I lost to a man at a women's skateboarding contest. Now I’m fighting to protect women's sports

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I went through the motions in a daze: Thank the judges. Hold the trophy. Smile for photos. Collect the prize money. Act like everything is fine when it clearly is not.

I was standing on the second-place podium, but if this had been a fair competition—if I had been competing only against other women—I would have been standing on the highest platform and receiving the first-place check that went with it.

As it was, a man in makeup took home the first-place trophy and prize money that day in 2021 at the women’s Red Bull Cornerstone skateboarding contest finals in Lincoln, Nebraska. Between the qualifiers and the finals, he received $5,000 in prize money that was meant for women.

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It felt so wrong because it was so wrong. I had been in two women’s contests prior to this where men competed, and I had even been bumped from first place to second by a man once before. This time wasn’t just about coming in second behind a man who took first in the women’s division, nor was it only about not being able to return to my hometown as the winner of this Red Bull event…something no other woman was doing in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It also meant I lost a financial opportunity.

Losing prize money and the recognition for first place that I would have received if this had been a fair competition seemed small in comparison to everything female athletes are being robbed of in their sports. What about the women who lose world records? What about the high school teenagers training diligently to earn an