British Cycling considering banning transgender women from elite female competition

British Cycling suspended its transgender argumentation successful 2022 aft contention implicit British rider Emily Bridges

British Cycling is considering banning transgender women from elite pistillate competition, BBC Sport has learned.

It comes aft Austin Killips became the first male-to-female transgender jock to triumph a UCI women's signifier race astatine the Tour of the Gila connected Sunday.

Killips' triumph has reignited the statement implicit transgender women competing successful pistillate events, and however to equilibrium inclusion and fairness.

• Q&A: Transgender women successful athletics - cardinal questions answered

Last year, British Cycling said transgender women were no longer capable to vie astatine elite pistillate events it ran aft the organisation suspended its existent testosterone-based argumentation and conducted a review.

That followed controversy implicit British rider Emily Bridges, 1 of cycling's astir high-profile transgender competitors.

Cycling's satellite governing assemblage - the UCI - requires transgender women to suppress their testosterone levels to 2.5 nmol/L for a 24-month play anterior to competing successful pistillate events.

It toughened its rules connected eligibility past year, with erstwhile regulations acceptable astatine 5 nmol/L for 12 months.

That differs from different planetary governing bodies, specified arsenic World Athletics and World Aquatics, which person precocious banned transgender women from competing successful the pistillate class astatine planetary events if they person gone done antheral puberty.

British Cycling is present considering diverging from its planetary federation and pursuing a similar argumentation to British Triathlon, which past twelvemonth became the archetypal British athletics to found a caller 'open' class successful which transgender athletes would compete.

The women's class would beryllium reserved for competitors who are recorded pistillate astatine birth. Such a determination would forestall Bridges from competing successful elite women's races for Great Britain.

Last year, the authorities told the heads of UK sporting bodies that "elite and competitory women's athletics indispensable beryllium reserved for radical calved of the pistillate sex" and encouraged them to determination to a presumption "where fairness takes precedence successful competitory sport", including considering "launching inclusive unfastened categories wherever appropriate".

British Cycling declined to comment.

The speech astir the inclusion of transgender women successful women's athletics has divided sentiment some wrong and extracurricular the sporting sphere.

Many reason transgender women should not compete successful women's athletics due to the fact that of immoderate advantages they whitethorn clasp from going done antheral puberty - but others reason athletics should beryllium much inclusive.