Australian woman wins Chinese HYROX event despite mid-race accident — was a polarizing Beijing drink to blame?

An Australian athlete made headlines after winning a HYROX international competition in China despite suffering a mid-race bowel accident. HYROX is a sport that combines running with functional fitness exercises.

Amid the attention, speculation has spread online that she may have developed an upset stomach after drinking douzhir — a fermented mung bean beverage — before the race. She is believed to have consumed the drink, though no causal link has been confirmed.

According to Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily and other outlets, top HYROX competitor Joanna Wietrzyk participated in a HYROX international event held in Beijing on Saturday and suffered a sudden bowel accident while performing burpee broad jumps — the fourth segment of the race — before going on to finish the course, Yonhap said.

Wietrzyk won the women's pro division for ages 16 to 24, finishing with a time of 1 hour, 1 minute and 23 seconds.

After footage of the incident spread on SNS, reactions to Wietrzyk were sharply divided and a hygiene controversy erupted. Some praised her for pushing through to the finish line under extremely difficult circumstances. Others argued that continuing the race in that condition could have posed a risk to fellow competitors. The criticism extended to the event organizers for not halting the race. As the controversy grew, HYROX apologized on Monday, saying it had begun reviewing its event management procedures.

After the video went viral, online speculation mounted over what had caused the incident.

Wietrzyk is said to have visited a hutong — one of Beijing's traditional back-alley neighborhoods — during her pre-competition stay and sampled douzhir there. The exact amount she drank could not be confirmed, but internet users pointed to the beverage as the likely cause of the accident.

Sing Tao Daily also noted that the drink's distinctively sour smell can irritate the stomachs of foreigners unaccustomed to it. However, no causal link between douzhir and acute diarrhea has been established.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also tried douzhir during a visit to Beijing last May.

After taking a sip, Huang grimaced and asked, "What is this?" — drawing laughter from those around him. He later bought a different drink.

Douzhir is one of Beijing's signature xiaochi — traditional street snacks — with a history spanning thousands of years. Made primarily from mung beans, it has a sour, slightly astringent flavor and an aroma sometimes compared to that of eggs.

The drink is believed to date back to the Song Dynasty and is now commonly consumed as a breakfast substitute.

While some Beijingers are devoted fans, douzhir is a polarizing beverage even among locals, owing to its distinctively sour character.

Meanwhile, in HYROX competitions, participants alternate between running 1 kilometer and completing one functional fitness exercise, repeating the cycle eight times in total.