HYROX athlete got disqualified after using the toilet while woman with active diarrhea raced all the way to victory

Going to the bathroom before a HYROX race cost one athlete his result. Meanwhile, continuing to compete after experiencing fecal incontinence didn’t stop another from taking first place. Given the potential double standards in the rules, does that mean they prefer participants answering nature’s call right there in the middle of the arena? 

Malaysian athlete Zarif Zakaria competed in the Men’s Open division at HYROX Bangkok on August 13, finishing in 1:27:48 before being disqualified for an “incorrect start time,” according to The Rakyat Post. Zakaria says nature called shortly before his race, and his trip to the toilet caused him to arrive at the starting line several minutes late.

A month later, Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk suffered fecal incontinence during HYROX Beijing and continued through the remaining stations while visibly soiled. She ultimately won the Women’s Pro race, while images and videos showed her continuing to use communal equipment that other competitors would encounter afterward. HYROX has since admitted officials should have stopped her, but that came after other athletes had already been sent through contaminated stations. Judging from the viral biohazard, the biggest obstacle on that HYROX course seems to be poor hygiene.

One bathroom trip earned a DQ

“I got DQ’d just for going to the toilet before the race. How come people can race while having diarrhoea and not get DQ’d?” Zakaria wrote on Threads after the Beijing controversy. He even produced what appeared to be the official explanation for his disqualification, which listed “incorrect start time” as the reason. Zakaria then put the question another way. If an athlete needs the toilet before a race and consequently arrives a few minutes late, he asked, should that warrant disqualification?

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It’s difficult to miss why the comparison frustrated him. Wietrzyk wasn’t merely dealing with a private bathroom emergency during her race. Instead, she was ignoring it very publicly. Photos and videos showed fecal matter on her legs as she continued through stations involving shared mats and equipment, prompting concerns about the contaminated surfaces competitors behind her were being asked to use.

Why didn’t HYROX stop the madness? 

HYROX eventually concluded that many angry spectators had already reached: Officials should have intervened immediately. “I apologise to all that were directly or indirectly affected,” HYROX co-founder Moritz Fürste reportedly said following the backlash, adding that the organization “made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race.” HYROX subsequently updated its rules so race officials can medically withdraw competitors when blood, vomit, urine, or feces poses a welfare or contamination risk.

That change may prevent another contaminated course, but it arrived too late for the athletes who competed behind Wietrzyk in Beijing. HYROX China said affected areas were decontaminated afterward, while social media users questioned why other competitors had been put in that position to begin with.

Wietrzyk still won the race in 1:01:23 and later posted “a win is a win” on social media before deleting the post. Was a win worth putting other people at risk due to her trail of fecal matter? That hypothetically begs another question: if other athletes had not been put off by the active fecal incontinence occurring ahead of them, could they have had a bigger chance at winning that title? Either way, the controversial HYROX win might long be overshadowed by the image of feces rather than the medal. 

Zakaria relieved himself in a toilet before his race, completed every station, and walked away with a disqualification notice. Wietrzyk relieved herself on the HYROX competition grounds, completed every station, and might consider walking away with a refresher on basic hygiene. 

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