Hyrox Athlete Who Soiled Herself Apologizes, Forfeits Win

The Australian 24-year-old who infamously won a Hyrox event in Beijing after visibly soiling herself mid-race says she will retroactively withdraw from the race and forfeit the points she earned. In a statement posted on Instagram Thursday, Joanna Wietrzyk wrote that she "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." She apologized to her fellow athletes, spectators, organizers, and "the people of China" and concluded by saying that she "will be taking some time to recover, reflect and look after myself and my family away from the noise."

The New York Times reports Hyrox on Wednesday confirmed it would refund the entrance fee for athletes who competed in certain time slots on the same day as Wietrzyk, who the paper notes "had visible feces running down her legs as she did burpee broad jumps and weighted lunges." Fellow competitors in some cases had to use the same equipment she did. The BBC reports Hyrox itself has been under fire for not pulling Wietrzyk from the race given that Hyrox penalizes competitors for "spitting, nostril clearing, littering, and water abuse."