A transgender cyclist won first place in a women’s race in New York City amid ongoing debates about including transgender athletes in women’s competitions.
Tiffany Thomas, 46, who was born a male, finished on the podium in the Randall’s Island Crit cycle race and blew the competition out of the water to take first place.
Although Tiffany only started cycling in 2018, she quickly found success and has dominated the competitions ever since. She recently snagged a spot on top cycling team LA Sweat, where her oldest teammate is just 32 years old.
But her frequent victories have drawn the ire of some critics and other athletes who question whether Thomas has an unfair advantage in women’s sport.
Tiffany Thomas, center, placed first in the Randall’s Island Crit bike race in New York City over the weekend
The 46-year-old has been criticized by those who argue trans athletes have an unfair advantage in women’s sport
Following her recent triumph on Instagram, Thomas said it was “a great day playing bikes with friends”.
“Last race with our 2022 LA Sweat Team kit. I won’t lie, sometimes I felt like a superhero wearing it,” she continued in a separate post.
Thomas, who works as a lab manager according to her Instagram profile, is described as a “scientist by day, athlete by night” in her LA Sweat team profile.
“You will never see anyone smile wider than when they see a beautiful electron micrograph of a red blood cell,” the bio continues.
“She’s never met a barbell, a bike, or a dog she doesn’t like. She is so incredibly excited to be racing and representing the LA Sweat team this year!’
But although Thomas celebrated her victory on social media, he was condemned by some online, with another cyclist tweeting her belief that Thomas was “cheating”.
“Tiffany’s teammates are all between 24 and 32 years old. Amazing that Tiffany can keep up with them at 46 after not cycling until she was 40!” they added.
“Tiffany Thomas has had countless podium finishes and has gone from absolute novice to elite in just 5 years.”
“I feel so bad for female athletes in America who have trained their entire lives,” said another reviewer.
“We are destroying women’s rights in America. They might as well make every sport in this country coeducational. It’s all so unfair. Everyone should live as they wish, but there are sacrifices.’
The recent surge in transgender athletes in women’s cycling also prompted former champion rider Hannah Arensman to recently quit the sport after missing out on a podium finish for a trans cyclist.
“In my last race at the recent UCI Cyclocross National Championships in the elite women’s category, I finished fourth, flanked on either side by male riders who placed third and fifth,” she said in her retirement statement.
“My sister and family cried out as they watched a man finish in front of me after experiencing multiple physical interactions with him during the race.”
Thomas, pictured, said she felt “like a superhero” as she rode to her victory, but other athletes have condemned the rise of transgender athletes in women’s cycling
Cyclist Hannah Arensman announced she is retiring from professional cycling after being beaten to a podium by a transgender athlete
Several states have attempted to ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports, citing studies showing they retain an unfair physical advantage even after the transition.
The topic came into the spotlight when trans swimmer Lia Thomas became NCAA champion in March 2022. The controversial issue has since spread to women’s cycling competitions, with Thomas rising through the ranks after only starting the sport at the age of 40.
In a 2021 interview, Thomas reveals she finished fifth in her first event, but insists she was far from a natural when she first competed.
After befriending another female racer, the 46-year-old said she was convinced to enter the “women’s development race”.
“So I signed up for it and it was amazing,” she added. ‘But I screwed it up’.
After that near-podium finish as a rookie, Thomas said her experience immediately made her think, “I really want to do this.”
Thomas also spoke about opposition to her participation in women’s sport, which she says is “hurting”.
After finishing second at the 2021 Doylestown Health Women’s Pro in Pennsylvania, where she lost only to former Olympian Paola Munoz, Thomas said one of the women who joined her on the podium blurred her from her celebration image.
“The reason this deletion was so hurtful to me is because people told me I didn’t belong,” she added. “Fortunately, we have a community that has said that’s not okay.”
While proponents of including trans athletes in women’s sports insist that fairness can be maintained, opponents maintain that the physical advantage they have over biological women cannot be reversed.
Current and former athletes say trans athletes like Lia Thomas (left), the swimmer who had modest success in the men’s categories before transitioning to become a national champion in women’s events, emphasize the physical benefits of trans women
Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender woman to compete in the 2020 Olympics
The issue has become a point of contention after several trans athletes have broken women’s records in recent years, including Cece Telfer, who became the first openly trans woman to win an NCAA title when she placed first at the Division II National Championships the 400 meter hurdles in 2019.
The following year, Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand became the first openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympics when she competed in weightlifting at the Tokyo Games.
And after finding only modest success in the male categories, swimmer Lia Thomas gained national attention after becoming the top collegiate swimmer at the NCAA championships in March 2022.
Tommy Lundberg, a lecturer in physiology at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and a leading researcher on the subject, told earlier this month: “The most important thing is whether or not you have benefited from male development and male puberty, and whether you having done this, you will have benefits that you cannot undo later.’
Cece Telfer became the first openly transgender woman to win an NCAA title when she placed first in the 400m hurdles at the 2019 Division II National Championships (pictured).
This view was also shared by Nancy Hogshead, a former professional swimmer who won three gold medals and one silver medal at the 1984 Olympics, who told : “Trans women have an undeniable physical advantage.
“Their bodies do what male bodies do when they go through puberty and that’s why we segregate the sport ubiquitously around the world.
“Unless it’s just gaming, just recreational sports. All competitive sports are gender segregated.”
In particular, trans figurehead Caitlyn Jenner, who won gold in men’s decathlon at the 1976 Olympics before becoming one of the most well-known trans women in the world, has also credited Thomas’s success as “an eyesore to what sport is and to the spirit of competition”.