Austin Killips, a transgender woman, finished first in the women’s Tour of the Gila as she finished first in the final stage of the event in New Mexico.
Killips broke free of the pack in the final minutes of the race. Killips clocked in at 3:07:16 defeating Marcela Prieto and Cassandra Nelson onstage.
«We really wanted to take a break,» Julie Kuliecza, team director for Killips’ sponsor, the Amy D Foundation, said afterward via Cycling News. “We thought there was going to be something that would go right after the second sprint point, and we wanted a rider at that break so that when Austin and the other GC riders came up, Austin would have someone to help them and protect them, and it worked out. perfectly».
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Austin Killips on the podium after the elite women’s cyclocross race «Kasteelcross» in January 2023. (DAVID PINTENS/BELGIAN MAG/AFP via Getty Images)
With the focus on transgender women competing against biological women taking center stage across the country, Killips received some criticism on social media for the win.
The Gila Tour congratulated Killips on the win, but limited responses.
Killips was also the subject of controversy at the UCI Cyclo-cross National Championships in December 2022, when she was accused of throwing another competitor off course. Killips denied making the move in a statement to the Los Angeles Blade.
Killips’ emergence on the cyclocross circuit was the reason Hannah Arensman, a 35-time winner on the national cyclocross circuit, said she has retired from the sport entirely. Arenasman disclosed her situation in an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court in hopes of keeping West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports legislation in effect in March.
From left to right, Belgian Marion Norbert Riberolle, Dutch Denise Betsema and American Austin Killips pictured on the podium after the women’s elite race of the «Kasteelcross» cyclocross cycling event, race 7/8 in the «Exact Cross» competition «, on Saturday, January 2, 2019. 21, 2023 in Zonnebeke. (DAVID PINTENS/BELGIAN MAG/AFP via Getty Images)
RILEY GAINES CALLS BRITTNEY GRINER’S OBSERVATIONS ON THE PARTICIPATION OF TRANSGENDER ATHLETES ‘SHATTERING’
«I was born into a family of athletes. Encouraged by my parents and siblings, I competed in sports from a very young age and followed in my sister’s footsteps, rising through the ranks to become an elite cyclocross racer,» her message read. «For the past few years I have had to compete directly with male cyclists in women’s events. As this has become more of a reality it has become more and more daunting to train as hard as I do only to have to lose to a man. with the unfair advantage of an androgenized body which inherently gives him an obvious advantage over me no matter how hard I train.
«I have decided to end my cycling career. In my last race at the recent UCI Cyclo-cross National Championships in the elite women’s category in December 2022, I came in fourth place, flanked on either side by male riders who took third and fifth. My sister and family sobbed as they watched a man finish in front of me, having witnessed several physical interactions with him during the race.
«Also, it’s hard for me to think about the very real possibility that I was passed over for international selection on the USA team at Cyclocross Worlds in February 2023 because of a male competitor.
Hannah Arensman cools down after the junior women’s individual time trial during the individual time trial during day two of the UCI Road World Championships on October 10, 2016 in Doha, Qatar. (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
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«Moving forward, I feel for the girls learning to compete and growing up in a day when they no longer have a fair shot at being the new record holders and champions in cycling because men want to compete in our division. I have felt deeply angry, disappointed, overlooked and humiliated that women’s sports legislators no longer feel that protecting women’s sports is necessary to ensure fair competition for women.»