⭕ BREAKING HARD: AB Hernandez, a biological male, wins girls’ triple jump at CIF Southern Sectionals 🏅
🔸 Hernandez took 1st place with a 41′ 4″ jump — 4 feet ahead of runner-up Reese Hogan.
🔸 In a recent interview, Hernandez said the win would give “haters something to talk… pic.twitter.com/nJmOTdSkAe— thehardnewsdaily (@TheHardNewsD) May 18, 2025
In a moment that has reignited discussions about sports equity, transgender athlete AB Hernandez won the girls’ triple jump event at the CIF Southern Sectionals with a tremendous leap of 41 feet and 4 inches, more than four feet ahead of Reese Hogan, who finished in second place.
Not only has the athletic performance received widespread media coverage, but the victory also begs the larger question of whether or not biological guys should be allowed to compete in female-only sports.
Hernandez boasted in a pre-competition interview that he wanted to win “to give the haters something to talk about,” a stance that has been both lauded as courageous defiance and condemned as ignoring valid concerns about fair competition.
Many people’s opinions on the matter have been expressed on the internet. Many have praised Hernandez’s victory as an expression of self-determination and determination, while others have expressed their displeasure on behalf of Reese Hogan, whom they feel was wrongfully deprived of his championship. “Congrats, Reese Hogan!” was the message that went viral. If this were any other planet, you would be the champion right now.
At issue here is the place of gender identity in athletic competitions, which is a topic of heated debate on a national level. Advocates for transgender inclusion stress the importance of equality and dignity by arguing that all athletes should have the right to participate as their identified gender. A number of people are concerned that strength-based sports could be skewed if biological males are allowed to compete in women’s divisions.
Athletes in California are currently allowed to compete according to their gender identity by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the governing body of high school sports in the state. Nevertheless, provincial and federal sports authorities are under increasing pressure to reevaluate eligibility criteria in light of these kinds of results.
Two fundamental principles, inclusiveness and justice, are at odds with one another in this matter. The sports world is clearly at a crossroads, with more and more cases like this emerging, and this might change the rules of competition for years to come.
