Hyrox has sparked outrage after fans spotted a newly added ‘poo rule’ in its global rulebook allowing officials to pull racers if blood, vomit, urine or faeces poses a contamination risk
Hyrox fans reckon they’ve found the sport’s “poo rule” – and it means competitors can be pulled from a race if they soil themselves and pose a contamination risk.
The fresh storm erupted after a screenshot of Hyrox’s official global rulebook started doing the rounds on social media. The post appeared on Monday (September 14), shortly after the organisation updated its online rules following the recent viral controversy at the Hyrox Beijing event over the weekend.
At the centre of the row is Australian elite athlete and women’s solo world record holder Joanna Wietrzyk, who competed in the Pro Women’s race in Beijing, China on Saturday (September 12).
Footage shared online showed her suffering severe bowel incontinence early in the race, with faecal matter visible on her legs as she continued on the course. Despite the condition, she carried on using shared equipment, including sled handles and rubber floor mats.
She ultimately won the event, triggering a furious backlash across fitness communities and rival competitors. Critics branded it a “biohazard”, accusing organisers of failing to protect other athletes, particularly because the rulebook already hands out strict punishments for far less – including spitting, throwing up, clearing nostrils, or spilling sports gels.
The controversy intensified after the competitor posted, and later deleted, an Instagram story saying: “Go hard or go home, they say… A win is a win.” Her critics accused her of being dismissive of other racers forced to use the same kit. Hyrox has since apologised.
Co-founder Moritz Fürste issued a formal statement on Monday admitting the organisation “made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race”. He said the rules had been updated to remove what Hyrox described as “ambiguity” in the previous framework.
The updated wording appears in Section 10.3 of the global rulebook under “Did Not Finish”, and explicitly allows race officials to intervene if someone’s bodily fluids create a welfare or contamination risk. The rule states in full: “Note: Certain violations may result in immediate penalties without warning, depending on their severity.
“If a participant does not finish a station they will not receive any results data and will be excluded from all rankings and awards. However, they may continue with the race [without a final time].
“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, in line with Hyrox’s medical and hygiene SOPs. Any such withdrawal is recorded on the leaderboard as Did Not Finish [DNF].”
The discovery of the rule sparked outrage as a threads user wrote: “@hyroxworld this is taken from your own official rulebook, clear as day.” Someone else penned: “‘May…’ so up to their discretion and judgment.
“Which is pretty lacking.” A person shared: “So, like most of us, looks like they don’t read or know their own terms and conditions.”
A separate individual chimed in: “Genuinely no words for this. Shocking. That’s all im saying. not another word about my kickyball until we redeem ourselves at the weekend. maybe. if we’re lucky.
“cos we aint lucky tonight we’re fucking SHOCKING.” Despite the backlash, the rule is Hyrox’s new update added to the rulebook. It did not exist prior to the Beijing event.
Before the change, Hyrox’s global rulebook was accused of having a glaring blind spot when it came to serious biohazards on the course.
Under the old rules, judges could hand out clear two-minute penalties for relatively minor offences such as spitting, clearing nostrils onto the floor, littering, or “water abuse”. But there was no specific wording covering major contamination like vomiting, blood, or severe bowel incontinence.
That loophole became a flashpoint in Beijing, with officials claiming the rules were “ambiguous” and they didn’t have explicit authority to pull a winning elite athlete – even while shared equipment was being contaminated.
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