• Australian Joanna Wietrzyk went on to win fitness race in Beijing

• Hyrox admits making mistake by ‘not reacting immediately’

Organisers of the global indoor fitness competition Hyrox have apologised and pledged immediate rule changes after an Australian athlete was allowed to finish and win an event in Beijing despite soiling herself mid-race.

Footage of world record holder Joanna Wietrzyk competing on Saturday showed her continuing through demanding exercises and using communal equipment, with faecal matter visibly running down her legs. The incident went viral on social media and triggered debate about Hyrox’s health and safety standards, and athlete responsibility.

After eight days missing in the rugged NSW bush, word came through that the 18-year-old had been located. Her family were waiting with presents

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The rugged landscape of the New South Wales southern highlands loomed large on Thursday evening. This country had just revived, then killed hope. A young woman was found “alive”, but then it was confirmed she was dead: desperation, confusion, tragedy reigned.

Here, where the bitumen of Wombeyan Caves Road runs into unsealed dirt, rolling hills dotted with cattle give way to expansive mountains. The late-afternoon sun sends long, beaming rays past the edges of clouds, casting a warm glow on distant cliff faces.

First Nations designers, models, artists and artisans from across Australia gathered on Larrakia Country in Darwin this week for the Country to Couture runway show and the National Indigenous Fashion awards. In between, Guardian Australia photographed several of the featured models and designers

• Delvene Cockatoo-Collins wins National Indigenous Fashion award for textiles harvested on Country

• First Nations fashion celebrates weaving, wattle and waterways at Country to Couture 2026 – in pictures

Models CJ Rankin, a Kiyak woman, and Nelson Baker Bardi, a Nyikina man, wear Nagula Jarndu Designs.

The art centre Nagula Jarndu (Saltwater Woman) began in Rubibi/Broome in 1987 as a place for Yawuru women to gather, preserve language, share knowledge and keep culture strong. Their hand-carved woodblock prints on cotton and silks, shown at Country to Couture, share stories of saltwater, plants, family and Country.

Marri Ngarr artist takes home Australia’s most prestigious First Nations art prize for Our lifestyle of tranquillity undisturbed – a ‘dreamscape’ that challenges colonial modes of representation

An Indigenous artist’s painting that “presents a recomposed view of the past” and challenges the western canon, especially Renaissance art, has won the $100,000 top prize at the 43rd National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander awards (Natsiaa).

The Marri Ngarr artist Dr Ryan Presley received the award on Friday evening for his 2.8 square metre oil on polyester painting, titled Our lifestyle of tranquillity undisturbed.

Queensland police fine driver of another car that allegedly caused Yaris to swerve before it hit kerb and catapulted into air – and bus

A Queensland driver has been fined after being involved in a stunning crash that saw a car become airborne and then stuck in the side of a bus.

The drama unfolded at Rocklea in Brisbane’s south on Wednesday evening. A blue Toyota Yaris hit a traffic island and was catapulted into the air before smashing into the side of the council bus. The back of the car was left protruding from the bus.

Australian government says it is ‘deeply frustrated’ and will continue to press for ‘real charges with teeth’ over deaths of Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles

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The Australian government says it wants “real charges with teeth” over the fatal methanol poisoning of two teenage travellers in Laos, as authorities prepare to lay lesser charges that have been called “bitterly” disappointing.

Melbourne travellers Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19, were backpacking through the south-east Asian nation in late 2024 when they were fatally poisoned with methanol while drinking at Nana backpackers hostel in Vang Vieng.

Police allege there are 136 victims of the man’s offending, which allegedly took place over a 16-year period

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Australian federal police have contacted more than 120 families as they investigate alleged offending by a former Sydney childcare worker.

The man, 35, has been charged with 329 offences allegedly committed over a 16-year period against 136 victims.

Bureau of Meteorology says city’s mean temperature reached 16.1C, surpassing the previous record of 15.7C set in 1991

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Sydney has officially experienced its hottest June since records began, after a winter month of spring-like warmth.

While early weather data suggested the month was merely among the warmest, the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed on Friday that June 2026 broke the all-time mean temperature record at Observatory Hill, where tracking first began in 1859.

Flood of tributes for Victorian athlete, who died while overseas

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Local Australian athletics organisations have paid tribute to 2025 Stawell Gift finalist Jemma Stapleton, 25, who died while on holiday overseas with her family.

The cause of death has not yet been disclosed, though an online fundraising page shared by her brother said she “tragically lost her life in an accident”.

‘Twitchers’ rush to coastal Western Australia to see black-headed gull, which usually flies between Europe and Asia

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A lone seabird has caused a stir in the nation’s birdwatching community after landing on the Western Australian coast, thousands of kilometres off its usual migratory flight path.

