Hyrox champion who sparked poop scandal issues fresh apology ahead of competition comeback

Joanna Wietrzyk says she's taken 'some time to reflect' as she issued a fresh apology following an unfortunate incident at a Hyrox event in Beijing last month.

Wietrzyk won the women’s Hyrox Pro event in September, but happened to do so with fecal matter down her legs.

Many questioned why the athlete continued to compete in the event despite pooing herself, while others hit out at Hyrox judges for failing to remove her from the course.

Wietrzyk was quick to apologise over the incident, saying in a social media statement: "I recognize that I should have made a different choice. I take responsibility for my decision to continue and am deeply sorry for the discomfort and disruption it caused."

Meanwhile, Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fürste shared a statement apologizing ‘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’.

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

Wietrzyk is getting ready to compete again in HYROX's Elite 15 division in Hamburg, Germany, with the athlete taking to Instagram to issue another apology ahead of her return to competitive action.

In a clip shared to Instagram on Wednesday (October 28), Wietrzyk explained: I just 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. And having that time to reflect, I've really learned a lot from the situation, and, yeah, I am very, very sorry for it all."

Wietrzyk continued: "But I also want to say thank you to each and every person that has reached out for support and have given me this overwhelming amount of support over the past couple weeks.

"It's been a very hard situation to navigate for me and very confronting as well.

"All the support, whether it was personally or through my team, goes a lot longer than I can truly express right now."

Speaking of her upcoming events, Wietrzyk added: "I'm racing a couple days time in the Elite 15. So I'm back out there on the race floor, and I'm super excited to go back doing what I love. And hopefully, see you all out there."

Many flocked to the comments section of the video to praise Wietrzyk for showing 'strength and humility' in the face of public ridicule, though others did question why she was being allowed to compete in another Hyrox event.

UNILAD has reached out to Hyrox for comment.