Sydney micro-influencer Jack Jones dressed up as Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk for Halloween over the weekend, recreating her viral Beijing HYROX race bowel incident for his Instagram followers.
Jones skipped traditional vampire and zombie costumes to parody Wietrzyk, who suffered sudden bowel incontinence during a HYROX competition in Beijing in September and continued racing while covered in faecal matter.
To replicate the scene, the Sydney reveller wore tiny black shorts, a black headband, grey crew socks, and chunky black trainers, with brown streaks smeared down his legs. He also wore a cropped black T-shirt bearing the message "A win is a win", a nod to Wietrzyk's initial social media post after the Beijing race that triggered further outrage.
Jones completed the athletic outfit by slinging an oversized black prop barbell across his shoulders with "1000 LBS" written on each end.
Instagram photos and follower reactions
In a series of photographs shared on Instagram, Jones posed outdoors to show off the costume. In one photograph, he dropped into a deep squat on the footpath, smiling at the camera with the slogan on his shirt clearly visible.
A second photograph showed him performing a lunge beside a tree, while a third captured him glancing back over his shoulder to reveal the full extent of the costume's deliberately grubby brown detailing on his legs.
Although there were no actual race results to report, the post left his Instagram followers in stitches, with commenters quick to hand out the Halloween honours alongside laughing emojis and praise.
"Stay right there. I'm calling the police," one commenter joked.
"You're the f**king best! I love this!" another follower wrote, while a third appeared more impressed by his sporting potential than his costume, commenting: "The best part of this is that you would literally smash a Hyrox race without even trying."
Beijing HYROX clean-up and rule changes
Wietrzyk's original accident in Beijing drew widespread criticism and prompted debate about competition hygiene, athlete welfare, and the decision to allow her to continue using a shared course.
Following Wietrzyk's accident in September, HYROX China stated that affected areas and race lanes were immediately closed and isolated before being thoroughly disinfected. Organisers said the clean-up included sanitising workout equipment and replacing sections of carpet.
HYROX co-founder Moritz Fürste subsequently apologised and announced changes to event procedures and the competition rulebook.
"Of course, we have already started improving event processes and making changes to the rulebook. As of this moment, new rules and procedures are in place to prevent situations like this from happening again," Fürste said.
"We learn and try to get better every day."
HYROX race format and Joanna Wietrzyk's Hamburg win
Founded in Germany in 2017 by former Olympic field hockey gold medallist Fürste and sports event organiser Christian Toetzke, HYROX is a fast-growing extreme fitness competition that stages indoor events in major cities around the world.
The challenge has surged in popularity in recent years, especially among office workers and ageing millennials. Unlike traditional obstacle courses that change from venue to venue, every HYROX event uses an identical race format held inside a large exhibition hall, combining eight 1 km runs with eight workout stations.
Competitors alternate each 1 km run with functional exercises including burpees, sled pushes, rowing, weighted carries, and sandbag lunges. Participants can enter as individuals in open amateur waves, compete in pairs or four-person relays, or qualify for the Elite 15 division, which brings together the top 15 professional male and female athletes in the sport.
Despite the backlash over the Beijing race, Wietrzyk has since returned to competition, winning the women's Elite 15 event in Hamburg, Germany, on Friday.
