Overview

• Transgender athlete Kate Phillips took first place in the 55+ women’s category at the Lyons Masters National Championships in Wisconsin under USA Cycling’s Group A/B policy.
• Fellow competitors including Julie Peterson and Debbie Milne said they only discovered Phillips’s entry after registering themselves and called the process opaque.
• Peterson refused to accept her silver medal on the podium in protest and Milne alleged that Phillips’s name was hidden from the event registration list.
• Critics argue that athletes assigned male at birth retain physical advantages even with hormone suppression, fueling demands for separate categories or more stringent criteria.
• USA Cycling now faces calls from racers and advocacy groups to clarify its transgender participation rules and ensure advance notice of registrants for national events.