At the Tour of the Gila, transgender cyclist Austin Killips took first place in the women’s division.
Killips escaped the field late in the last stage of the tour in New Mexico, finishing in 3:07:16. With that time, she beat Marcela Prieto and Cassandra Nelson by 89 seconds to claim the top podium slot.
The first-place prize in the high-level road event was enormous—$35,000.
Killips received some criticism on social media for winning while transgender women competing against biological women occupied centre stage worldwide, according to Fox News.
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According to the guidelines established by the UCI, the 27-year-old was entirely authorized to participate in the competition.
The circumstance has sparked a firestorm of debate concerning the sport’s regulations. For a post on the topic, the well-known “I Heart Bikes” Twitter account garnered 3,000 likes.
A second tweet from former world champion cyclist Alison Sydor stated: “Female athletes are not treated fairly under the present UCI rules, which permit men to compete in women’s cycling races. It’s time for UCI to acknowledge that the existing regulation structure is unworkable and harming cycling’s reputation as a sport that is fair to women.
Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, who earlier this month demanded a boycott of Nike for choosing to use Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, to market its women’s gear, similarly criticized the inclusion of Killips in the group.
“This is beyond disappointing,” Davies said to The Daily Mail.
“The power brokers ought to hang their heads in shame. The UCI is unfit for its intended use. In many situations, the criticism directed at the cyclist, the tour, and UCI devolved into abuse on social media.
Although the incident sparked a social media storm, Killips’ rivals Prieto and Cassandra Nelson made no public complaints.
Hannah Arensman, a 35-time champion on the national cyclocross circuit, retired in part because of the rise of Killips on the cyclocross circuit.
Arensman’s objection to transgender cyclists participating in women’s competitions reached the Supreme Court.
“I come from a sporting household. My statement stated, “I engaged in sports from an early age, encouraged by my parents and siblings, and I followed in my sister’s footsteps, rising through the ranks to become an excellent cyclocross racer.
“In recent years, I’ve had to compete against male cyclists in women’s events. As this has become more prevalent, it has grown demoralizing to work as hard as I do to lose to a man who has the unfair advantage of an androgenized body that inherently gives him an advantage over me, regardless of how much I train.
“I’ve made the decision to retire from cycling. I finished in fourth position in the elite women’s division at the most recent UCI Cyclocross National Championships in December 2022, with male riders who earned the third and fifth spots on either side of me. My sister and relatives, who had seen multiple physical exchanges with the man during the run, sobbed as they saw him cross the finish line ahead of me.
Furthermore, I find it difficult to consider the very real possibility that I was passed over for an international selection on the US team at the Cyclocross Worlds in February 2023 because of a male competitor.
“Moving forward, I feel for young girls who are learning to race and who are maturing in a time when they no longer have a fair shot to become the new cycling champions and record holders because men want to compete in our division. That women’s sports rule makers no longer believe it is vital to defend women’s sports in order to ensure fair competition for women has severely incensed, disappointed, overlooked, and humiliated me.
In her most recent race, which took place in the elite women’s division of the UCI Cyclocross National Championships in late December, she claimed she “came in 4th place, flanked on either side by male riders awarded 3rd and 5th places.”
“My sister and family sobbed as they watched a man finish in front of me, having witnessed several physical interactions with him throughout the race,” she wrote, in a statement also released by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS).
It Is also distressing for me to consider the very probable potential that a male opponent prevented me from being selected for the US team to compete at the Cyclocross Worlds in February 2023.
Killips and her group had been rejoicing in the win despite the storm.
Killips remarked on Instagram, “This win was made possible because to the community and connections I’ve been fortunate enough to create over the years through biking. “I’m especially grateful to everyone in the peloton and sport who continues to affirm that Twitter is not real life after a week of nonsense on the internet,” the author writes.
“I love my teammates and rivals, and I’m thankful for every chance I get to develop as a person and an athlete on the course with them,” the athlete said.
We definitely wanted to get into a break, said Julie Kuliecza, team director for Killips’ sponsor Amy D Foundation, via Cycling News. We anticipated that something would happen immediately following the second sprint point, so we wanted a rider in that break so that Austin and the other GC riders would have someone to assist them when they arrived.
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