Riley Gaines blasts Trudeau’s 'radical disdain for women' after Canadian man takes top prize in women's powerlifting championship

Riley Gaines, a staunch critic of women being forced to compete in sports against biological men, slammed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tuesday after trans weightlifter Anne Andres set a Canadian and possibly a world record at the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s (CPU) 2023 Western Canadian Championship in Brandon, Man.

“@JustinTrudeau 's radical disdain for women (and reality) in effect,” Gaines posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Andres, a biological male, lifted 210 kg (about 463 pounds) more than second-place SuJan Gill.

Gaines incinerated Trudeau’s transgender policies that actively promote a trans-inclusion policy in all women’s sports, including the CPU. As a top female swimmer at the University of Kentucky, Gaines was forced to compete against biological male Lia Thomas.

“Andres’ record is a mediocre lift by a mediocre male powerlifter because the Canadian powerlifting union is discriminating against female athletes,” Gaines said.

“Being a woman or female athlete doesn’t mean we’re inferior or not capable of accomplishing incredible things, but it means we’re different from men,” she said in a recorded video.

“That’s exactly why the women’s sporting category was ever even created. And we deserve to be recognized and celebrated based off those physical ceilings and our own uniqueness.”

Conservative writer and pundit Charlie Kirk was also critical of the record-setting performance in an X post: 

“A man who thinks he's a ‘woman,’ Anne Andres, entered the women's division of the Western Canadian Powerlifting Championships over the weekend. The result was a massacre. The second place finisher, an actual female, got a combined score across three lifts of 387 kilograms. ‘Anne’ the man beat her by more than 200 kg — more than 400 pounds!”

The International Consortium on Female Sport echoed these feelings, posting “Shame on the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU). This is discrimination against the female competitors.”