A typical pool game usually involves 16 balls. But when the Ultimate Pool Women's Pro Series kicked off this weekend, it featured a few more than normal.
Four more, to be exact.
Two men faced off in a women’s professional pool championship this weekend. You read that right - two biological men, sporting XY chromosomes, vied for the first and second-place spots in a championship supposedly meant for women.
Harriet Haynes and Lucy Smith, both men despite their feminine monikers, went head-to-head at the Ultimate Pool Women's Pro Series Event 2 Sunday night in Wigan, U.K. Sunday night. According to Fox News, the pair have won a collective 75% of their matches.
These are the gentlemen in question, by the by:
Related: Another 'Trans' Athlete Dominates High School Girls' Track Event in Oregon
While a dude mental-illnessing his way into a ladies' pool competition doesn’t exactly present the kind of physical threat to women that, say, a boxing match might, the biological advantages for men still exist, even if they appear less obvious than in other, more physical sports. Men are generally understood to have higher upper body strength and longer arms, both aptitudes that give them the edge when it comes to stronger break shots and longer reach across the table. Larger hands may also aid in grip and control of the cue.
At Ultimate Pool women’s pro series. The moment we made sure Harriet Haynes (a man pretending to be a woman) left the pool tournament because he couldn’t stand women from @WRN_Manchester and @twelve0fiveUK telling him he’s a man and shouldn’t be playing. #HesAMan… pic.twitter.com/MedX6qCGq1
— Jean Hatchet (@JeanHatchet) April 6, 2025
The match marks just the latest in a growing series of wins by males in women’s sporting events, intentionally depriving those women their hard-earned trophies. It's also first time to my knowledge that two men have competed against one another for a women’s title, with nary an ovary in sight.
Haynes won, by the way. Not that it’s worth a crap, given his status as not a woman.