Viral Hyrox athlete to race again after poop mishap changed sport's rules - USA Today

The viral Hyrox athlete whose poop incident sparked widespread backlash and forced the sport to change its policies is returning to racing.

Joanna Wietrzyk, the 22-year-old Hyrox world champion, soiled herself during a Sept. 12 competition in Beijing and continued to race on a shared course while covered in feces. Hyrox later apologized for not immediately removing Wietrzyk from the race and changed its rules to enforce stricter anti-contamination protocols. On Sept. 17, Wietrzyk issued a formal apology and forfeited the points she earned from her first-place finish.

In a new Instagram video posted Wednesday, Oct. 28, Wietrzyk apologized again and announced she would compete in Hamburg, Germany, on Friday, Oct. 30.

"So I've had some time to reflect over the past 6-8 weeks on everything that happened in Beijing, and firstly I just want to say that I'm truly, truly so sorry to everyone that I affected, whether they were spectators or participants out on that race floor, for my decision to choose to continue to race," Wietrzyk said in the video. "Having that time to reflect, I've really learned a lot from the situation. And yeah, I am very, very sorry for it all."

She went on to thank people who offered her support and said she is looking forward to competing in Hamburg.

"It's been a very hard situation to navigate for me and very confronting, as well, so all the support, whether it was personally or through my team, has been so incredible," Wietrzyk said. "I'm super excited to go back to doing what I love and hopefully see you all out there."

Hamburg will be Wietrzyk's first race since Beijing. Even after she forfeited the points from her controversial win in Beijing, Wietrzyk remains atop the leaderboard in the Hyrox elite racing women's singles category with 547 points, seven points more than the No. 2 ranked athlete Lauren Weeks.

The first-place finisher in an elite Hyrox race is awarded 110 points, followed by 108 points for second and 107 for third. The fourth-15th place finishers can also win points if they finish within a certain percentage of the first-place time.

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