Valentina Petrillo became the first out transgender runner to take part in the Paralympics when she competed in the women’s 400m T12 heats on Monday.
Italy’s Petrillo made it through to the semifinal of the event after qualifying as one of the fastest runners-up with a time of 58.35 seconds.
“I needed to break the ice. It’s difficult to break the ice, 58.35 [seconds] is a good result, but I am not going to stop here. I just let this extraordinary spectacle power me,” Petrillo said the semifinals.
Petrillo failed to qualify for Tuesday’s 400m T12 final though as she finished third in semifinal 2 despite running a personal best 57.58.
“From today, I don’t want to hear anything more about discrimination, prejudices against transgender people,” Petrillo said after her heat, per the Paralympics.
“There are lots of people dying only for being trans, people are killed because they are trans, people commit suicide because they are trans and lose their jobs, or [they] are not included in sport. But I made it. If I can make it, everyone can make it.”
Contrary to reports, Petrillo is not the first ever transgender Paralympian.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) confirmed to CNN that Dutch discus thrower Ingrid van Kranen was a transgender Paralympian when she competed at the Paralympics in Rio in 2016 – predating Petrillo’s appearance at the 2024 Paralympic Games.
Petrillo is scheduled to race in the women’s 200m T12 competition on Friday, with the heats beginning at 9:09 a.m. local time.