World sport cracks down on transgender athletes competing in women's competition as Sally Gunnell speaks out

Urgent cross-sport talks, spearheaded by cycling chief David Lappartient, could force transgender athletes to adhere to strict new rules or face being excluded from elite women’s competition.

After blocking Welsh transgender cyclist Emily Bridges from racing against five-time Olympic champion Laura Kenny at Saturday's British track championships, the International Cycling Union (UCI) is now pushing for consensus on reassessed guidance before this summer’s Commonwealth Games.

Bridges, who had met existing UCI guidelines by lowering her testosterone levels to below five nanomoles per litre during the past year, was told only on Wednesday that she could not compete tomorrow. She will also be left out of British Cycling’s squad for the Nations Cup to be announced on Friday, after making the longlist.

Tough new rules could make a serious impact on her chances of participating at the Commonwealth Games, with Lappartient adamant that the issue must be addressed by endurance sports such as cycling, swimming and athletics “within the next months”.

He said that the UCI was being lobbied by women cyclists who were “completely against” the current rules for transgender inclusion, while it is understood that there had even been talk of a boycott among British riders who were due to compete against Bridges on Saturday.

Fina, swimming’s world governing body, this week announced a review of its transgender guidance following Lia Thomas’s victory at the US College Championships, in the hope of creating an “industry standard”. World Triathlon is also working on an update of its rules, which will be released in the next month.

“This is a very sensitive topic at the moment but not only in cycling, even if we have one big case in Great Britain,” said Lappartient. “Is there a memory from your body from what you were before? Do you have an advantage for this? Do we have a breach on the fair competition?

“When you ask this question, it is not to challenge the fact that people want to do their transition. We fully respect that, fully respect them wanting to do the sport, but I can also really understand from ladies who said, ‘OK, but we don’t accept this’. I have also the union of women’s riders completely against this and challenging the UCI on this.”

It comes after Ellie Baker, the middle-distance runner, became the first current British international to say that she would boycott a race involving a transgender woman. Her stance was endorsed on Wednesday night by Olympic gold medallist Sally Gunnell.

“Well said Ellie - us females past and present should stand together,” said Gunnell.

Bridges has been undergoing hormone-suppression therapy over the past year and, in an interview with Cycling Weekly magazine earlier this month, said that her power had dropped by between 13 percent and 16 percent across six-second, one-, five- and 20-minute efforts after lowering her testosterone.

Having been one of Britain’s leading young men’s riders, she finished second from last at the Welsh road race championships last September. “I’m now trying to power a bigger frame but with a much reduced engine,” she said.

Bridges could still race at the Commonwealth Games, and in British Cycling events that are not held under UCI regulations, but Lappartient wants to review cycling’s current guidance which has been adopted by British Cycling.

Lappartient also referenced Sebastian Coe’s claim that the “integrity and future of women’s sport” is at stake and said that the current guidance regarding permitted testosterone levels is "probably not enough".

"I'm a little bit worried that [their participation in women's events] will affect the fairness of competition,” Lappartient told the BBC. “I believe that maybe the situation we have now, of the rules of five nanomoles per litre [to measure testosterone levels], is probably not enough.

"When I speak with some professors in medicine, some specialists, they say, 'yes, your body probably has a memory already of what you are and so there is maybe some advantages'.

“Do you have a bridge on the fair competition? When you ask this question, it is not to challenge that fact that people want to do their transition. We fully respect that, fully respect to do the sport, but I can also understand from ladies [who] say ‘Ok we don't accept this’. At the moment, also the union of women’s riders [are] completely against this and challenging the UCI on this. We are in between. We were challenged from all parts.”

The UCI have been in talks with various other Olympic associations and want it put urgently on the agenda of the Association of Summer International Olympic Federations - an umbrella body that also includes governing bodies for athletics, swimming, triathlon, football and rugby. “We can't solve this alone,” said Lappartient. “We have to work together. We can't just close our eyes as to what is happening.”