Australian cycling’s governing body will consider developing its own inclusion policy for transgender and gender-diverse athletes in elite settings, with its UK counterpart set to introduce a hardline ban that will conflict with current international eligibility standards.
The debate around the inclusion of trans athletes in sport intensified this week after 27-year-old US rider Austin Killips, who is transgender, won the women’s Tour of the Gila, a five-day race that covers about 440 kilometres in New Mexico.
Shayna Powless (left), Austin Killips (centre), and Nadia Gontova (right) on the podium after a stage victory in New Mexico.Credit: Tour of the Gila
“As a relatively new body, AusCycling is still reviewing policies across a broad scope of activities,” an AusCycling spokesperson said on Wednesday.
“Currently, we operate under [the international body] UCI eligibility policies, but understand there are considerations and complexities which may lead to change in the future.”
The spokesperson added that all of its policies are up for review, which they inherited in 2020.
AusCycling, formed in 2020, represents 54,000 members and 400 cycling clubs across the country. Its governance spans a range of cycling competitions, including BMX racing, cyclo-cross, mountain biking, and para-cycling.
Union Cycliste Internationale’s (UCI) current eligibility framework, which was toughened last year, requires transgender athletes competing in women’s categories to maintain testosterone levels below 2.4 nanomoles per litre for at least two years.
That was an increase from past rules, which required levels below five nanomoles for 12 months before racing.
By adulthood, normal testosterone levels in females range between 0.3 and 2.4 nmol/L. Females with polycystic ovary syndrome have levels considered to be between 3.1 nmol/L and 4.8 nmol/L.
Comparatively, the normal range in males is between 9.2 and 31.8 nmol/L.
Killips, who rode to victory in the fifth stage of the race on Sunday, adhered to this policy.
But the American’s win was met by a backlash on social media, and from some former cyclists such as Olympian Inga Thomas, who criticised Killips’ inclusion in the women’s event.
Other riders, including Nadia Gontova (who was second behind Killips), Sarah Larson, Emily Ehrlich, and Rachel Parker all commented on Killips’ Instagram post supporting the 27-year-old. Killips won by 21 seconds, and also earned the polka dot jersey as the race’s best climber.
In response to the criticism, the UCI said in a statement: “The UCI rules are based on the latest scientific knowledge and have been applied in a consistent manner, and continues to follow the evolution of scientific findings.”
It added that it “may change its rules as scientific knowledge evolves”.
On Wednesday, The Times reported that British Cycling is set to announce new guidelines later this month that will ban trans athletes from competing in its elite female competitions.
British Cycling has been without an inclusion framework since last April, after the code suspended its existing policy when cyclists threatened to boycott a race if trans racer Emily Bridges was permitted to compete.
The Times also reported that an open category is being considered, similar to British Triathlon’s 2022 policy.
As the debate continues, the Australian Institute of Sport will soon roll out new guidelines, aiming to help the nation’s sporting codes develop policies on transgender issues in high-performance sport.
However, these will be guidelines rather than rules, and the sports will be free to make their own decisions.
It comes as Prime minister Anthony Albanese said in a recent interview with controversial UK broadcaster Piers Morgan that Australian sports codes are dealing with the considerations of fairness and inclusion “effectively”.
“What shouldn’t be done is to try to politicise an issue that should be made on its merits, based upon the proper assessment of whether it’s fair or not, but done in a way … that doesn’t seek to essentially target a very vulnerable group,” he said.
The bulk of policies in Australia require trans and gender diverse athletes to reduce their testosterone levels down to either 10, five, or 2.5 nanomoles per litre for a matter of years.
Trans women are able to reduce their testosterone levels through hormone treatment, which can reverse some but not all the effects of male puberty.
Most researchers and experts agree there is little scientific understanding about the performance of transgender athletes in elite settings.
