Hyrox reportedly giving refunds to competitors affected by faecal incontinence incident - Mothership

Hyrox's official rulebook has also been updated.

Some athletes, who took part in the Hyrox Beijing event from Sep. 10 to 13, will reportedly be receiving refunds following an incident in which an athlete suffered faecal incontinence during the race and defecated herself.

Photos and videos circulating online showed the Australian athlete, Joanna Wietrzyk, completing exercises despite her legs and garments being visibly stained with faecal matter during the race on Sep. 12.

She subsequently won the women's event of the competition.

According to a report by the New York Times (NYT), Hyrox told competitors in an email that it would issue refunds equivalent to the value of the event ticket to athletes who competed during certain periods on the same day as Wietrzyk.

A screenshot purportedly showing the email sent to participants was posted on the Reddit thread r/hyrox.

In the email, Hyrox said its on-site team had "completed the sanitisation procedures and full turf replacement" following the incident.

The company said it had also conducted a "thorough internal procedural review" and have decided to issue full refunds to two groups of competitors.

Competitors who started their race before 2:40pm on Sep. 12 and were still racing at 2:40pm that day; and

Competitors in wave batches starting between 2:40pm and 8:40pm on Sep. 12.

The email also said Hyrox had updated its official rulebook to include an emergency-response protocol for biological-contamination incidents.

The company said the protocol was now in effect globally.

"Moving forward, we are committed to repaying your passion and support for Hyrox with a more seamless and improved race experience," the email read.

According to NYT, Hyrox did not respond to requests for comment.

It was also unclear how many competitors had received refunds or the total amount refunded.

In a statement on Sep. 12, Hyrox China said the affected areas and race lanes were closed following the incident.

The areas were also thoroughly disinfected, and equipment affected by the incident was also removed.

Hyrox subsequently released two statements regarding the incident.

In the first statement on Sep. 14, the company acknowledged that concerns raised about hygiene were "legitimate" and said it will "examine what happened and take responsibility for continuing to improve".

However, the statement also said Hyrox would ban individuals identified as being responsible for comments that threatened to harm the athlete.

The statement subsequently drew criticism online, as many felt that the statement did not take into account the impact of the incident on other race competitors.

There were also questions about whether different protocols had been applied to elite competitors and other participants.

Hyrox co-founder, Moritz Fürste, issued an apology later the same day.

In a statement posted on Instagram on Sep. 14, Fürste acknowledged that the organiser had made a mistake "by not reacting immediately during the race":

"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."