Hyrox athlete outraged he was disqualified for using toilet while woman who pooped herself won first place

A HYROX athlete has responded furiously over his disqualification from an event in which the winning athlete soiled herself during the course of the competition.

Joanna Wietrzyk, 24, was seen with brown liquid running down her legs, including onto the sports equipment, during the competition in Beijing.

Meanwhile Zarif Zakaria had been competing in the men's category, and went to relieve himself before the competition started, claiming that he was subsequently disqualified.

“I got DQ’d just for going to the toilet before the race," he wrote in a furious post on social media. "How come people can race while having diarrhoea and not get DQ’d? Maybe it’s time for me to retire from HYROX."

In another post, he wrote: “Honest question — not as an athlete, but as a human. If you’re at a race and have to use the toilet before the start, causing you to be a few minutes late… should you be DQ’d? I’m asking because it happened to me.”

Other athletes have also spoken about how they had felt having to compete using the same equipment that had been involved in the incident, which was cleaned down in accordance with HYROX protocols afterwards.

The incident has seen a huge backlash (Fred Lee/Getty Images)

"I was at Beijing and there is another group that deserves to be addressed here too, the paying participants who were affected," athlete Joe Ho wrote in a statement on Instagram.

"HYROX itself acknowledges that there was ambiguity in how its health and medical protocols were applied. For people who were exposed to that situation, there could be genuine physical and psychological consequences.

"Statements like this may also become relevant if affected participants later pursue legal claims and lawsuits."

He added: "I paid HYROX to provide a professionally organised and safe event. So while I understand the athlete perspective, ultimately my contract and expectation is with HYROX.

"If the organisation accepts that something went wrong, why not offer affected participants refunds, credits, or some meaningful form of compensation?

"Protecting athletes is important, but showing the wider community that HYROX takes responsibility when its own procedures fail is just as important. That would do far more to rebuild trust than simply asking everyone to move forward together."

Wietrzyk would go on to win (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

HYROX has also shared a statement about the incident as well as the subsequent backlash, saying: “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."

Wietrzyk went on to win the event, taking to social media afterwards to write: "Go hard or go home … a win is a win. In all seriousness, thank you for all the support. I’ll be back soon."

HYROX Co-founder Moritz Fürste has also apologised over the incident, saying: I apologise to all that were directly or indirectly affected, as well as to everyone who felt like we did not handle the situation like we should have.

"Hyrox made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race."

Fürste went on to add that the organization now has 'new rules in place' to guard against similar incidents happening again at future events.