The world must welcome the ascent of mixed-gender sports

livemint.com:

The assumption that an athlete’s birth sex dictates his or her performance level has made transgender participation in sports a lightning rod—but the issue is moot in coed sports, from competitive sailing to pickle-ball to e-sports. And in the future, athletics are likely to evolve so that mixed-gender competition becomes common. That will lead to a rise in sports that are just as rivetting but more inclusive.

This is not to deny that men are, on average, bigger and stronger than women, and so have an advantage in sports like football, baseball, basketball, etc. Even Serena Williams has said she doesn’t want to compete against men in tennis. But men and women do compete in other sports—and these are the most interesting.

They are contests not so much of strength but of tactics, decisiveness, smart risk-taking, perseverance, courage and mental and emotional flexibility. These include car-racing, shooting, archery, equestrian events, free diving, and some extreme contests—bike races of over 1,600km, ultra-marathons that last for more than 160km, and the longest distance race of all: round-the-world solo sailing. I declare a bias.

I routinely compete against men in shorter-distance sail-boat racing. I do it every week and I’ll keep it up till I’m too decrepit to get into the boat. In sailing, separate men’s and women’s competitions exist, but the most challenging events are open to all genders.

Women have won. Cole Brauer is one of them. She recently won the One-Two Race, which goes from Newport, Rhode Island, to Bermuda single-handed and back to Newport double-handed.