Hyrox athlete competed while having diarrhea. Was she right to push through?

Joanna Wietrzyk of Australia takes part in Hyrox Beijing 2026 at National Speed Skating Oval on Saturday in Beijing. Hyrox has been criticized online for not stopping Wietrzyk from competing despite having diarrhea. (Fred Lee/Getty Images)Social SharingPopular indoor fitness competition Hyrox has said it has changed its protocols after allowing an Australian athlete to keep competing — and win — despite suffering from what appeared to be diarrhea.

The graphic images of world record holder Joanna Wietrzyk competing with feces running down her legs at Saturday's Hyrox in Beijing have sparked debate about the health and safety of competitors versus the mentality that a win is a win, no matter the cost.

"It's a biohazard, how they let the competition go on is beyond me," an observer wrote on Reddit.

"Think about how disgusting it is, especially when we use the exact same track," a race participant told the South China Morning Post. 

Footage showed Wietrzyk continue to push through her events using communal equipment such as ropes, sandbags, rowing machines and medicine balls, and doing burpees and lunges on a shared indoor track. She was the pro women's champion with a time of 1:01:23.

A screen grab of an Instagram post by BoxRox, a digital publishing platform for fitness events, celebrates Wietrzyk as the pro women's champion at Saturday's Hyrox competition in Beijing. (@BoxRox/Instagram)"Go hard or go home … a win is a win," Wietrzyk posted — then deleted — on Instagram after the event along with a selfie in what appeared to be a hospital bed, according to multiple news outlets.

As the incident went viral, online commenters were quick to point out the health risks for other competitors, with many people saying Wietrzyk should have quit or Hyrox should have disqualified her. Others are calling on Hyrox to refund the other competitors or offer them compensation.

"Hyrox made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race. In the end it is my job to foresee these potential incidents — and I did not," co-founder Moritz Fürste wrote in an Instagram statement Monday.

"As of this moment, there are new rules and procedures in place to prevent situations like this from happening again," he added.

The Hyrox official rulebook already had some penalties in place for other bodily fluids, noting that spitting or clearing of nostrils onto the floor is strictly prohibited, but until this week, there was no mention of penalties for feces contaminating the race course.

As some people have pointed out in the comments on Hyrox's Instagram apology, perhaps it's "unbelievable that this even needs a rule."

"That’s not a rule. That’s basic human decency," someone commented.

Participants compete in the 'sled push' event during the Hyrox fitness race in Bangkok on March 21, 2026. (Amaury Paul/AFP/Getty Images)So, what happened?Hyrox, a structured indoor activity divided into eight segments, each involving a one-kilometre run followed by a fitness exercise, attracts tens of thousands of participants to its biggest events.

The event was developed in 2017 by German entrepreneur Christian Toetzke and Moritz Fürste, who won field hockey gold medals for Germany in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. It's since become a global phenomenon, was accepted as a format in World Triathlon this year (under the name Hyathlon) and has its sights set on the Olympics.

'Extreme' workouts drive spike in 'rhabdo' cases among young N.L. women, says doctor

And Wietrzyk is the women's pro world record holder after her performance at the Warsaw Major in April. While she hasn't made an official statement about what happening in Beijing, several reports claim Wietrzyk was suffering from food poisoning.

A spectator at the event told the South China Morning Post that feces was visible on the track about 30 minutes after Wietrzyk started her race, causing several runners to slip.

Hyrox China, in a statement posted social media platform Weibo, said a competitor experienced a "sudden medical issue." The statement explained that organizers later disinfected contaminated areas, removed any contaminated equipment and replaced the carpet in the venue.

As the TaiPei Times reports, Hyrox China did not apologize, but "admitted in an earlier statement to 'shortcomings' in the regulations which had prevented judges from intervening immediately during the competition."

Wietrzyk's coach, Chris Bayens, defended her in a statement posted to Instagram Sunday, urging people not to judge her "intent, clarity, or morality."

"Sport occasionally produces moments that are imperfect and deeply human," Bayens wrote.

"What happened was an extraordinary set of circumstances that were unforeseen, rapidly evolving and almost impossible to fully comprehend in real time."

CBC News has reached out to Hyrox, Wietrzyk and her coach for comment, but not yet heard back.

As many high-intensity athletes likely know, shit happens. Sometimes literally. There's even a term for it: runner's diarrhea, which Healthline describes as an inflammation of the colon caused by the intensity of workouts that can lead to frequent bowel movements.

According to a 2014 study, anywhere from 30 to 50 per cent of athletes report gastrointestinal problems. More recently, a 2025 literature review published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology concluded that high-intensity or prolonged exercise may contribute to symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. 

There are many well-documented and highly public cases where athletes have soiled themselves mid-competition. Just this past June, for instance, South African runner George Kusche won the Comrades Marathon with feces dripping down his legs.

Meanwhile, U.S. athlete Taylor Knibb won the 2024 T100 World Championship in Dubai, but made headlines for telling a cameraman, "I just shit myself. So can you not get my ass?"

In 2021, another U.S. athlete, Addi Zerrenner, went viral after soiling herself three times while running the California International Marathon, and told Business Insider, "I'm finally having the true marathon experience."

And U.K. runner Paula Radcliffe famously won the 2005 London Marathon after having to stop at 22-mile mark to defecate on the sidelines, calling it "an embarrassing necessity."

But, as many observers have noted, these incidents have all occurred outdoors.

Meanwhile, another Hyrox competitor, Malaysia's Zarif Zakaria, posted on Threads that he was recently disqualified from the Aug. 13 competition in Bangkok for using the bathroom — before the race. He claimed it's because it meant he had a late start.

"How come people can race while having diarrhea and not get DQ’d?" he posted Monday.

"Maybe it's time for me to retire from HYROX."

Participants compete at the burpees station during the Hyrox Men Istanbul 2026 fitness race at the Istanbul Expo Center in Istanbul on Aug. 1. (Burak Basturk/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images)ABOUT THE AUTHORNatalie StechysonSenior Writer & Editor

Natalie Stechyson has been a writer and editor at CBC News since 2021. She covers stories on social trends, families, gender, human interest, as well as general news. She's worked as a journalist since 2009, with stints at the Globe and Mail and Postmedia News, among others. Before joining CBC News, she was the parents editor at HuffPost Canada, where she won a silver Canadian Online Publishing Award for her work on pregnancy loss. You can reach her at natalie.stechyson@cbc.ca.