World-renowned tennis star Martina Navratilova and Olympic runner Mara Yamauchi were among a number of women on Monday criticizing Austin Killips, a transgender cyclist who won the women’s race at North Carolina’s Belgian Waffle Ride Saturday.
The race, which involved a 131-mile mountainous trek, was dominated by Killips, a biological man who crossed the finish line nearly five minutes ahead of the second-place female challenger Paige Onweller. Flavia Oliveira Parks placed third in the race finishing seven minutes and thirty seconds behind Killips. (RELATED: Americans Are More Likely To Support Protecting Women’s Sports From Trans Competition Than Two Years Ago: STUDY)
Star athletes Navratilova and Yamauchi slammed Killips’ victory on Twitter Tuesday.
“What a joke,” Navratilova tweeted.
After the race, Killips said in an interview that it was a “grueling effort.”
“It was just a grueling effort. I’m just really proud to lay it out there and get the result,” Killips said according to footage posted on Twitter. “After BC, I kind of get how things work now. Like, you really want to be up front going into those technical single-track sections and I kind of asserted myself there and was able to get a gap early,” Killips said.
What a joke. https://t.co/VBZzvjNL62
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) June 11, 2023
Yamauchi also shared her criticisms of Killips.
“Man explains how he won a women’s cycling race. #SaveWomensSports,” Yamauchi tweeted.
Man explains how he won a women’s cycling race. #SaveWomensSports https://t.co/62NWhfgwp7
— Mara Yamauchi (@mara_yamauchi) June 11, 2023
Killips first received national attention after becoming the first transgender woman to win a Union Cycliste Internationale stage race. Killips’ UCI victory led to a review of the competition’s rules regarding transgender athletes being allowed to participate in races.
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