Fair warning?
Hyrox champ Joanna Wietrzyk, 24, shocked onlookers — and the internet — after losing control of her bowels mid-race in Beijing last week, sparking disgust, outrage, and some serious health and safety concerns.
But Wietrzyk — who declared “a win is a win” on social media after the incident — knew that the particular exercise she was doing when she let loose wasn’t her best.
While she likely couldn’t have predicted just how crappy it could be, she has complained about one portion of Hyrox competitions multiple times in interviews going back to 2024.
Wietrzyk had completed two runs and the SkiErg without incident when she got to the fourth exercise station, consisting of burpee broad jumps.
That’s when the Australian athlete suddenly suffered fecal incontinence — with photos and video taken through the rest of the race showing fecal matter streaming down her legs as she completed another run, a seated row, a farmer’s carry, a sandbag lunge and wall ball exercises.
Though she powered through, Wietrzyk, had said in at least two previous interviews that given her way, burpees would be eliminated from the competition altogether.
In a November 2024 interview on the Abnormal podcast, she was asked what, if anything, she wished she could change about Hyrox.
“Could I say get rid of the burpees? she asked. “I would definitely get rid of that station.”
“I hate the burpees. Hate’s very strong, but I dislike the burpees very much,” she went on, adding that she would trade them in for an extra run.
“Or just maybe add in something funner in there,” she said.
A year and a half later, her opinion hadn’t changed. In a Q&A with Boxrox in April, Wietrzyk was asked again if there was anything she would change about Hyrox.
“Most definitely change the burpees,” she responded. “And I will always answer that question to be the burpees. I just would remove it, full stop.”
She doubled down later in the interview when asked to pick one of two exercises from the grueling global hybrid fitness race in a “This or That” segment.
Though the incident occurred during the burpees segment, trouble was likely brewing for Wietrzyk throughout the race leading up to that point.
Fecal urgency or incontinence — essentially, the sudden, strong need to go or the inability to hold it in — is a real phenomenon that can happen during exercise, particularly in endurance sports.
Also known as runner’s diarrhea, runner’s colitis or runner’s trots, the uncomfortable experience can strike for several reasons. For one, during strenuous, prolonged exercise, the body redirects blood flow away from the gastrointestinal tract and toward working muscles and other tissues that need it most in the moment.
Dehydration can make matters worse, as can loading up on concentrated sugars, fats, fiber or certain carbohydrates before a race.
Wietrzyk has also said in interviews that she prefers energy gels — which are packed with carbohydrates for energy — over caffeine.
The stinky snafu has earned both Wietrzyk and Hyrox backlash, with many criticizing the organization for allowing her to continue competing.
According to the South China Morning Post, Chinese officials said staff swiftly cordoned off the affected areas, disinfected the site through the end of the day, removed contaminated equipment and arranged to replace the carpet once the event was over.
This didn’t alleviate participants and spectators worries, though, as many reported that poop was left smeared on equipment and across the track, with clean-up not happening quickly enough.
“Honestly. Disqualify her and restart the race. A normal human would stop and not s–t themselves around people. Sorry you are stressed honey, so is everyone else,” one person wrote on X.
“Not only endangered them, but it also just generally affects performance. I’d have trouble bracing me core, looking at a lady dripping s–t everywhere,” someone else chimed in on Reddit.
Wietrzyk’s coach, Chris Bayens, eventually stepped into the discourse to support his star student from the harassment she’s been receiving, writing in an Instagram post that “no one is perfect, not in sport, not on social media, not in real life.
“What happened was extraordinary. The hatred that has followed is ugly,” he added.
HYROX eventually amended its rulebook to now give race directors the ability to withdraw an athlete if blood, vomit, urine or feces creates a risk to them or other competitors, with any athlete removed being recorded as not finishing the race.
