Joanna Wietrzyk has withdrawn from her Beijing victory and forfeited her points after breaking her silence on the incident.
Wietrzyk, the Australian Hyrox competitor, issued her first public statement on Thursday, September 17, via Instagram, apologizing for continuing to race after soiling herself during the event earlier that month. The post came as her partnership with sportswear giant PUMA appeared to collapse, with the company removing her collaborative clothing line from its website.
The athlete’s PUMA collection, ‘Joanna Wietrzyk x PUMA,’ was pulled from the brand’s online store before her statement, the outlet first reported. All references to Wietrzyk appeared to have been scrubbed from the site, though neither she nor PUMA had publicly addressed the removal as of her Thursday post. The collaboration had previously been announced as a milestone for the competitor, who said at the time that it was a “dream come true.”
“I raced in PUMA shoes since the beginning,” she said in the earlier announcement, calling the partnership “truly incredible,” She added: “If I told my younger self, she’d be gobsmacked.”
In her Thursday Instagram statement, Wietrzyk directed her apology outward. “I want to offer my sincere apology to the people of China, my fellow competitors, the spectators and the HYROX organizers for what happened during the race in Beijing,” she wrote. She expressed regret for not removing herself from competition once the incident occurred.
“I recognize that I should have made a different choice,” she continued. “I take responsibility for my decision to continue and am deeply sorry for the discomfort and disruption it caused.”
Wietrzyk confirmed in the same post that she would be “withdrawing from the race and forfeiting the points she earned,” effectively erasing her official victory. She thanked supporters who reached out with “kindness and support,” writing that “it means more to me than I can properly express right now.” She indicated she would step back from public life temporarily, noting she would be “taking some time to recover, reflect and look after myself and my family away from the noise.”
The German fitness company behind Hyrox had already faced pressure from other competitors questioning why Wietrzyk was allowed to finish and win while visibly soiled, using shared equipment throughout the course. The company subsequently announced it would implement new rules, though specifics were not detailed in immediate coverage.
Days after the race but before Wietrzyk’s personal statement, Hyrox issued its own remarks focused on the backlash against the athlete rather than the competitive ruling itself. The organization acknowledged frustration surrounding the incident but drew a hard line on the response Wietrzyk received online.
“There is no place in our community for threats of violence or encouragement to harm an athlete,” the company stated. It warned that “any person identified as engaging in this behaviour – whether through comments, direct messages or social media – will be permanently banned from all Hyrox events.”
The Beijing competition saw Wietrzyk complete the indoor fitness race despite losing control of her bowels during the event, with fecal matter visible down her legs as she crossed the finish line first. Fellow competitors and spectators expressed horror at the unsanitary conditions, particularly given the shared nature of Hyrox equipment stations.