According to a report by National Review, a man, Austin Killips, won an elite woman’s cycling race at a Massachusetts cyclocross tournament on Saturday, November 12.
Killips, “a transgender-identifying man,” won out over 43 women on the first day of the Massachusetts tournament.
He completed the race in 50 minutes and 25 seconds, according to the results. Killips was awarded the victor’s trophy and was photographed on the top ceremonial pedestal next to second-place cyclist Ava Holmgren, who finished the race one second behind Killips, and third-place cyclist Lizzy Gunsalus, who had a time of 50:31. The second- and third-place finishers are women.
The next day, Killips placed third on the second day of the UCI Elite Women Race. The week before, he placed third at the Women Pro Race at the Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross Day 2, another event held in Massachusetts.
A follow-up report at mrcTV labels Killips an “activist” and links his blog called Estro Junkie.
Killips isn’t just a very confused man with a passion for making women eat his dust. He’s an activist. National Review reports that “Killips has an online blog called Estro Junkie, which he calls ‘a newsletter about the intersection of sports and queer theory.’”
National Review also points to an ongoing movement to “save women’s spaces” from gender intrusion, with spaces defined as “athletic competitions, locker rooms, and prisons.”
Many women’s-rights activists were outraged this past year at the case of University of Pennsylvania male swimmer Lia Thomas, who has competed with and against women. At the NCAA women’s swimming championships, he placed in the top eight in all three of his individual events, including a first-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, defeating some female Olympic medalists. In July, his Ivy League college nominated him for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year award.
Some professional athletes have spoken out about the unfairness of including men in women’s sports. For example, Caroline Wilson, a 14-time Ironman finisher and a three-time Ironman World Championship qualifier/finisher, crossed the finished line of the Ironman World Championship earlier this month while carrying a flag that read, “Save Women’s Sports.” Her Twitter bio has that hashtag, in addition to #SexBasedRights.
“Me crossing the Ironman World Championship with my save women’s sports flag. Doing what I can!!!!,” she tweeted.
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