Global indoor fitness race organiser Hyrox has changed its rules after women’s world record holder Joanna Wietrzyk soiled herself during a race in Beijing on Saturday but was allowed to continue and win the event.Moritz Fuerste, Hyrox’s German co-founder and a former Olympic field hockey champion, apologised for the way the incident was handled and admitted the organisers should have acted during the race.“Hyrox made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race,” Fuerste said in a statement on social media.“Of course, we started improving event processes, plus making rulebook changes immediately. As of this moment, there are new rules and procedures in place to prevent situations like this from happening again.”Earlier on Monday, Hyrox also said it would permanently ban anyone who sent abuse or threats of violence to Wietrzyk after her identity was shared online.“There is no place in our community for threats of violence or encouragement to harm an athlete,” Hyrox said in a statement.“Any person identified as engaging in this behaviour – whether through comments, direct messages or social media – will be permanently banned from all Hyrox events,” it added.Hyrox China and Hyrox World said organisers isolated the affected lanes after the race and carried out deep cleaning before competition resumed the next day. They said contaminated equipment was removed and the venue carpet was replaced overnight.“After the incident, the organising committee immediately closed off and isolated the affected area and track, and completed comprehensive disinfection,” Hyrox China organisers said.Hyrox World said the organisation already had bio-contaminant and medical procedures in place, but those rules were not applied clearly during the event.“Protocols designed for elite competition and mass participation became blurred, creating ambiguity in how they were applied and understood.”Wietrzyk, the women’s solo Hyrox world record holder, had been invited to compete in Beijing. After the race, she posted and later deleted a selfie from what appeared to be a hospital bed on her Instagram story.“Go hard or go home … a win is a win. In all seriousness, thank you for all the support. I’ll be back soon x.”Hyrox, which was founded in Hamburg in 2017, combines running with functional fitness exercises in a standardised indoor race format. In each race, participants alternate one-kilometre runs with exercises such as sled pushes, burpee jumps, indoor rowing and sandbag lunges.
