The dark side of Hyrox: From deaths to accusations of bullying, the scandals surrounding the $700m ‘toxic and ego-driven’ work-out sport – after athlete was allowed to continue competing despite soiling herself

Images of a Hyrox star accidentally soiling herself during a competition in China – before carrying on regardless and winning the event – have thrust the gruelling fitness contest into the global spotlight. 

Yet it is far from the first controversy to engulf the fast-growing sport. Founded in Germany in 2017, Hyrox combines endurance running with functional fitness, including sled pushes, burpees and throwing a ball at a wall 100 times.

Competitors race through eight 1km runs, each separated by a punishing workout station, with the aim of completing the course in the fastest possible time. The best are elevated to ‘professional’ status, known as Elite 15.

In less than a decade, the sport has grown from a niche fitness event into a global phenomenon, attracting hundreds of thousands of competitors and spectators worldwide, taking its estimated value to $700m (£520m).

Last weekend, Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk, 24, went viral after footage emerged from a Hyrox event in Beijing showing her continuing to compete after soiling herself during the race.

Video showed Ms Wietrzyk using shared exercise equipment while visible faecal matter clung to her arms, lower body and trainers.

The decision to allow her to continue – and ultimately win – sparked widespread debate about hygiene, athlete welfare and race management, particularly as other competitors were required to use equipment after her.

But the Beijing incident is only the latest in a string of controversies to hit the rapidly expanding international fitness brand.

The sport’s Instagram page promotes the highly competitive nature of Hyrox, which some have branded ‘toxic’. In 2026, more than 100 events took place dedicated to the fast-growing sport

PRICEY OBSESSION

‘How do you know if someone is doing Hyrox? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you!’ It is a joke that has gained traction among fitness fans – but there is more than a little truth behind it.

Critics have called the events ‘toxic’, ‘individualistic’ and ‘ego-driven’, saying competitors will try and win at any cost, and suggesting some are so ‘obsessed’ they’re prepared to debase themselves for the kudos of going home with an event title.

Last year, an estimated 650,000 people took part in Hyrox competitions around the world, with 40,000 competing at its biggest-ever event at London’s ExCeL Centre.

The sport is regularly described as having a ‘cult-like’ following, placing it alongside other all-consuming fitness crazes such as CrossFit, F45, marathon running, wild swimming and 90-minute hot yoga classes.

And as its popularity has grown, so has the entry fee. Hyrox co-founder Christian Toetzke has said that the very first test event in Hamburg generated average ticket revenue of only around €35 (£30) per competitor. 

Today, entry to major UK races can cost around £125 before travel, accommodation, kit and optional add-ons are taken into account.

Yet higher prices have done little to dampen demand, and when tickets for Hyrox Birmingham 2026 went on sale, one Reddit user said he logged on only to discover he was number 26,000 in the online queue.

Other competitors have described UK ticket drops as a frantic ‘fastest finger first’ scramble, with popular races regularly selling out despite stretching across several days.

But devotion to Hyrox can come at a considerable cost because it’s not just the entry ticket you need to pay for.

The organisers are facing a furious backlash for allowing Ms Wietrzyk to continue to compete despite her faecal matter contaminating carpets and communal equipment at the event 

The brand’s co-founder, Moritz Fürste, apologised over the incident on the Hyrox Instagram page

Evgenia Koroleva, founder of ONE LDN gym, told the BBC that expenses for competitors can be ‘absolutely astronomical’, with a race weekend easily costing between £500 and £1,000 once entry, travel and accommodation are factored in.

She said: ‘Hyrox has created this addiction for people who do it because they never really do one race. When they do their first race they then sign up for another one and because the course is the same it creates this level of competition with yourself.’

For its most committed devotees, Hyrox can become a serious investment of both time and money, with competitors training for months through pricey officially affiliated gyms, entering race after race and travelling internationally in pursuit of faster times.

One 29-year-old woman told the BBC she had competed in 20 Hyrox races across six countries and 12 cities, and even spent £2,000 attending the World Championships in Chicago.

She said: ‘For competitions abroad, I normally spend approximately £400 per trip for two nights’ stay and travel.’

There’s another big cost, too: kit. She added that her relentless training schedule means that she ‘burns through ridiculous amounts of shoes’.

As well as an excuse to buy a new pair of trainers, completing a Hyrox also brings some serious bragging rights.

Unlike other fitness contests which present you with a medal for crossing the finishing line, Hyrox gives out patches that can be sewn onto gym bags… and leave people in the changing room green with envy.

STAFFED BY VOLUNTEERS 

Despite its deep coffers, Hyrox relies heavily on volunteers to help keep its events running smoothly – and they’re paid in merchandise.

