Should Road Races Copy Hyrox’s New Rule on Athletes Who Soil the Course?

September 15, 2026

Joanna Wietrzyk, the 24-year-old Australian who holds the Hyrox women’s world record, lost control of her bowels partway through the race in Beijing last weekend and finished it anyway, through the burpee broad jumps and the lunges and the wall balls, on equipment the next wave of athletes would use after her. She won in 1:01:23, and nobody on the floor stopped her.

Within days Hyrox had rewritten its rulebook. Section 12.3 of the singles rulebook now says that “if a racer’s blood, vomit, urine, or faeces poses a welfare or contamination risk to the racer or to other racers, a Race Director may withdraw the racer from the race on medical grounds.” Anyone removed that way is marked DNF. Moritz Fuerste, who co-founded the sport, told ABC News that Hyrox “made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race.” THE MARATHON HANDBOOK