Trans sprinter Valentina Petrillo falls short of both finals in her Paralympics events

After years of frustration and preparation, Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo stepped into the starter’s block for the women’s T12 classification 400-meter semifinals at the Paris Paralympics on Monday with all to run for.

Days later, the trans sprinter didn’t even make the final of her favorite 200-meter race.

She put up a gritty effort in her preliminary heat earlier in the day to earn a chance to reach Tuesday’s final and perhaps become the first out transgender Paralympian to earn a medal.

Iran’s Hajar Safarzadeh Ghahderijani, the 2024 world champion in the event, sprinted into the lead by the backstretch as Petrillo strained to keep pace.

By the 300-meter mark, Venezuela’s Alejandra Perez surged into second. Petrillo pushed hard, but it wasn’t enough. Safarzadeh Ghahderijani won the heat and secured her spot in the final, and a duel with Cuban superstar Omara Durand, who seeks her fourth straight Paralympic gold in this event.

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Petrillo was left on the outside looking in, despite at 57.58-second mark that was her personal best and an Italian record.

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Immediately after the race, even through disappointment, her first action was to find her son and hug him.

“I’m a little down, but I hope my son will be proud of me,” she told reporters after the race. “I pushed more than I did this morning and I tried my best. They are stronger than me, I had to go down too much, to do a 56. With 57.50, I have to be happy even if I’m a little down.”

It was reported that she abruptly left the interviews, overcome by the emotion and gravity of the moment. It was a moment of history long coming, and scorned in some quarters.

Yes, transphobes like author J.K. Rowling, and sportswriters like Oliver Brown of the UK-based Telegraph — one of many media outlets in Britain who seem to thrive on anti-trans rhetoric — called her a “cheat.” They were backed up by endless social media minions sharing transphobia.

I’m at a real loss to understand the cries about an alleged “unfair advantage” Petrillo has over her cisgender competitors, given her results of the T12 400-meter. While some transphobes were engaged in hysteria, they missed a Paralympic legend winning big again. Durand won her fourth straight Paralympic gold, while defeating the reigning world champion Ghahderijani by almost two seconds.

When you consider Durand’s resume, the complaints about Petrillo’s perceived “dominance” are folly. She holds classification world records at 100, 200 and 400 meters. She hasn’t lost a world championship she has participated in since 2011. She skipped the 2024 worlds to prepare for these Paralympics.

Durand is an athlete whose accomplishments are as grand as the greatest stars of a nation that reveres track and field, including Olympic champions Alberto Juantorena, Ana Fidelia Quirot and Javier Sotomayor. Durand has more elite hardware than those three legends combined, but the “save women’s sports” crowd isn’t hearing that.

But what else is new? Some of these people only follow a sport when they can engage in transphobic nonsense.

They get on a plane and fly thousands of miles to harass a college athlete in another country, boo a high school kid at a track meet, call a 13-year-old girl a “hulking male” while also seeking elected office, and support legalized discrimination every chance they get.

These are also the same people who will target a cisgender woman who doesn’t “fit the mold,” like they did with gold-medal-winning boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan during the Olympics. They cling to the idea that transgender women aren’t women. They seem to say that cisgender women are inept in sports. Good luck trying to sell that latter point to a champion and national hero like Durand.

Petrillo returned to the track again for the T12 200 meters, and she again didn’t make the final. The race was her favorite event because of her hero, Italian world record holder and 1980 Olympic champion Pietro Mennea.

Four years ago, in the middle of the worldwide shutdown, I got the opportunity to interview Petrillo. With the Tokyo Paralympics postponed and Italy hit hard, you could see in her face and hear in her voice the desire to have this chance no matter what.

“I’m dreaming about this,” she said then. “The determination that Mennea showed was something he taught all of us. That is how I feel when I am running. That same determination and that same drive.”

That drive is what finally got her to this moment. Win or lose, she’s made a statement for herself and another for so many of us pushing towards our goals while pushing against those who’d rather trans women pushed out of women’s sports all together.

Even through tears of disappointment, she left the track knowing she left everything she had on it.

I’m sure her son is immensely proud. A lot of transgender people with their eyes on her — including me — are proud as well.

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