The black-headed gull, which usually flies between Europe and Asia, has been spotted in the coastal city of Geraldton.

The name is deceptive. It’s not about Tom Cruise in tight shorts, but the craze has racked up 90m views for one content creator

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Ima, if someone said “Scientology speedrun” to me I would think about Tom Cruise in tight shorts. But that is not what is happening, is it?

Not quite, Cait. The Scientology speedrun appears to have spawned in March when content creator Swhileyy filmed himself rushing the Church of Scientology on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. That video gained 90m views before it was deleted.

With the help of citizen scientists, researchers studying rare humpback ‘jaw-gaping’ believe the move could be a social display

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Off the coast of Western Australia, a humpback whale is “pirouetting”, sweeping its pectoral fins through the water, its massive jaw hanging wide open. Surrounded by companions, the animal isn’t lunging for a meal: rather, it is putting on a mysterious behavioural display.

This underwater ballet, captured on camera by an onlooker and shared online, is one of the clearest examples of a rarely documented phenomenon known as “gaping”.

Tugboat tows carcass of ‘leviathan proportions’ 20km from Era beach to Bellambi boat ramp, attracting sharks, says councillor demanding inquiry

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Fishers, surfers and divers say they should have been warned about the towing of a huge whale carcass along a 20km stretch of coast south of Sydney, which resulted in increased shark activity.

A Wollongong City councillor is demanding a review into the operation to remove the sperm whale from a remote beach in the Royal national park last week.

Authorities are yet to decide how they will move the body of the massive creature, which is attracting humans, eagles – and plenty of sharks

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Thin strips of flesh hang down like rotten tinsel, swaying in the wind. Glistening fluid trickles on to the stone where insects buzz. On the windward side, the odour is masked by the salty air. But step downwind, and you enter a sickly, sour-sweet blend of garbage and rotting fish. A passing couple pull their T-shirts tight over their noses.

On a rock shelf at the southern end of Era beach, the estimated 25-tonne body of a sperm whale rests like a melted candle. Looking down at the rock pools, floating chunks of white fat bob in the water.

The new owner will serve as the Australian town’s postie, publican, cook and shopkeeper

In the heart of outback Queensland, more than 800km west of Brisbane, sits a town with its own postcode and exactly two residents. Now, the entire population of Cooladdi is packing up – and the town is officially on the market.

For $400,000, buyers will get the Foxtrap Roadhouse, a four-bedroom home, and the keys to the town. It’s a far cry from the $935,000 median price for a cramped Sydney unit.

A rescue mission involving volunteer helicopter crew and public donations ended in joy after Molly was located and brought home

A spot of furry black and white appears among the jagged rocks of New Zealand’s alpine backcountry. It is Molly the border collie, sitting near the foot of a waterfall where she had been separated from her owner one week earlier.

Molly was rescued on Tuesday after an avalanche of donations from the public funded a volunteer team made up of former helicopter pilots and crew to mount a search in the wilderness.

Liz Steel and Marc Taro Holmes live on opposite sides of the globe but connected through a sketching challenge. Now it’s a phenomenon

If you’re lucky, you may spot Liz Steel tucked into the corner of a sun-dappled Sydney cafe, water-soluble pencils and markers in hand. Half a world away, Marc Taro Holmes is led by his sketchbook on to the thawing streets of Montreal, “like a bear coming out of hibernation”.

The duo are co-founders of #OneWeek100People challenge, an informal global initiative that asks artists to sketch 100 people in seven days. The challenge, now in its 10th year, took place this week but Steel and Holmes stress it is entirely for enjoyment, and anyone can take it up and post with the hashtag at any time.

The 16-year-old Australian’s classmates and teachers are some of her biggest fans – and say she remains ‘really chill’

On the towering slopes of Livigno in Italy on Sunday, 16-year-old Australian Ally Hickman was a green and gold blur, securing herself a spot in the Olympic women’s snowboard slopestyle final.

She will compete for a medal in the finals on Tuesday – but thousands of kilometres away at her Sydney high school, the teenager is already a legend.

A sign for the northern beaches Hop, Skip and Jump bus says ‘clothing must be worn over swimwear’

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Sydney’s Northern Beaches council has banned bikini-clad and shirtless passengers from riding its free community bus service after receiving feedback from passengers.

The Hop, Skip and Jump is a daily 30-seat shuttle bus that services the coastal suburbs of Manly, Fairlight and Balgowlah and is frequented by beachgoers.

They offer independence, reduce emissions and congestion. But they are also endangering lives

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After the Sydney Harbour Bridge was swarmed by 40 or so ebikes and e-motorcycles on Wednesday, the Australian government said the country faced a “real emergency”.

“[Illegal ebikes] are a total menace on the road,” the health minister, Mark Butler, said on Friday.