Chelsea Mitchell - 'The Fastest Girl In Connecticut' - Suing State After Losing To Trans Athletes
Chelsea Mitchell may have graduated high school a few years ago, but 'the fastest girl in Connecticut' sees what is happening to the integrity of women's sports with transgender athletes being allowed to compete. For that reason, she's suing the state.
A Connecticut policy allows transgender athletes to compete in girl's sports, and as a result, Mitchell lost over 20 races to biological males throughout her high school career. Mitchell is teaming up with three other women who ran high school track in Connecticut to challenge the policy in court.
“I wanted to give voice to my story and help other girls out there so that they wouldn’t have to experience this,” Mitchell said, according to the New York Post.
The four former track runners are suing the Connecticut Association of Schools and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and looking to overturn the policy that allows athletes to compete according to their gender identity and not their biological sex.
During her first state-wide competition as a freshman at Canton High School in 2016, Mitchell had to compete against a biological male. The transgender runner beat her and took her spot in qualifying to advance to the next round of the race.
During her sophomore year, Mithcell said that there were two biological males consistently beating every female runner.
“Just two athletes took so many opportunities away from biological females,” Mitchell told The Post. “Even though there were only two of them, they took 15 state championships away from other girls — and there were 85 girls that were directly impacted from them being in the races.”
Mitchell continued her running career in college and is still competing as a senior, but recognized that during her recruitment, prospective colleges didn't see her as a winner thanks to trans athletes taking places away from her and other girls.
“When colleges looked at me, they didn’t see a winner. They saw a second or third place,” she said. “I wasn’t a first-place finisher, and I think that’s what really hurt me.”
Mitchell previously presented her argument in court in December 2022, but a panel of the Second Circuit ruled against it. The argument is set to be reheard on June 6.