Emily Bridges: Transgender cyclist set to race in women's National Omnium event

Transgender cyclist Emily Bridges looks set to compete against some of the sport's biggest names, including five-time Olympic medallist Laura Kenny, at Saturday's National Omnium Championships in her first women's event.

Bridges, 21, began hormone therapy last year as part of her gender dysphoria treatment and has now become eligible to compete in women's events because of lowered levels of testosterone.

She is a provisional entry on the starting list for the event in Derby.

British Cycling's transgender regulations, which were updated in January this year, require riders to have had testosterone levels below five nanomoles per litre for a 12-month period prior to competition.

Bridges previously set a national junior men's record over 25 miles and was selected to join British Cycling's senior academy in 2019.

She first came out as transgender in an interview with Sky Sportsexternal-link in October 2020, and has spoken about wanting to change the culture and representation in elite cycling.

While having hormone therapy, Bridges continued to compete in men's races.

In May 2021 she finished 43rd out of 45 riders in the elite men's criterium at the Loughborough Cycling Festival and in September she was second to last in the Welsh National Championship road race, a 12km lap behind the winner. Last month, Bridges won a men's points race at the British Universities Championships in Glasgow — her final men's race.

«It was always the plan [to race in a women's event],» she told Cycling Weeklyexternal-link this month. «After starting hormone therapy I didn't want to race in the male category any more than I had to — obviously, it sucks, getting dropped, racing as a man when you're not one. It was quickly apparent that was the wrong