A female cyclist who gave up on her dream of competing in the Olympics after losing to a biological man says the experience “hurt on a million different levels”.
Hannah Arensman, 24, quit cyclo-cross after also being abused by a leftist Antifa shooting club who protested in her last race after claiming there was a huge TERF [trans-exclusionary radical feminists] problem in cycling.
Arensman is a 35-time winner on the national cyclo-cross circuit and has previously opened up with heartbreaking details about her decision to leave the sport, saying the inclusion of trans competitors meant she “would lose no matter what. how hard I train.”
She quit the sport after losing a podium spot to trans rider Austin Killips in the Women’s Elite class at the 2022 National Cyclocross Championships in December. It would be his last race in competition.
In her final comments on the decision, she said, “There are a million different levels where it hurts.”
Hannah Arensman, 24, quit cyclocross after losing to a trans rider for a podium spot at the Nationals in December 2022
Trans rider Austin Killips beat Arensman for a podium spot at the 2022 National Cyclocross Championships in December
Arensman’s experience comes amid the growing row over the inclusion of trans women in women’s sports categories. She has now also chosen to advocate for protected categories for women.
She told the The telegraph of the day: ‘I realized that if an opportunity arose to say something on behalf of other women, then I would take it.
‘It’s gone on long enough, it’s gone far enough. It should never have come to this, it should never have been allowed. Someone has to take responsibility.
“It’s not a fair sport, and the governing bodies, who should have made the rules at the start, need to realize that.” The very people who should be protecting our sport are not doing it.
Arensman’s latest run was also marred by protests by the John Brown Gun Club, a self-proclaimed “left-wing gun rights group” that “arms itself to defend against far-right violence.”
Masked members of the group attended the race to “support two trans athletes who are running in the elite women’s division,” according to a tweet that included a photo of their protest.
The band also celebrated Arensman’s resignation and said, “I hope we helped her find the door.” She will not be missed.
Speaking about the toxic nature of the debate over trans inclusion, Arensman said, “It just adds to the total disrespect.” When you have to use physical violence to keep others under control, so you can do whatever you want, there’s something seriously wrong. It is a form of tyranny.
Killips reportedly pushed Arensman on his final run. Arensman said: “I expect that in cycling, as a full contact sport, you will get hit at some point.” But when you have someone born, a man meets you, over 6 feet tall, it’s quite different’
Footage from the race itself also purports to show Killips shoving Arensman as the pair passed each other on the course.
Arensman said: “I expect that in cycling, as a full contact sport, you will get hit at some point.”
“But when you have someone born from a man who meets you, over 6 feet tall, it’s quite different. I tried to keep running, not letting him get into my head at all. However, this single instance captured on video seemed useless.
“At best it was a complete lack of manipulation skills. Women who have been doing this for 15 or 20 years have acquired a lot of technical ability. But there is only a certain point we can reach with our muscles. Beyond that, we can’t compete.
Arensman also criticized the possibility that Killips could continue to compete in the Olympics, adding: “A guy, even if he’s mediocre in the men’s race, is more than capable of breaking records and getting on the podium in the women’s races. .”
His comments also follow another controversy in cycling after a transgender competitor who won a women’s racing class was slammed after wondering why no one was joining them on the podium.
SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly led the backlash after Lesley Mumford, a 46-year-old woman who transitioned in 2014, won the 2023 Desert Gravel Co2Ut race (Colorado to Utah) in her 40 -49. Mumford, a former sheriff’s deputy, posted a photo of herself on Instagram standing alone on the podium with the caption, “I don’t know why so many people gave up before the podiums but they did.”
Killips won the women’s category at the Tour of the Gila event in New Mexico
Austin Killips pictured on the podium after the women’s elite race of the ‘Kasteelcross’ cycling event, race 7/8 in the ‘Exact Cross’ competition, Saturday January 21, 2023 in Zonnebeke, Belgium
Current and former experts, researchers, and athletes have claimed that trans women maintain a physical advantage over their female counterparts even after treatment.
The issue gained international attention in 2022 when swimmer Lia Thomas became NCAA women’s champion after only moderate success as a man.
Tommy Lundberg, a lecturer in physiology at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and a leading researcher on the subject, previously told DailyMail.com: “The most important thing is whether or not you have benefited from male development and male puberty and if you did, you’re going to have advantages that you can’t undo later.
Lundberg’s landmark 2021 study with Emma Hilton, a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester in the UK, found that men typically have a 10-50% performance advantage over women.
After a trans woman completes 12 months of testosterone suppression, the loss of “lean body mass, muscle area, and strength typically amounts to about 5%,” according to the article.
“The muscle advantage that transgender women enjoy is minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed,” the study states.