They are openly recruited to judge the competition’s eight workout stations, as well as taking on roles across event operations – from staffing water stations and registration desks to managing bag drops and merchandise stands.

But they are not doing it entirely for free. In return, volunteers can earn entry to a future race – a valuable perk given that many events sell out almost as soon as they are announced – as well as a special T-shirt and a coveted Hyrox patch.

Last month, there was an outcry when Hyrox UK appeared to change the deal, with a new rewards system reportedly offering only a 50 per cent discount on a future race rather than a free entry for an eight-hour shift.

The move sparked a backlash, with some volunteers arguing that the reduced benefit no longer justified the long hours, travel and accommodation costs involved.

One previous volunteer raged on Reddit: ‘My time, travel expenses, tolerance for abuse from athletes who don’t like my calls and risks of being berated publicly on Facebook by the spectators with cameras is not worth a small discount, free T-shirt that stretches after one wash and a cheap ready meal.’

Hyrox relies heavily on volunteers to help keep it’s events running smoothly

Hyrox later reversed the change and reinstated the previous one-shift-for-one-race reward.

The row has also fuelled a wider discussion over whether a rapidly growing – and financially buoyant – international sport should continue relying on volunteers to officiate races, particularly amid repeated disputes over inconsistent judging and penalties.

DEATHS 

This year, two competitors tragically died after collapsing at Hyrox events.

In August, South African-born fitness coach Leroy Saunders, 41, lost consciousness while competing at Hyrox Bangkok and was given CPR by event staff and medics before being taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

His death came just weeks after an unnamed 28-year-old woman died during Hyrox Lyon. French media reported that she collapsed on the running track after suffering acute hyperthermia – dangerous overheating of the body – during an intense heatwave.

Hyrox does not appear to have issued a publicly available statement following either death, although Mr Saunders’ family specifically asked the organisation and media not to comment on the circumstances while his cause of death was being established.

‘TWO TIER’ RULES 

Hyrox competitors are expected to follow a strict set of rules – but there have been accusations that those rules are not always applied consistently, particularly when elite athletes are involved.

At Hyrox Washington in March 2026, eventual men’s singles winner Cole Learn was filmed pouring aid-station water over himself, despite the published rulebook stating that using drinking water for cooling carries a two-minute penalty.

That same month, at the EMEA Regional final, winner Hidde Weersma was filmed discarding a gel packet even though littering is listed as an offence under Hyrox rules.

No penalty was issued to either competitor, despite both breaches being caught on the events’ livestreams.

BULLYING 

Official commentators at the Hyrox Chengdu event were sacked after mocking Chinese Olympic table-tennis champion Zhang Jike while he struggled through the race last month.

As well as making unkind comments about him being better suited to ‘variety TV’, they invited viewers to screenshot his ‘pain face’ to make memes.

The remarks sparked a fierce backlash in China, prompting Hyrox’s local office to publicly apologise to Zhang and cut ties with the commentators.

HYROX CRUISE 

A participant competes at the burpees station during the Hyrox Men Istanbul 2026 fitness race at the Istanbul Expo Center

At the end of next month, the Hyrox cruise will embark on a four-night voyage around the Mediterranean, carrying around 2,300 fitness fans from Palma to Marseille and Barcelona.

According to the marketing blurb, the entire 295-metre cruise liner will be transformed into a ‘full-on Hyrox training ecosystem’, with workouts, coaching from elite competitors, nutrition and recovery sessions, wellness facilities and even Hyrox-themed parties.

A double-berth cabin starts from €2,599 (£2,233), including food and drink and access to more than 350 hours of coaching from Hyrox trainers and brand partners.

But taking the fitness phenomenon to the high seas has not been entirely smooth sailing.

Plans to stage an Elite 15 competition on board were scrapped after Hyrox acknowledged it could not guarantee ‘fair, standardised and repeatable race conditions’ on a moving cruise ship.

There was also anger among some early customers after prices were later slashed by as much as 40 per cent, just months after they had paid full price for the same accommodation.

In the aftermath of Ms Wietrzyk’s Beijing event, a spokesman for Hyrox said a ‘major clean-up operation’ had taken place in the venue where Ms Wietrzyk had competed, including the sanitising of carpets and equipment. 

However, as complaints about the handling of the incident escalated online, the brand’s co-founder Moritz Fürste apologised – and vowed to change the sport’s rules.

Mr Fürste said: ‘Hyrox made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race. In the end it is my job to foresee these potential incidents – and I did not.’

While incidents of bowel and bladder incontinence aren’t uncommon at outdoor endurance events such as marathons – at the 2005 London Marathon Paula Radcliffe famously relieved herself on the streets during the 26-mile race, contamination in indoor venues poses a much more serious risk to public health.