A transgender-identifying male secured first place at an amateur female cycling event in New York City over the weekend.
Tiffany Thomas stood atop the winner’s podium at the Randall’s Island Crit, a New York City-based race, next to two women who scored second and third place, according to a social media post from NYC Cycling News.
Thomas is affiliated with the L.A.-based women’s cycling group L.A. Sweat.
“Tiffany is a scientist by day, athlete by night,” Thomas’s bio on the L.A. Sweat website, first reported by ABC7 News, reads. “She has never met a barbell, a bike, or a dog that she doesn’t like. She is so incredibly excited to race and represent the LA Sweat team this year!!!”
Thomas’s victory in New York City was not an anomaly. The cyclist has placed in various competitions in recent years, costing women titles, including at the 2022 Bucks County Classic in Doylestown, Penn., where Thomas came in second.
A Twitter user claiming to be a “female bike racer,” has criticized Thomas’s obvious physical advantage in cycling.
“Tiffany Thomas has been on countless podiums, going from a total beginner to the elite level in just 5 years,” the user said in comments first reported by uncovered by ABC 7.
While Thomas’s teammates are all between the ages of 24 and 32, the account claimed in a February Twitter thread, Thomas is 46 years old, and only started cycling at 40 years old.
Thomas appears to have admitted to being a low-performing cyclist in early races in a video posted by the account. At Thomas’s first race, the cyclist came in fifth out of a field of 24 women in the beginner’s female division.
Female athletes in sports ranging from skateboarding to power lifting to swimming are increasingly dealing with male intrusion. Two female Canadian powerlifters recently told National Review that the presiding body of their strength sport has completely ignored their concerns about a male competing in their division. They said they plan to take legal recourse against the Canadian Powerlifting Union soon.