Joanna Wietrzyk wins Hamburg Hyrox opener after apologising for Beijing incident
Joanna Wietrzyk won the Hyrox season opener in Hamburg on Friday, returning to competition after the incident in Beijing that drew widespread attention last month. The Melbourne-born athlete finished first in the Elite 15 race and had issued a public apology in the interim.
Wietrzyk, 24, had won the Beijing event but forfeited the points after footage circulated showing her continuing to compete while soiled, with faecal matter visible on her legs; the video went viral on social media and prompted sharp public backlash. She posted a statement on social media following the episode and stepped away from the public eye before reappearing in a pre-race video this week.
In that pre-race message Wietrzyk wrote: “I’ve had some time to reflect over the past six to eight weeks of everything that happened in Beijing and firstly I 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.” She added: “Having that time to reflect, I’ve really learnt a lot from the situation and I am very, very sorry for it all.”
Wietrzyk, who is the world record-holder in the Hyrox women’s solo event, described the period after Beijing as difficult. She wrote: “It has 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 honestly so incredible and it goes a far longer way than I can truly express right now. “I’m super excited to go back to doing what I love.”
On her comeback in Hamburg, Wietrzyk won the Elite 15 race in 56:10.21. She finished ahead of American duo Lauren Weeks, who clocked 56:24.37, and Vivian Tafuto, who recorded 57:55.34.
Hyrox described its format as alternating a one-kilometre run with fitness exercises at shared high-intensity stations, listing equipment and movements such as the rowing machine, sled pushes, burpee jumps, medicine ball throws and lunges while carrying a sandbag. The competition began in Germany in 2017 and is now staged in multiple international locations.
Organisers apologised and announced rule changes after the Beijing race, with co-founder Moritz Fürste saying they “made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race”. New rules grant organisers the authority to remove an athlete if their “blood, vomit, urine, or faeces poses a welfare or contamination risk to the racer or to other racers,” while rules were already in place to penalise minor infractions such as littering on the course, or spitting or clearing their nose on the floor.
Wietrzyk was subjected to online abuse after her identity was shared following the Beijing incident; Hyrox warned that anyone sending abuse or threats of violence towards the athlete would be banned from future events. The 2026-27 Hyrox season will continue after the Hamburg opener with races scheduled in London, Bangkok, Las Vegas and Lyon.