Hyrox co-founder apologises for fecal incontinence incident, says it was a mistake to not react immediately - Mothership

Images via @cryptoxiaoxiang / X, @gz321123 / X.

The co-founder of Hyrox, the fitness race competition, has apologised over the incident at its recent Beijing event which saw an athlete complete the race even after she defecated herself due to fecal incontinence.

The athlete, Australian Joanna Wietrzyk, was seen completing exercises like burpee broad jumps with stained garments and legs.

Hyrox had earlier said in a Sep. 14 statement that concerns raised about hygiene were "legitimate", but said that it would ban anyone identified for comments which threatened to harm the athlete involved.

However, the statement drew backlash from online users.

They took issue with how the Hyrox statement did not take into account the impact on other participants and how it seemed to suggest distinct protocols between elite competitors and others.

In his statement posted on Instagram on Sep. 14, Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fürste issued an apology to “address the China incident directly”.

"I apologise to all that were directly or indirectly affected, as well as to everyone who felt like we did not handle the situation like we should have," Fürste said, referring to the incident during the Beijing race.

Fürste acknowledged that the organiser 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.”

After videos of the incident circulated online, the Beijing organiser issued a statement saying that affected lanes and areas were closed and disinfected.

Fürste took personal responsibility for the incident and shared that rulebook changes were made immediately.

He also shared that there are new rules and procedures in place to prevent similar incidents from reoccuring.

At the time of writing, his post has garnered over 7,600 likes and 1,500 comments.

While some commenters expressed appreciation for the co-founder's apology, others have continued insisting that the athlete be disqualified for causing inconvenience to others.

Videos of the incident during the Beijing competition circulated on Chinese social media on Sep. 12.

Wietrzyk went on to win the women's event at the competition, which took place from Sep. 10 to 13, despite the incident.

The competition organiser faced criticisms for allowing Wietrzyk to continue despite her state, with many raising hygiene concerns.

It is a multi-workout fitness competition which sees participants do a 1km run between eight workout stations.

The workouts include sled pull, 1000m rowing, 2x32kg farmers carry and 80m burpee broad jump.

According to its website, it currently has races in more than 11 different countries and over 30 different cities.