April 3, 2022 thesundaytimes.co.uk/sport

Trans cyclist

facing ban

from female

events

Matt Lawton

Chief Sports Correspondent

meaningful competition that displays

and rewards the fundamental values

and meaning of the sport”.

Perhaps most crucially, the regula-

tions identify that because of “the sig-

nificant advantages in size, strength

and power enjoyed [on average] by

men over women from puberty

onwards, due in large part to much

higher levels of androgenic hor-

mones, and the impact that such

advantages can have on sporting per-

formance, it is necessary to have sepa-

rate competition categories for males

and females”.

CYCLING CONTROVERSY, P18-19

The transgender cyclist prevented

from participating in a national track

event could be the subject of an indefi-

nite ban under rules introduced by

the Union Cycliste Internationale

(UCI), the world governing body.

Emily Bridges was scheduled to

compete in the National Omnium

Championship in Derby yesterday

against some of Britain’s leading

female riders, including the five-times

Olympic champion Laura Kenny.

On Thursday, the UCI intervened,

informing British Cycling that the

21-year-old, who only last month won

a British Universities title in the men’s

category, was not eligible to partici-

pate. While British Cycling rules

demand only that a transgender

cyclist falls below a set testosterone

threshold for a period of 12 months,

the UCI rules go further by referenc-

ing the need to “preserve the safety,

fairness and integrity of the sport, for

the benefit of all of its participants and

stakeholders” within specific eligibil-

ity regulations for transgender ath-

letes.

While the regulations were intro-

duced to “facilitate the participation

of transgender athletes at the interna-

tional level”, they also cite the need to

“protect the health and safety of

participants” and “guarantee fair and

SPORT

HOW DID

ENGLAND

WOMEN DO?

TO FIND OUT IF THEY BEAT

AUSTRALIA TO RETAIN THE

WORLD CUP, GO TO:

THESUNDAYTIMES.CO.UK/SPORT

Christian Eriksen

celebrates his

strike with Ivan

Toney as

Brentford

shocked their

west London

neighbours

MARK D FULLER/FOCUS IMAGES

king

Comeback

Two goals in as many games

for Denmark... now Eriksen

fires home as Brentford beat

Chelsea for first time since 1939

Sir Andrew Strauss has emerged as

the frontrunner to be the next chair-

man of the ECB and could be con-

firmed as the nominee within two

weeks, with formal approval to follow

at the annual meeting next month.

Strauss is acting managing director

of cricket and leading the search for

his full-time replacement. Interviews

took place last week, with Marcus

North and Rob Key understood to be

leading the field. Once Strauss hands

that over, he is free to focus on other

aspects of managing English cricket

through its greatest administrative

turbulence for decades.

When Strauss stepped into the man-

aging director’s role in February, after

Ashley Giles’s sacking in the wake of

England’s Ashes defeat, he said he was

unavailable to return permanently to

the position he had held from 2015 to

2018 because of his personal situation.

His wife, Ruth, died four years ago and

he has two school-age sons. However,

it is believed that he is open to taking

on what is an executive role requiring

work three days a week with pay in the

region of £250,000 a year.

Were Strauss to become chairman

it could be good news for Joe Root, as

Strauss gave Root his full backing as

captain when he became acting man-

aging director — admittedly before

England lost in the West Indies.

Strauss is known to favour restoring

the role of national selector, and split-

ting the coach’s role between the

red-ball and white-ball spheres.

Strauss is

leading race

to be ECB

chairman

Simon Wilde

Cricket Correspondent

DON’T BE

SELFISH, JOE

ALASTAIR COOK

ON ROOT’S

FUTURE AS

CAPTAIN

PAGE 13

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CHELSEA BRENTFORD