A transgender high school runner will compete in the women’s varsity track and field championship today after leaving the other female competitors behind during the semifinals.
Aayden Gallagher, who identifies as a girl, dominated the Portland Interscholastic League Championship semifinals on Wednesday.
The 10th grader took first place in the girls’ varsity 400-meter race and second place in the 200-meter race, qualifying her for today’s finals at Lincoln High School.
If he places in the top two in any of today’s events, Gallagher will move on to compete in the Oregon State Championships.
Gallagher’s eligibility to compete in the women’s league has sparked outrage in recent weeks, with former NCAA swimming champion Riley Gaines among those publicly criticizing the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA), which regulates the high school athletics in the state, and its policies.
Under current OSAA policies, students are permitted to “participate in the athletic or activity program of their consistently affirmed gender identity.”
Aayden Gallagher, who identifies as a girl, dominated the Portland Interscholastic League Championship semifinals on Wednesday. The 10th grader took first place in the girls’ varsity 400-meter race. She appears in the photo approaching the finish line.
Gallagher placed first in the 400-meter race, crossing the finish line in 56.14 seconds on Wednesday. She appears in the lead during the contest.
Gallagher, a sophomore at McDaniel High School, was cleared to participate in the semifinals on May 7 and competed in the women’s 200-meter and 400-meter varsity races.
She placed second in the 200 meter competition, finishing in 24.49 seconds. She was beaten by Roosevelt High School sophomore Aster Jones, who finished the race in 24.32 seconds.
But Gallagher came in first in the 400-meter race, crossing the finish line in 56.14 seconds. Runner-up Ellie Heslam, a Roosevelt High School junior, finished the competition in 56.37 seconds.
Gallagher has faced public scrutiny in recent weeks after footage of his performance during Series 1 of the Sherwood Need for Speed Classic last month circulated online.
The video showed Gallagher speeding past a group of biologically female athletes to cross the finish line well ahead of the rest of the group.
Gallagher competed in several other events throughout the day, consistently finishing high in the event in Sherwood, Oregon.
The Sherwood Need for Speed Classic video was originally published by Reduxx, a feminist magazine, and quickly racked up millions of views.
Gallagher, photographed during the women’s varsity 400-meter meet on Wednesday, also placed second in the 200-meter run.
Gallagher’s successes on Wednesday qualified her for today’s finals at Lincoln High School. She is pictured during the 400-meter semifinal on Wednesday.
Gallagher revealed in an interview with her high school newspaper last year that she will pursue hormone replacement therapy.
“I feel like this will give me a lot more confidence,” said the student, who was a high school freshman at the time.
‘Because right now I’m going to continue becoming more and more masculine. More facial hair and stuff like that. And I do not want that. Estrogen and other hormones and getting vocal training would make me much happier and more confident.’
It is unclear whether Gallagher has started a hormone replacement regimen.
Speaking to an interviewer after the Sherwood competition last month, the student said she “wasn’t really in front of many people at the beginning of the race”, adding: “I like not to come out too strong.”
She was finally defeated by another runner when the competitors reached the last hundred meters.
‘We were both trying to get there first. And he’s been doing it for a long time, this is my first year,’ the sophomore said. ‘I’m very proud of her, she did great. “I hope to see her in other athletics competitions.”
Gallagher’s eligibility to compete in the women’s league has sparked outrage in recent weeks, with former NCAA swimming champion Riley Gaines (pictured December 2023) among those publicly criticizing the Association of Oregon School Activities and Policies.
Team Canada weightlifter April Hutchinson (pictured) slammed the teenager as a “liar” and “a prime example of a cheating man.”
The high school student quickly became the target of criticism on social media when accounts with tens of thousands of followers circulated video of her crossing the finish line.
“This is sick and disgusting and I want to know why his parents allow him to make fun of female athletes, why his coach allows him to cheat, and why these girls’ coaches and parents won’t speak up,” Meghan Murphy wrote. Canadian author and podcaster.
“Defending boys in women’s sports is blatant misogyny,” wrote the Independent Council for Women’s Sports (ICONS).
Founder of OutKick, where former NCAA swimming champion Riley Gaines hosts podcasts, Clay Travis wrote, “another proud moment for ‘women’s’ sports!”
The athletes also joined the conversation.
Gaines, who is perhaps the best-known example of a female athlete who was stripped of an award because a biologically male swimmer was given preference in her collegiate sport, blamed the “adults” at the Oregon track meet for allowing Gallagher competed
‘Let’s call this what it is,’ he wrote on X. ‘I encouraged AND celebrated cheating at the hands of the “adults” in the room.
“So many fingers to point, but shame on the parents, the schools, the child, our weak administration,” and the Oregon School Activities Association.
Two-time Team USA member Carilyn Johnson wrote: ‘At some point, we all have to be willing to see this for what it is. “Please stop pretending this is anything other than telling young female athletes that they don’t matter.”
Gallagher was met with fury online after taking victory seconds ahead of most of her other competitors during the Sherwood Need for Speed Classic last month (pictured).
Gallagher competed in several other events throughout the day, consistently finishing high in the event in Sherwood, Oregon. He is pictured at the Sherwood Need for Speed Classic last month.
April Hutchinson, a weightlifter on Team Canada, called the student “a prime example of a cheating man.”
‘He hits women, then waits for congratulations and constantly seeks validation. You are a liar to yourself and to everyone in that facility. Shame on all the facilitators,” he wrote.
Amelia Strickler, a shot put champion who twice received the British national title, said: “Biology has to be the rule.”
The Oregon School Activities Association’s policy for the participation of trans athletes in school sports states the following:
‘The OSAA strives to consistently allow students to participate in the athletic or activity program of their affirmed gender identity while providing a fair and safe environment for all students.’
The rule is intended to “promote harmony and aerial competition among member schools by maintaining equality of eligibility and increasing the number of students who will have the opportunity to participate in interscholastic activities.”
The policy also states that once a transgender student has informed the school of his or her new identity, the student “shall be consistently treated as that gender for the purposes of eligibility for sports and activities, provided that whether the student has tried or participated in an activity, the student will not be able to participate during that same season on a team of the other sex.’
