Joanna Wietrzyk did not stop. Halfway through the course, during Hyrox Beijing 2026, her body gave out in the worst possible way: fecal incontinence brought on by the extreme physical stress of the competition. Anyone else would have withdrawn right then.
Not her. She completed the eight functional stations and the eight kilometers of running, crossing the finish line in 1:01:23, first among 152 elite athletes in the Pro Women category. The organizers closed and disinfected the affected tracks before the event continued.
Later, from a hospital bed, she took a selfie and wrote the phrase that said it all: “A win is a win”. Not a word about shame, no excuse. Just confirmation that, for her, a win is a win, regardless of what happened along the way to achieve it.
