Anne Andres, a powerlifter that was born a male and now identifies as a female, set a women’s national record in Canada on Sunday. And fellow powerlifter April Hutchinson discussed the situation with Piers Morgan on Monday.
Hutchinson, a member of the Canadian Powerlifting Union for four years, detailed that she believes that Andres’ victory on Sunday goes to show that there are biological differences between athletes born male and athletes born female.
“Anne (Andres) actually just broke the national record for all the master records yesterday. He also holds the second highest deadlift in our powerlifting federation history of all ages. He is a 40-year-old 240 pound man. It has been very disheartening.
“That record that he broke, athletes have been chasing that for years. We’re talking top athletes who have been training and training. So it just goes to show the physical advantages that a male has over a female. Whether it is muscle mass or bone mass, or lung capacity. I can go on, but it has been very disheartening.
Hutchinson then added that a lot of women actually decided to drop out of the competition because they knew that Andres was competing in the event, later writing to the federation about their grievances. She later added that the federation does not plan to change its stance on transgender athletes in the sport.
According to Reduxx, Anne Andres finished with a total powerlifting score of 597.5. That number is calculated by the sum of the heaviest weight lifted for the squat, bench press, and deadlift. The second-place finisher in the event SuJan Gil finished with just a 387.5 score.
Andres set both a Canadian women’s national record and an unofficial women’s world powerlifting record.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.