HYROX champ gives back victory after race-day disaster

‘A win is a win’ becomes ‘there is more to life than racing’

Joanna Wietrzyk crossed the finish line first at a HYROX competition in Beijing — but the Australian athlete has now decided that her controversial victory should never have counted.

Wietrzyk suffered a severe bout of diarrhea during the indoor fitness race, losing control of her bowels as she continued running, rowing, carrying weights and completing lunges and wall-ball exercises.

Despite the obvious problem, she carried on to finish the event in 1 hour, 1 minute and 23 seconds, taking first place.

Her initial reaction was defiant.

“Go hard or go home they say … a win is a win,” she posted on social media, before deleting the message as criticism mounted.

But days later, Wietrzyk has dramatically changed her position — apologizing to fellow competitors, spectators, HYROX officials and people in China, while accepting that she should have stopped.

‘I should have made a different choice’

“I felt completely fit and healthy at the start of the race, with no reason to expect any illness,” she said in a statement.

“Looking back, I regret the decision to not have stepped off the track. I recognize that I should have made a different choice.”

The incident caused particular anger because other competitors were reportedly left dealing with contaminated areas of the course and equipment.

Chinese officials said affected areas were cordoned off, disinfected and contaminated equipment removed, although reports suggested the clean-up did not happen immediately.

Wietrzyk has now gone further than simply apologizing.

She has retroactively withdrawn from the race and forfeited the points she earned, meaning her Beijing result, finishing time and ranking points will be removed from the official HYROX standings.

HYROX admits it got it wrong

The controversy also put the spotlight on the organisers, who initially allowed the world-record holder to continue competing.

HYROX eventually acknowledged that the situation had not been handled properly.

Co-founder Moritz Fürste apologised to those affected and admitted: “HYROX made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race.”

He said new rules and procedures had since been introduced to prevent a repeat.

Wietrzyk's coach, Chris Bayens, meanwhile defended his athlete against what he described as an ugly wave of online hatred, harassment and death threats.

He argued that decisions made in the heat of competition could look very different when examined afterwards.

Wietrzyk herself now appears to agree with the second half of that argument.

“I am learning from this experience and will carry those lessons with me,” she said, adding that she had learned “there is more to life than racing and knowing when it is right to step away.”

So what began as perhaps the strangest victory of her career has ended with the champion voluntarily handing the trophy — and the points — back.

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