A report on athlete Wren Pyle from April 2021:
Sophomore Wren Pyle is an athlete who refuses to be defined by one sport.
A swimmer, biker, runner, as well as an extreme sports athlete who has competed in ultramarathon running and ski mountaineering, Pyle has her sights set high when competitions return, all the way up to the Olympic games.
Pyle is drawn to outdoor sports, however her love for athletics did not begin on the mountains, but in swimming pools. She swam competitively for as long as she can remember and division I programs were recruiting her by the time she got to high school, she said.
As she grew older, swimming became an increasingly negative influence on her mental health, she said. Assigned male at birth, Pyle did not feel comfortable competing in the boys division.
She described feeling the need to fit into the sport’s benchmark of an ideal male body.
“On a men’s team you’re expected to be lean, big and strong and that, for a long time, lead me into forcing myself to conform to that expectation which really worsened my mental health,” she said.
However, outdoor endurance sports became a way for Pyle to create her identity as a transgender athlete. They gave her not only an opportunity to compete but also a community that supported her unconditionally, she said.
“I didn’t come out for another year and a half after I started these ultra-endurance sports, but having that community to start with made me feel like it was a safe place to start exploring the possibility of coming out,” she said.
While on a recruiting trip with the University of Denver swimming team, Pyle says she fell in love with the mountains. A new environment opened her eyes to a world of sports that did not categorize her based on her assigned gender or her body type.
“The mountains judge you but they don’t judge what you look like,” Pyle said. “They care how strong of a climber you are and how much you are willing to be out there… being judged on those aspects felt like things that I could control.”
Isn't that lovely?
A careful reading clarifies what all the gushing positivity tends to obscure: that this is a man now competing in women's sport. He "did not feel comfortable competing in the boys division", probably because he wasn't winning all the time.
Anyway, that's all sorted. He's now doing very well:
Male 2026 Olympic women's skimo hopeful Wren Pyle has won every women's race so far in the Tuesday night series at @BoltonValley.
And he did it this week even though he was feeling slightly under the weather. What an elite athlete!#SaveWomensSports #NoMalesInWomensSports pic.twitter.com/qLUCIo0N5W
— 🚲 (@i_heart__bikes) February 16, 2023
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You can tell he's a woman from his little pink skirt.
Mick Hartley 
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