Transgender track and field athlete Sadie Schreiner secured first place in the women’s 400-meter dash at the USA Track and Field (USATF) Open Masters Championships held in New York on Saturday. The other competitors, Anna Vidolova and Amaris Hiatt, did not start the race and are listed as DNS (did not start). At 21 years old, Schreiner is older than Vidolova, who is 17, and Hiatt, who is 16.
Following her victory in the 400-meter event, Schreiner also triumphed in the women’s 200-meter dash, finishing ahead of 14-year-old runner-up Zwange Edwards, 16-year-old third-place finisher Zariah Hargrove, 15-year-old Leah Walker, and 18-year-old Ainsley Rausch. This race also had several participants listed as DNS, including 18-year-old Jordan Carr, 46-year-old Amanda Taylor, Vidolova again, and 16-year-old Paula Damiens.
USATF policy permits transgender athletes to compete in the women’s category in accordance with International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines. However, USATF mandates that specific medical benchmarks must be met before an athlete can compete as the opposite gender for medals, prize money, and other benefits.
Schreiner previously competed for the Rochester Institute of Technology’s (RIT) women’s track and field team, gaining attention for her performance against female competitors and sharing her experiences on social media as an openly transgender athlete. However, she was deemed ineligible to compete for RIT after the NCAA updated its gender eligibility policy on February 6, following an executive order from President Donald Trump that aimed to restrict transgender athletes from participating in women’s and girls’ sports.
RIT confirmed Schreiner’s ineligibility in a statement, emphasizing their adherence to the NCAA participation policy for transgender student-athletes in light of the executive order. Despite no longer competing for RIT, Schreiner maintains a profile on the school’s website and holds multiple records, including the women’s indoor track records for the 200-, 300-, and 400-meter dashes, as well as the outdoor records for the 200- and 400-meter events.
In February, Schreiner shared a video discussing how her running speed decreased after starting medication to increase estrogen. She expressed a desire to engage with NCAA policymakers to discuss the implications of the new policy, stating, “They could have seen the results of their previous policy and how it made me equitable, but they didn’t. And I would still love to have that conversation. I would still love to educate more people if I was properly allowed to.