Transgender athletes dominate Illinois women's cycling competition

A pair of transgender athletes captured gold and silver medals Sunday at a major Illinois women’s cycling competition. The cyclists, identified as 25-year-old Tessa Johnson and 30-year-old Evelyn Williamson (both of whom are biological males who identify as transgender women), took home first and second place, respectively, in the women’s Single Speed competition of the Illinois State Cyclocross Championship. She previously competed in men’s categories at Clemson University, but it was only after switching to compete as a transgender female that Johnson started picking up wins. Williamson, meanwhile, has been racing in the women’s category since at least 2017, earning 18 titles. But in 2020, she appeared to compete in both the men’s and women’s categories at the Sky Express Winter Criterium, where she won first place as a woman — yet did not place against the men