A 50 year-old Canadian transgender woman is racking up racing victories like nobody’s business, according to reports.
Tiffany Newell, a 50 year-old transgender woman, first started their transition in 2017. In 2020, Newell claimed to meet the requirements set by the World Athletics guidelines to allow transgender competitors.
In February 2022, Newell made history as the first transgender woman to set a Canadian record on the track. Newell broke the Canadian Women’s 45-49 record time by 6 seconds. The Canadian Masters Athletics organization recently ratified Newell’s record-breaking time.
On Jan. 8, 2023, Newell won the women’s 3000 meter event at the Winter Mini Meet for the 45-49 year-old cohort. In the days following, Newell would then go onto win the women’s 5000 meter event for the same age cohort.
Newell followed up these achievements Feb. 5 by winning first place in the 1500 meter event for women aged 45-49.
Following a birthday, Newell competed in a competition that ran from Feb. 23 through 26. and repeated the accomplishment, winning the 1,500 meter race for the 50-54 women age group.
In an interview with Running Magazine, Newell rebuffed critics. Newell asserted that personal comfort should dictate which races Newell competes in.
21/ Even a 17:22 puts the 49-year old Newell in a position to challenge the 🇨🇦 W50 5000m record, set last year by multiple AG record holder Maria Zambrano (results going back to 2003 @WorldAthletics).
A repeat of 18:02 indoor would demolish the W50 record, currently at 18:58.
— George M. Perry (@georgeabtsports) January 18, 2023
“The policy makes sense for non-binary athletes, but I don’t feel comfortable racing against men,” Newell told Running Magazine. “I am a woman, and I feel most comfortable racing against women or other transgender women. I believe an open category can work if athletes can continue to race against athletes of the same gender.”
However, several of Newell’s critics aren’t biting their tongue about the success: they think it’s unfair to biological women.
Athlete performance coach and writer George M. Perry took to Twitter to lay out his case for why he believes transgender female competitors have a biological advantage over the rest of the field. According to Perry, Newell’s current performance could put Newell in range of shattering more female records. Furthermore, Perry also claims that Newell’s times are approaching levels that one would typically expect of a male runner.
In discussing women’s records, Perry claimed that if Newell keeps performing this well, more records will be shattered.
“A repeat of 18:02 indoor would demolish the W50 record, currently at 18:58,” Perry said