going?”
“This is a biohazard. Full stop,” one Reddit commenter wrote. Another called for an immediate disqualification. An athlete who competed in Beijing was even angrier, arguing that Hyrox and Wietrzyk had put one person’s result ahead of everyone else using the course and equipment.
There were defenders, too. One person on X praised her for refusing to let incontinence end her race. An Instagram commenter went with the inevitable “sh*t happens” defense and said there was no reason to shame her for something unintentional.
Hyrox Athlete Wins Race Despite Having Diarrhea Mid-Competition, Sparking Outrage
The medical explanation is at least pretty normal. Runner’s diarrhea is a known issue during intense exercise. Blood gets redirected away from the digestive system toward working muscles, and the gut can get irritated in the process. “This decrease in blood flow can irritate the gut and cause diarrhea,” Dr. Dana Zalkin, a gastroenterologist at Mount Sinai, told the New York Post. Running, heavy lifting, and repeated impact can make things worse. Whatever Wietrzyk ate before the race probably didn’t help.
Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fürste later admitted the organization “made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race” and said new procedures are now in place. Hyrox China also requested rule changes for situations involving “severe physical discomfort and public health risks.”
One social media user offered a rule that requires significantly fewer words: “Jesus, just say that if you sh*t your pants mid-race, you are disqualified.” Hard to improve on that.
The post An Athlete Won a Hyrox Race While Pooping Herself. Now Officials Are Changing the Rules. appeared first on VICE.
