Hyrox’s Joanna Wietrzyk Breaks Silence After Defecating During Competition

Joanna Wietrzyk is flushing out an apology.

Days after the Australian athlete went viral for defecating on herself during a Hyrox competition, she weighed in on the controversy with an apology—and an explanation for her actions.

“I want to offer my sincere apology to the people of China, my fellow competitors, the spectators and the HYROX organizers,” Wietrzyk wrote in a Sept. 17 Instagram statement, “for what happened during the race in Beijing.”

According to the 24-year-old—who is the global fitness race’s current women’s world-record holder—she “felt completely fit and healthy at the start of the race, with no reason to expect any illness.”

“Looking back, I regret the decision to not have stepped off the track. 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.”

ICYMI, Wietrzyk suddenly became ill in the middle of the 16-24 age group Hyrox competition—which consists of running and completing sets of functional exercises—in Beijing on Sept. 12. While at the fourth out of the eight workout stations, which featured burpee broad jumps, Wietrzyk began soiling herself, with feces running down her legs.