KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — Australian Hyrox athlete Joanna Wietrzyk has said that she considered quitting the sport after facing widespread online abuse over an incident in which she soiled herself but continued competing during a race in Beijing last month.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC ahead of her return to competition in Hamburg, Germany, today, the world record holder described the past several weeks as a “mentally and emotionally taxing period”, revealing that even her family had received threats.

Wietrzyk said she had withdrawn from social media and tried to isolate herself following the backlash, which began after images of her competing with faecal matter on her body circulated widely online.

“Yes, I did make the wrong decision but I don’t believe I should have received such backlash and such scrutiny online… At the end of the day I’m only human,” she told the BBC.

The controversy began during a Hyrox event in Beijing on September 12, when Wietrzyk suffered a sudden bout of diarrhoea, which she attributed to a bacterial infection caused by food poisoning.

Despite the incident, she continued racing and crossed the finish line first, drawing criticism over the potential hygiene risks to other participants using shared equipment.

She subsequently apologised, forfeited her victory and withdrew retrospectively from the race, while Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fürste acknowledged that organisers should have intervened.

The competition has since introduced rules allowing race directors to remove athletes whose vomit, urine or faeces pose contamination or welfare risks.

Reflecting on her decision to continue racing, Wietrzyk said her competitive instincts had taken over and that she had failed to consider how her actions might affect others.

She also expressed regret over her initial response on social media, where she had defended her performance in a now-deleted post.

Now preparing for her first competition since the incident, Wietrzyk said she was nervous about returning but remained determined to continue her sporting career.

“I don’t want it to become my identity,” she said, adding that she believed she still had much more to achieve in Hyrox.