After the backlash, Wietrzyk, who won the race in Beijing, said she would forfeit her win.
Wietrzyk said: “I want to offer my sincere apology to the people of China, my fellow competitors, the spectators and the HYROX organizers for what happened during the race in Beijing.”
She wrote in a social media post, external that she was “completely fit and healthy” at the start of the race, and had “no reason” to expect any illness.
“Looking back, I regret the decision to not have stepped off the track. I recognize that I should have made a different choice. I take responsibility for my decision to continue and am deeply sorry for the discomfort and disruption it caused,” Wietrzyk continued.
Hyrox insisted it had “clear biocontaminant and medical procedures in place”.
It said “an unforeseen situation arose” during which protocols became blurred, “creating ambiguity in how they were applied and understood”.
In a statement posted on Instagram, Fürste committed to “improving event processes” to “prevent situations like this from happening again”.