More than a month after sparking public outrage by soiling herself during Hyrox Beijing, Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk has announced she is “super excited” about returning to competition.

In a new video posted on her social media, the 24-year-old said the past several weeks gave her an opportunity to re-examine the incident and learn from it.

“So I’ve had some time to reflect over the past six to eight weeks of everything that happened in Beijing,” she said, offering another apology.

“I just want to say that I’m truly, truly so sorry to everyone that I affected, whether they were spectators or participants out on that race floor, for my decision to choose to continue to race.”

She also expressed gratitude to those who reached out to offer support over the past few weeks.

“It’s been a very hard situation to navigate for me and very confronting as well,” she said, describing the support she received personally and through teams as incredible. “And it goes a lot longer in a far longer way than I can truly express right now.”

Wietrzyk announced she is now in Hamburg to compete in the Elite 15 field at the opening race of the 2026–27 Hyrox Elite Series on Friday local time.

“So I’m back out there on the race floor, and I’m super excited to go back doing what I love and hopefully see you all out there,” she said.

Competing in Beijing on September 12, Wietrzyk won the women’s Hyrox Pro division in a time of one hour, one minute and 23 seconds.

However, viral photos and video footage showing faecal contamination across the venue and shared workout equipment triggered fierce online debate and mounted public pressure on organisers as well as her sponsor, Puma.

In the latest video, she wore a sweatshirt visibly bearing the Puma logo and carried a Puma bag that frequently appeared on camera, signalling the partnership remains intact.

While Puma has not issued an official statement regarding the incident, co-branded products featuring the athlete were removed from online stores in several regions after the event.

Immediately after the race, Wietrzyk initially defended herself with the caption “a win is a win”, which stoked further public anger before she deleted the post.

Later, after organisers announced a venue deep-clean and disinfection, acknowledged regulatory loopholes and offered full refunds to affected competitors, Wietrzyk issued her first formal apology, retroactively withdrew from the race and forfeited her ranking points.

Meanwhile, Hyrox events were resuming in China, following a hiatus after the Beijing race.

After the controversy, the Shanghai stop scheduled for this weekend was postponed two weeks ago due to “sudden venue scheduling adjustments”, with new dates pending, while the Guangzhou event slated for a month later faced cancellation rumours before organisers finally announced registration would open on Tuesday.

If the Guangzhou event proceeds as planned, it will be the first Hyrox race in mainland China since the fallout, followed by one in Sanya, which is currently open for registration and scheduled for December 5–6.