Chris Bayens, coach of Australian Hyrox athlete Joanna Wietrzyk, has turned on the wave of online abuse that has followed her Beijing win, telling followers the “community” around elite sport needs to look at its own behaviour.

Wietrzyk took the women’s Pro title in Beijing at the weekend after suffering bowel incontinence mid-race and continuing through the remaining stations. Video of the incident spread rapidly online, and Hyrox has since admitted it should have intervened.

In an Instagram post published on 14 September, Bayens defended his athlete.

“What happened was an extraordinary set of circumstances that were unforeseen, rapidly evolving and almost impossible to fully comprehend in real time.”

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“Decisions were made under competition conditions by an athlete, judges and officials, all responding to a situation none of them could reasonably have prepared for.”

He drew a hard line between debate about the officiating and abuse of his athlete.

“Sport occasionally produces moments that are imperfect and deeply human.”

“The hatred and personal attacks that have followed are not.”

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“The mental health of athletes is shaped far more by the community around them, and right now that community should take a hard look at itself.”

Hyrox admits protocol failure

Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fürste apologised for how the race was managed. “Hyrox made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race,” he told ESPN, adding: “In the end it is my job to foresee these potential incidents, and I did not.”

The organisation said in its own statement that “Protocols designed for elite competition and mass participation became blurred, creating ambiguity in how they were applied and understood.”

Wietrzyk crossed the line in 1:01:23 to win the women’s Pro event. She had already set the Pro world record of 54:25 in Warsaw and won the 2026 Phoenix Major earlier in the year.

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New powers written into the rulebook

Hyrox has rewritten its rulebook in the days since Beijing. Race directors now have the authority to withdraw an athlete from a race if blood, vomit, urine or faeces creates a welfare or contamination risk to the competitor or to others on the course. Any athlete pulled under the new rule will be recorded as not finishing, rather than disqualified.

“No one is perfect, not in sport, not on social media, not in real life.”

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