HYROX Release Official Statement Following Joanna Wietrzyk Incident at Beijing Event
HYROX release their statement.
At the weekend Joanna Wietrzyk won HYROX Beijing with a time of 61:23. She beat Alyssa McElheny, who finished in second, and Aki Yoshida, who rounded out the podium.
However there were other circumstances that have drawn attention to the race. Wietrzyk suffered from diarrhea during the event, choosing to continue and complete the course despite the ailment.
There have been a great volume of opinions voiced on social media, both supporting her grit and determination to endure and win, and in opposition, citing the health and safety risks for other participating athletes.
HYROX have now released an official statement via instagram. You can read the full statement below.
Official Statement from HYROX
To our community,
As our sport continues to evolve we are encountering new and increasingly complex situations that challenge us and where additional clarity is needed.
This happened this weekend in China.
We ask our athletes to push themselves to the highest levels. At times, they will go beyond what even we thought was possible. That courage, resilience and refusal to give in are precisely what makes elite athletes so extraordinary. Our role is to give them the right framework and the right boundaries within which they can compete, perform and express themselves at their very best.
HYROX has clear biocontaminant and medical procedures in place. In this instance, an unforeseen situation arose in which protocols designed for elite competition and mass participation became blurred, creating ambiguity in how they were applied and understood.
We recognise that this can understandably lead to frustration, questions and strong views within our community. Those concerns are legitimate and, as organisers, we must be prepared to hear them, examine what happened and take responsibility for continuing to improve. And we will…
But there is an important line.
Frustration should never be directed towards the athletes themselves. They are the people who put themselves on the line, compete at the highest level and make competition what it is.
There is no place in our community for threats of violence or encouragement to harm an athlete. As this has happened this weekend, we want to be very clear and direct:
Any person identified as engaging in this behaviour, whether through comments, direct messages or social media, will be permanently banned from all HYROX events. We are currently reviewing and identifying those responsible, and action will be taken.
We are proud of what we have built together: a global movement driven by ambition, passion, grit and an extraordinary community of people who care deeply about this sport.
We will continue to listen. We will continue to learn. And, above all, we will continue to put the welfare and dignity of the athletes at the centre of what comes next.
We move forward together, with passion, with grit and with mutual respect.
