Fresh trans sports feud breaks out in Oregon as controversial athlete wins 400m race by nearly 10 seconds

An Oregon high school has caused fresh controversy after again allowing a transgender athlete to dominate their rivals in a women’s track competition.

At the 2024 6A-1 Portland Interscholastic League Championship, 10th-grader Aayden Gallagher won both the girl’s 200m and 400m races for McDaniel High School in Portland.

Now, a year on, cameras caught Gallagher – now going by Ada – racing clear once more. On Wednesday, Gallagher won the 200m by more than 1.5 seconds and the 400m by nearly 10 seconds.

In the women’s varsity 400m competition, 16-year-old Gallagher finished in 57.62 seconds – a season record – with second-place Kinnaly Souphanthong crossing the line in 1:05.72.

Gallagher also set a season record over 200m, crossing the line in 25.76 seconds.  Footage of the races appeared on social media, sparking fury among the likes of former swimmer Riley Gaines. 

‘Another day, another boy dominating in girl’s sports,’ Gaines wrote on X. ‘Aayden “Ada” Gallagher set a season record and beat the fastest girl by over 7 seconds…  does he have no shame? Do his PARENTS have no shame?’

‘This was in Oregon. Ahem, @AGPamBondi,’ Gaines added, tagging Donald Trump’s attorney general in the post.

After returning to the White House for a second term, Trump signed an executive order, entitled ‘Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports’.

‘In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports,’ the order says. ‘This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.’

According to an NCSA college recruiting profile, Gallagher – who is listed as 5ft 10ins at 155lbs – writes: ‘I’m able to continue running when thousands of people wish for me to stop and doubt my integrity.’

Meanwhile, the Oregon School Activities Association’s policy on ‘gender identity participation’ reads: ‘The OSAA endeavors to allow students to participate for the athletic or activity program of their consistently asserted gender identity while providing a fair and safe environment for all students.’ 

It continues: ‘Rules such as this one promotes harmony and fair competition among member schools by maintaining equality of eligibility and increase the number of students who will have an opportunity to participate in interscholastic activities.’

Back in 2023, Gallagher revealed in an interview with her high school newspaper that she will be pursuing hormone replacement therapy.

‘I feel like it’ll make me a lot more confident,’ said the then-high school freshman.

‘Because right now I’m just going to keep on getting more and more masculine. More facial hair, stuff like that. And I don’t want that. Estrogen and other hormones and getting vocal training would make me a lot happier and more confident.’