Story at a glance
- Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, won the preliminary 500-yard freestyle event and will now advance to the finals, which will take place later this evening.
- If Thomas wins that event, she will become the first known transgender woman to win a national championship in Division I athletics.
- Thomas has been caught in the crossfire of a national debate over whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete on sports teams which match their gender identity.
Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer competing for the University of Pennsylvania, has won her first event at the NCAA swimming and diving finals, clearing a key hurdle to becoming the first openly trans woman to win a national championship in division I athletics.
Thomas on Thursday won the 500-yard freestyle event at McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, finishing roughly three seconds ahead of second place finisher Erica Sullivan, a freshman at the University of Texas and Olympic silver medalist.
Thomas, a senior on Penn’s women’s team, now advances to the 500-yard freestyle finals, which will take place later this evening. She’s also set to swim in the 200 and 100-yard freestyle events during the four-day competition.
Thomas, who joined the university’s women’s team after competing against men for three years, won all three of those events last month during the Ivy League championships and was the meet’s highest-scoring swimmer, setting six pool records.
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The swimmer’s success has put her at the center of a heated national debate over whether transgender women should be allowed to compete against cisgender women in athletics, with critics arguing that trans women and girls have a material advantage because they have, in some cases, gone through male puberty.
While USA Swimming, the sport’s national governing body, last month adopted more stringent requirements for transgender athletes in elite competition, that policy change does not automatically apply to NCAA or Ivy League events.
The athletic association earlier this month said it would not at this time be adopting the USA Swimming policy because the additional changes “could have unfair and potentially detrimental impacts on schools and student-athletes intending to compete in 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championships.”
Support for Thomas has been split, with some arguing that she has the right to compete on the sports team that matches her gender identity and others alleging that she holds an unfair advantage over cisgender women.
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