A trans-man crushed his female competitors in a North Carolina cycling event, beating the second-place finisher by a whopping five minutes.
Trans-Male Wins Female Bike Race
Austin Killips, 27, won the 137-mile-long Belgian Waffle Ride in Hendersonville, North Carolina, where he participated in the women’s division as a biological man.
Killips identifies as a “woman” and has been competing in women’s cycling events since 2022, as reflected by his pro cycling profile.
During the 137-mile race Killips quickly took the lead in the women’s division before being passed briefly by Paige Onweller.
Killips ultimately surged ahead and beat her by five minutes, Flavia Oliveira came in third place.
Killips Is Proud of His Race Results
In a post-race interview, Killips described the “grueling effort” to emerge victorious, saying, “I am just really proud to lay it out there and get the result. I asserted myself and was able to get a gap early.”
“We were kind of all riding together for quite a while and, you know, I have a cross background and I am going to attack these single-track sections as hard as I can and did that. I hammered [it] and was able to stay clear,” Killips said during an interview after the race.
The Biker’s Peppery Past
Killips had been previously accused of trying to push Hannah Arensman off the course at the UCI Cyclocross National Championships in December 2022.
Killips’ emergence on the cyclocross circuit was part of the reason 35-time winner Hannah Arensman retired from the sport recently.
Tennis superstar Maria Navratilova, 66, didn’t appreciate the big win, saying, “Transgender cyclist Austin Killips wins women’s race, causes outrage- this will happen more and more- women’s sports is NOT THE PLACE for trans-identified male athletes.”
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