Transgender world champ causes a stir
A transgender cyclist has left one of her opponents fuming after winning an age-group world championship.
Dr Rachel McKinnon, a Canadian philosophy professor, won the women’s 35-44 age-group sprint final at the Velo Sports Center in Los Angeles earlier this week. McKinnon was born male.
The third-placed rider, American Jennifer Wagner-Assali, tweeted her annoyance at the result.
‘‘I was the 3rd place rider. It’s definitely NOT fair,’’ she wrote.
‘‘Just because it’s a CURRENT UCI rule doesn’t make it fair or right. And rules can be changed.’’
McKinnon hit back at WagnerAssali in social media posts of her own, saying she was competing well within the rules of the sport and had lost to Wagner-Assali on many occasions.
‘‘3rd place (Jennifer Wagner) claims it’s unfair for me to compete. At Masters Worlds, she beat me in the 500m TT. She beat me in
6 of 7 races at the 2017 Intelligentsia Cup. In 2016 she beat me in all
3 Speed Week crits. She’s won 11 of our 13 races ...and it’s unfair? Excuse me?
‘‘I slightly miscounted: prior to the sprint tournament, she beat me in 10 of 12 races (including the 500m TT earlier that week!)
McKinnon later said there was no evidence she had an unfair advantage.
‘‘People who oppose transgender inclusion in sport put us in the double bind. It’s the ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ scenario.
‘‘If I win, they attribute it to me being trans and having an unfair advantage. If I lose, the same people think I must not be good anyway. People will never attribute my winning to hard work which is what I think I deserve.’’