Transgender Paralympian Valentina Petrillo fails to reach women’s 400m final

Petrillo qualified for Monday evening’s semi-final having finished second in her heat behind Venezuela’s Alejandra Paola Perez earlier that day.

However, the Italian, who was diagnosed with Stargardt disease – a genetic eye condition – aged 14, failed to qualify for Tuesday’s final after she finished third in her semi-final despite running a personal-best time of  57.58 seconds.

The 51-year-old again finished behind Perez, with Iran’s Hajar Safarzadeh Ghahderijani winning the semi-final in a time of 56.07s.

Petrillo will compete in one more event – the women’s 200m – at her first Paralympics, with the heats getting underway later this week on Friday.

Prior to the Games, the Italian was reported as making history as the first transgender athlete to compete in the Paralympics.

However, it has since emerged that a Dutch transgender athlete, Ingrid van Kranen, who died in 2021, competed in the women’s discus final at the Rio 2016 Games where she finished ninth.

World Athletes has banned transgender athletes from competing in world competitions, there is no such ban in place for transgender competitors in World Para Athletics events.

Speaking after her heat earlier on Monday, Petrillo, who has faced backlash for competing at the Games, said she wanted to be a symbol of hope for other transgender women and men who want to follow in her footsteps.

‘From today I don’t want to hear anything more about discrimination, prejudices against transgender people,’ she told reporters after her heat.

‘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) are not included in sport.

‘But I made it. If I can make it, everyone can make it.’

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